“May the Politics of Fear and Hate Spreading in India Not Infiltrate Nepal’ - Harsh Mander
Lalitpur — The India-wide youth movement across over 100 cities protesting the leakage of examination papers for medical college entrance has forced the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government — backed. . .
Lalitpur — The India-wide youth movement across over 100 cities protesting the leakage of examination papers for medical college entrance has forced the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government — backed intellectually and organizationally by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since 2014 — to yield. Following the unrest, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned and a new minister was appointed. The Narendra Modi-led Indian government practices a politics that centres religion and communalism and this was the first time it was unable to delegitimize a major protest by stoking communal polarization. Reflecting on these developments, Delhi-based writer, social activist, and human rights defender Harsh Mander remarked: "While the youth movement has successfully dismantled the climate of fear built under the Modi regime, the politics of hatred remains deeply entrenched. "According to Mander, the RSS’s systematic indoctrination of the majority community to harbour hostility towards minorities has severely fractured Indian society. Dissenters have routinely faced state-sponsored intimidation and imprisonment under fabricated charges. Although the recent student protests helped overcome this atmosphere of fear, eradicating communal hatred remains a daunting challenge. "This poison has seeped so deeply into the social fabric that purging society of communal divide will take considerable time," Mander warned. Mander also raised the alarm over the creep of this hate politics into Nepal, criticizing the Nepali state apparatus and civil society for taking insufficient measures to counter it. He noted that the RSS is actively striving to replicate its religious-political model in Nepal, pointing out that the tactics employed in recent spates of violence in the Madhesh region align with those long utilized by the RSS in India. Nevertheless, he expressed optimism that emerging youth-led movements across South Asia could stem the tide of such divisive politics. Mander shared these insights in Lalitpur during an interaction with youth and intellectuals, jointly organized byHimalkhabarand theSouth Asians for Human Rights Network (SAPAN). The event was moderated by senior journalist Kanak Mani Dixit.