Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Recently, the right-wing group Hindu in India destroying the statues of Jesus and burning the ornaments of Santa Claus.
They consider that Christians in India use Christmas celebrations to convert the country’s Hindus.
On Boxing Day, the statue of Jesus was destroyed in the state of Haryana. Additionally, the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Ambala has also been targeted by radical Hindu groups.
In Indian Hinduism, there is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The group was founded in 1927 by people fascinated by Mussolini’s fascists.
The RSS is the parent organization of Hindu supremacists: the Hindutva, as it is called.
Hinduism has no main church, no single pope, no one is ordained or ruled. The RSS has presented itself as the arbiter of theological meaning and the architect of the Hindu nation-state, according to The Guardian.
The group has at least 4 million volunteers, who swear allegiance and participate in paramilitary exercises.
Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead in 1948 by members of the RSS, although the RSS claims the man left the organization that year.
RSS does more than just get involved in electoral politics. However, one of its affiliated groups is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party has ruled India for six years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Under his rule, he transformed India into an authoritarian Hindu nationalist state.
Long before that, in 1996, the BJP won the majority of seats in parliament for the first time. The party leads a platform of Hindu nationalism and pushes for a ban on the slaughter of cows, meat eaten by Muslims and the reconquest of Kashmir as Indian territory.
Narendra Modi’s far-right party, read next page…
Narendra Modi’s right-wing party
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