For a long time, Hindus in India and worldwide experienced and felt abused, marginalised and ridiculed. Over the years, there have been many diagnoses and prescriptions designed to deal with these problems. One diagnosis provided by the officers of the British Empire blamed the ‘Muslim Invasion/Rule of India’. One of the main consequences of this is that as there currently exists no ‘invading country’ that could be focused on for blame and redress sought, the attention has been turned inwards. As such, the Hindu nationalists, from their beginning in the 19th Century, tried to deal with the historical humiliation they experienced due to the ‘Muslim Invasion/Rule of India’ by targeting and blaming Indian Muslims.

Most of India is a very traditional country and operates within highly entrenched and deep structures – conscious and subconscious – that developed over several millennia and have become deeply rooted. As such, the experiments of the Congress Party and Bombay films such ‘Omar, Akbar and Anthony’ could not achieve communal harmony in India, including dealing with the historical disempowerment and humiliation felt by millions of Hindus across the country and in the Diaspora. The Congress Party may have successfully enabled many Indians to feel proud of being Indians, but not as Hindus. The BJP and the Hindu nationalists are now filling this gap.

The BJP Party is the only force in India and in the Indian Diaspora that has, for the first time in a long time, that has empowered the Hindus who want to be proud of being Hindus and want to develop their Hinduness with pride. As a result, millions of Hindus who were ‘meek’, ‘fearful’ and ‘lacked confidence’ have become assertive and robust in their Hindu identity. The BJP is primarily responsible for the state of this change.

The Unfortunate thing is that this change ‘required them to demonise, blame, marginalise and commit violence against Indian Muslims, and want to give a defeat to Pakistan in a massive quick war similar to the defeats the Israelis gave to the Arabs. So, it seems that only a massive act of revenge against Indian Muslims for the invasion of India carried out by Mahmud of Ghaznavi, Muhammad Ghori and Babur in the 11th, 12th and 16th centuries, respectively, will somewhat satisfy the BJP and the Hindu Nationalists for their problems of historical humiliation.

But this is how and where we are. The BJP’s ascendency, armed with and underpinned by British divide and rule policies developed from their interpretations of Indian history, means an existential threat to Indian Muslims and Hindu/Muslim friendships across India and worldwide. It is difficult to predict how things will unfold, but what is most probable is the continued ascendency and consolidation of the BJP and the Hindu Nationalists in Indian politics and social life within the country and abroad for the foreseeable future.