Indian politics and society continue to be troubled by a raging — and highly politicized — debate over increased Hindu intolerance since the election of Narendra Modi as prime minister of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
India has shown remarkable durability, strength and resilience since independence in 1947. Many other formerly colonized countries have splintered, drifted into dictatorships or been ravaged by large-scale sectarian killings and civil wars. Defying the odds, India has survived and more recently prospered as a vibrant multilingual democracy despite deep pockets of poverty and unmatched diversity. The three great institutions of democracy, federalism and secularism have helped India to evolve a uniquely adaptable system of power sharing, accommodation and peaceful political transitions based on the ballot box.
Before directing harsh criticism at Modi, the Congress Party should look in the mirror. Over six decades of misrule, successive Congress governments perverted the meaning and practice of secularism by pandering to the Muslim vote bank. This was widely derided as "minorityism," or endless appeasement of Muslims, to the point where many Hindus began to feel like second-class citizens in their own land.