Uniform Civil Code is Indian PM’s response to electoral rout
It confirms Narendra Modi will again use Hindu majoritarianism to win a third consecutive term in 2024 In a land where the most simple of marriage laws — that the bride must be 18 years of age — is defied by tens of millions every year, the uncommon hurry to enact a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for 1.30 billion Indians within this year, confirms the fears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will again use the Brahmastra, or divine weapon, of Hindu majoritarianism to win the 2024 general election, for a third consecutive term. In every election, since he used the formula to come to power in 2014, Modi has notched upsets, carrying the battle to the grassroots, seeing his opponents trying to ape him in several shades of Hindutva (hegemony of Hinduism) and fail. The Congress, even the left and the socialists in between, have discovered that soft Hindutva does not work when the real McCoy can be had for the asking. At its basest, this smoke and mirrors politics works by scaring the majority Hindus — close to 80 percent of the population — that they will be reduced to vassals of Muslims who once ravaged the land of its history and culture,
Christians to vote for change in southern Indian state
Karnataka ruled by the pro-Hindu BJP has seen a rise in attacks on Christians and their institutions Christians in the poll-bound southern Indian state of Karnataka are looking to usher in change as they say they have been left despondent living under ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “The BJP has alienated Christians with its discriminatory policies and open hatred towards us,” T Vellankanni Paul Raj, a Catholic leader based in the state capital Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), told UCA News on April 20. Christians form 1.87 percent of Karnataka’s 61 million people and the community has faced increasing harassment for years. But attacks against Christians saw a notable surge since the BJP assumed power by unseating a Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in July 2019. A state anti-conversion law that came into effect in May 2022 led to a further uptick in violence against Christians and their institutions like schools and hospitals, he said. “We never indulge in any illegal or violent activity. Rather we work for nation-building. But still, the BJP government targeted us by enacting a stringent anti-conversion law ignoring our pleas against it,” Raj said. Discontent among Christians was aggravated further when Munirathna Naidu, the state minister for horticulture, at a public meeting in
