Rokan's Journal

Brig Gen HRM Rokan Uddin

From the halls of power in New Delhi to the remote corners of the Indian countryside, the signs of fascism’s rise are increasingly visible. Confusion is no longer possible. India, once hailed as the world’s largest democracy and a pluralistic mosaic of cultures, faiths, and languages, is steadily veering toward authoritarian nationalism. Democratic norms are being systematically eroded, dissent is branded as “anti-national,” and strongman politics are glorified. These trends reveal a dangerous trajectory: a nation drifting away from the democratic principles that once defined its political landscape.

At the center of this transformation is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an organization rooted in Hindu nationalist ideology. The party’s hardline members promote the belief that India was originally a purely Hindu nation, and that the presence of minorities—particularly India’s nearly 200 million Muslims—is a product of foreign conquest and colonization. This worldview reduces centuries of cultural intermingling and shared heritage into a simplistic narrative of “outsiders versus natives.” Such narratives are not merely historical misinterpretations; they form the ideological foundation for policies that marginalize minorities, rewrite history, and stoke communal polarization. Laws such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), campaigns against interfaith marriages under the banner of “love jihad,” and frequent mob violence against Muslims and Dalits highlight how ideology is increasingly shaping state policy and social behavior.

This nationalist vision traces its roots to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when upper-caste Hindu elites sought to redefine Indian identity in opposition to both British missionaries and India’s Muslim rulers of the past. Out of this intellectual ferment arose the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925, a Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization. One of its ideological architects, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, developed the doctrine of Hindutva—a concept that defines Indian identity through religious and ethnic exclusivity. For Savarkar, being truly Indian meant being Hindu; Muslims and Christians were cast as “foreign elements,” no matter how deep their historical roots in the subcontinent.

The RSS modeled itself in part on the paramilitary formations of Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Its drills, once conducted in khaki shorts and now in trousers, were not simply exercises in fitness but in discipline, conformity, and unquestioning loyalty to a central authority. The aim was clear: to prepare Hindu men for a militant form of nationalism that mirrored the authoritarian ideologies gaining ground in Europe during the 1930s. Nearly a century later, the RSS’s ideological progeny now dominates India’s political system through the BJP. Under Modi’s leadership, state institutions have increasingly been co-opted into enforcing a singular nationalist vision. The judiciary, media, and law enforcement often act in alignment with the ruling party’s agenda, while opposition leaders face harassment, arrests, or legal entanglements.

Independent journalism and academic freedom are under siege. Critical voices are silenced through censorship, intimidation, or the withdrawal of institutional support. Civil society organizations face harassment under the pretext of “foreign funding restrictions.” The labeling of critics as “anti-national” echoes the rhetoric of fascist regimes that equated dissent with treason. Meanwhile, the glorification of Modi as a “strongman” further entrenches personality-driven politics. The projection of a leader who stands above the nation, immune to criticism, mirrors the cults of personality that sustained authoritarian rulers in Europe and Asia throughout the 20th century.

India’s drift toward authoritarian nationalism is not just ideological—it is also exacerbating social and economic fault lines. Rising unemployment, agrarian distress, and deepening inequality are ignored or deflected through the politics of identity and polarization. The majority community is fed a narrative of historical grievance and promised cultural supremacy, while real economic issues remain unresolved. The result is a society fractured along communal lines, with minorities increasingly insecure and marginalized. Inter-community trust—once a bedrock of India’s pluralistic democracy—is being eroded. This fragmentation poses a real threat to the stability of the Indian state itself.

The international community is beginning to take notes. Recently, a European diplomat remarked that India is on a path toward disintegration due to the government’s wrong-headed policies. Such stark warnings, though diplomatically sensitive, underscore the growing recognition abroad that India’s internal trajectory has implications for regional and global stability. India, once viewed as a counterbalance to authoritarian powers in Asia, is itself displaying traits of authoritarianism. This not only undermines its credibility on the global stage but also risks alienating allies who value democratic governance. Countries that once admired India as a democratic example may now hesitate to embrace it as a partner, questioning whether New Delhi still embodies the democratic values it claims to defend.

India’s internal problems today echo the trajectories of two major states that collapsed in the late 20th century—the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Both presented themselves as powerful, unified nations, yet both disintegrated when authoritarianism, economic disparity, and ethnic nationalism collided. India is showing disturbingly similar fault lines. Separatist sentiments remain alive in several states. Kashmir’s alienation has deepened since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019, while insurgencies in Nagaland, Manipur, and Assam still fester in the Northeast. In Punjab, the Khalistan movement’s shadow lingers, fueled by diaspora support. In Tamil Nadu and southern India, resentment against the imposition of “Hindi-Hindu” identity threatens the fragile federal balance. Each of these regions carries unresolved grievances that, if inflamed, could spiral into secessionist demands.

Economic inequality between states is another destabilizing factor. Southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala often argue they are overtaxed and underfunded compared to Hindi-heartland states. This mirrors the economic grievances of Slovenia and Croatia in Yugoslavia, where wealthier republics resented subsidizing poorer ones—resentment that eventually fueled separatism. Religious polarization, pushed aggressively by Hindutva forces, alienates nearly 200 million Muslims along with Christians and other minorities. When vast segments of the population are systematically marginalized, they are more likely to withdraw allegiance from the state. Yugoslavia’s disintegration was driven in part by such ethnoreligious fractures. Finally, the central government’s authoritarian overreach is undermining federalism—the very glue that has historically held India together. The overuse of governors, the intimidation of opposition states, and the imposition of uniformity from New Delhi resemble Moscow’s suffocating control over Soviet republics. As democracy and pluralism erode, centrifugal forces gain strength.

India’s diversity—once a source of resilience—is being transformed into a fault line by policies that promote exclusion and homogenization. By pushing a singular identity and silencing dissent, the ruling establishment risks creating precisely the conditions that tore apart the USSR and Yugoslavia. Unless course correction comes, India may find itself not moving toward greater unity, but toward dangerous fragmentation.

The rise of Hindu nationalism in India, nurtured by the RSS and institutionalized by the BJP, is reshaping the nation into something that resembles the fascist regimes of Europe more than the pluralist democracy envisioned by its founding fathers. What is unfolding is not merely a political contest but a transformation of the republic itself. History has shown time and again that fascism thrives when dissent is suppressed, minorities are scapegoated, and citizens surrender their freedoms in exchange for promises of national greatness. India today is approaching that dangerous precipice. The warning signs are unmistakable. If unchecked, this project could push India not toward unity, but toward fragmentation, instability, and violence—undermining both its democratic heritage and its future as a cohesive nation.