Is Indian Democracy Bowing to Hindutva?
Textbooks, Temples, and the Farce of Democracy
In the Indian Constitution, “secular” means the state does not have an official religion. People usually think secularism means expressing one’s faith freely in a country, which is a fundamental right. In a country like India, where there is a diverse platter of religious beliefs, there is clear inequality.
The Illusion of Freedom
I recently read Animal Farm by George Orwell. In short, it explores the privileges experienced by literate individuals, and they can oppress the illiterate in a way that allows the literate to benefit but not the illiterate. The story follows an animal farm, as the name suggests, where a human is making the animals work day and night, and the pigs of the animals learn languages and overthrow the humans and own the farm. Slowly, the pigs turn exactly like humans, make the other animals forget the rules established, and continue this cycle of oppression.
In a democracy, the controversial criticism has always been not to allow voting to individuals who are not fully educated, i.e., having a degree in any subject. The first person documented to propose this criticism was the great thinker Plato. He believed that democracy is always at risk of being taken over by a leader who gains power by saying what the people want to hear. This kind of leader, called a demagogue, may act in selfish and harmful ways once in power. Over time, such behavior can destroy the democratic system and turn it into a dictatorship, hence, the choice of the leader must be in the hands of educated people so they can choose a leader, not a dictator.
When God Becomes a Campaign Tool
Political opinions may vary among individuals as well, though in a country like India with the population explosion, it seems like a hard thing to do. The people of India are inclined and very dependent on their religion, as other countries of the world are, but in recent times, with the BJP as the head of the state, it can be observed that “secularism” has disappeared.
This is the percentage of major religions. For the time being, let’s not consider the 83 sub-religions that are not considered as the rest are.
Currently, in India and many countries, democracy is being influenced by religion, and creating more systems of oppression. CAA or the Citizen Amendment Act, which tried to be implemented in India, targeted specifically Muslims.
Due to the Hindu majority, PM Modi rigorously tries to get voted on the public opinion which is mainly Hindu. His establishing the Ram mandir and doing Pujas is not what a secular leader should be doing.
Thereby, I critique the public opinion, the government is based on our opinion, and we choose the government, it might or will choose to benefit off of us, which is a reality, power does that to humans. The most we can do is to vote right, unbiased, and revolt if necessary.
History Censored, Truth Silenced
When Hitler was in power, students burned multiple Jewish books as an act of Nazism. In fact, throughout history, there have been multiple instances of censorship from governments, rulers, and terrorists as an act of ethnocentrism. For example, the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, currently, Donald Trump in the United States with the book bans, and coming back to India, previously, the Nalanda University burnings by the Turks.
India has a vast history of censoring freedom of speech used excessively to control social media and the internet. Very recently we saw India’s got latent, comedy show facing a ton of backlash, instead of issues like poverty, rape, hunger, unemployment etc., it was sensationalized. One more instance of censorship in the past includes banning the BBC documentary on Modi, this move created criticism from human rights groups and organizations for censoring their freedom of speech.
We cannot forget history; referencing Plato, Animal Farm just shows how much we choose to ignore history on a day-to-day basis.
History will repeat itself once we censor History.
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past- George Orwell 1984
Curriculum of Control
Under the BJP government, PM Narendra Modi has consistently manipulated people’s faith in their religion, particularly Hinduism. Hinduism is the first major religion of the world, and many devotees, referring to the data, the majority stand to be Hindus, contrary to popular belief, not Muslims, but Hindus.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is widely considered the most popular and recognizable educational board in India. It follows the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). In recent events, the CBSE Class 12 history syllabus was renewed, removing chapters on the Mughal Empire. The chapters on “Kings and Chronicles” and “The Mughal Courts” have been dropped from the Class 12 medieval history textbooks. The new Class 7 social science textbook now focuses on ancient Indian dynasties like the Mauryas, Shungas, and Satavahanas, rather than the Delhi Sultanate and Mughals. There is no mention of them. New chapters like ‘How the Land Becomes Sacred’ instead explore pilgrimage sites across religious traditions, with emphasis on events such as the Kumbh Mela. In 2024, CBSE dropped multiple mentions of the Babri Masjid from political science textbooks, citing updates in light of the Supreme Court’s 2019 Ayodhya verdict. It’s not only CBSE, but the state boards too, removing many important historical events from textbooks. Rajasthan under the BJP government (2014–2018) reworked its textbooks to recast Maharana Pratap as the victor at the Battle of Haldighati against Akbar, stripping the Mughal emperor of his ‘Great’ title.
The question that arises is whether India is becoming an autocratic electoral state?
The truth is — every democracy is teetering on the edge of autocracy.
In the Indian context, the BJP regime under Narendra Modi — articulate and sharp — uses words like weapons. Like the pigs in Animal Farm, leaders can manipulate the public into forgetting the Constitution.
The true essence of secularism in democracy is not just the freedom to worship but the state’s impartiality toward every religion , not favoring one over another. But can we really expect 100+ religions to be treated equally? That may not be humanly possible.
Yet, in the end, democracy is ours. This is the one form of government over which we hold power. But what do we do with it? We fight among ourselves while the powerful twist history. Just like in Animal Farm, a book written 70+ years ago is still relevant to this very day.
Not just in India — corruption in democratic governments is a global truth. Unless we, the people, act, it will remain so. Yes, only educated individuals may have the tools to think critically. Yes, no party is entirely good or entirely evil.
Do not let the government control the people.
Let the people reclaim control.
And So I Say
And if democracy must bow,
Let it bow not to stone, but to the truth
Let it bend not to saffron, green, or white
But to the ink that wrote our rights.
For temples may rise, textbooks may fall
But the people must remember to stand tall, never feeling small.
Not tryna be famous
just tryna feel less alone.
[@inkedinemotions] if u wanna read the mess that made me.
