Nikhil Mandalaparthy is the advocacy director with Hindus for Human Rights, a human rights nonprofit that advocates for pluralism and civil and human rights in South Asia and North America. He spoke with Jody Hassett Sanchez in Washington during Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s state visit.
Read MoreEarlier this month, the two-part BBC documentary “The Modi Question” was screened at Columbia University's Journalism School and Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, among others. In its most recent attempts at stifling dissent, the Indian government banned the documentary. At Columbia University, the screening was followed by a panel discussion led by progressive academics, Indian activists and journalists.
Read MoreSyed Ali Sarvat Jafri lives near Ayodhya, the Indian city that witnessed violent intercommunal rioting after Hindu nationalists tore down a 16th century mosque. Jafri aims to spark conversations about history, memory and heritage-preservation through his art, which draws on his ancestral legacy of blending Hinduism and Sufism in poetry.
Read MoreOf the 7.6 billion people on Earth, 2.4 billion identify as Christian, 1.9 billion as Muslim, 1.2 billion as Hindu and more than 500 million as Buddhist. Those are just the four largest religions. In other words, 310 million in the U.S. do not necessarily constitute the epicenter for all religion in the world. If anything, religion in America is a unique outlier.
Read MoreLocal Muslims believe the new proposed regulations threaten the culture of the Muslim-majority islands and are aimed at furthering the Hindu nationalist agenda of India's ruling party.
Read MoreThe Indian government has evicted hundreds of nomadic Muslims living in the forests of Kashmir and cut down their sources of income— their apple orchards. The move comes a year after a court order declaring their occupation of the land illegal, but activists say the Hindu nationalist government is ignoring a law allowing tribal people to live on government land and accusing the government of wanting to change the Muslim character of the region.
Read MoreA new bill in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand would recognize the Sarna faith of tribals (indigenous people) for the first time. The state hopes to persuade the national government to pass a similar resolution. But some Hindu nationalist groups are pushing back.
Read MoreSeven months after deadly anti-Muslim riots in New Delhi, calm has been restored, and local Muslims have returned for prayers in the restored mosques. But those complicit in the 53 deaths, of which two-thirds were Muslims, remain at large.
Read MoreIndian Muslims are being targeted in different parts of the country following reports that there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at a mid-March gathering hosted by a Muslim missionary society.
Read MoreOn. March 13, in a surprise move, the Indian government released former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and current Member of Parliament, Farooq Abdullah. He had been detained more than seven months inside his home in Kashmir, since Aug. 5, 2019 when the Indian government revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status.
Read MoreThe Indian government has restored Muslim-majority Kashmir’s Internet access. Kashmiris wonder: for how long?
Read MoreNearly 42 people were killed, including a Delhi cop, and more than 200 injured. The violence began when Hindu mobs clashed with Muslims in northeast Delhi protesting a new citizenship law that fast-tracks citizenship for religious minorities of all major faiths coming from some neighboring countries, except Islam.
Read MoreThe night before President Trump’s arrival, Indian police arrested several activists involved in protests against a controversial citizenship bill and register seen as anti-Muslim. Police released the activists after the "Namaste Trump" event was over and Trump left to visit the Taj Mahal.
Read MoreHindu nationalists are trying to stop a Catholic parish’s proposed 114-feet-high granite Jesus statue atop a hill in rural South India, sparked by a large Christmas land donation from a Hindu politician. The archbishop of Bangalore sought the state chief minister’s intervention this week to continue the $1.5 million project.
Read MoreMass protests in India show a public resistance to Prime Minister Modi and his party’s vision for a Hindu nation over a long-held secularism that treats all religions equally.
Read MoreAfter a Supreme Court ruling that allows Hindus to rebuild a temple over an illegally demolished mosque, Hindu nationalists are looking to claim another Mughal-era mosque in one of Hinduism’s holiest cities.
Read MoreIndia’s ruling Hindu nationalist party is fighting a state’s proposal to provide eggs to government daycare centers, where many of the women and children come from tribal backgrounds not adhering to vegetarian or Hindu diets.
Read MoreYoung boys in Muslim-majority Kashmir say Indian police are arresting them without cause. “There is lawlessness in Kashmir,” one of their lawyers says.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Twenty-six years ago, Hindu nationalists destroyed a 16th century mosque. Today, the right wing’s campaign issue is how to build a temple on that site.
Read MoreSince Narendra Modi become prime minister of India in May 2014, a nuisance of cow politics and vigilante "cow protectors" have moved to the forefront across India.
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