Hate & Harmony

Ahead of the Lord Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya on 22 January, the supreme spiritual leaders of Sanatan Hindu Dharma have made a public statement that they would not participate in the inauguration ceremony in Ayodhya, causing a big embarrassment for the ruling Hindutva forces. 

The civil rights network, Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM), which held a protest gathering at Delhi University Arts Faculty against the cutting of trees and land grab of Adivasi peasant land in Hasdeo, Chhattisgarh, leading to massive displacement in Kaimur, Bihar, has said that as many as 195 paramilitary camps have been built within 5 years of Operation Samadhan-Prahar in order to quell any unrest in the region. 

An interfaith couple were assaulted, abused, and kidnapped from their hotel room in the state. The police have arrested some of the accused, while the remaining are still at large.

On January 10, 2024, the ‘grand old party’, the Congress, finally declined to attend the inauguration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya on January 22, stating the blatant politicisation of religion and state behind the event as its reason, in its rather belated and vacillating response. Now, with the BJP attacking this move, the Congress has gone all out to counter the BJP’s ‘anti-Hindu’ slur

Narratives of violence and political polarisation are rife in the news, however are all ordinary Indians hostile to interfaith interactions? These incidents remind us that they are not.

A Dalit scientist at the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory in Maharashtra’s Pune has come forward talking about facing discrimination based on caste and harassment at the institute. She has also asserted that she was denied promotion due to her caste.

The woman victim, 19-year-old Aishwarya from Neyvaviduthi in Pattukottai, had fallen in love with Naveen, a 19-year-old Dalit man from Poovaloor village, Thanjavur. (File)

In two well-coordinated programmes, prime minister Narendra Modi and union minister for minorities (also Women and Child Welfare) continents apart, on January 8 and January 9, led two programmes with all the optics in place, to show case their empathy with Muslims, at least, internationally

There has been a spate of hate speeches, each evoking reportedly shared anti-minority sentiments by stoking tropes of large Muslim neighbourhoods, cow slaughter, “love-jihad”

Persistent assaults on Christian institutions and gatherings spark concern as right-wing Hindutva groups allege forced conversions which has led to arrests and tensions in multiple districts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.