India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar comments that ‘India is a democratic country governed by the rule of law.’ Undoubtedly, India under Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a democracy, but a sham one which is not governed by the rule of law but by the rule of a mob. The revocation of Kashmir’s special status, the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and mob attacks on the anti-CAA protestors are the most glaring examples of how a democracy can morph into the tyranny of the majority.
In today’s India, democracy is rotten to the core. The first jolt to the Indian government came from Iran that India considers a reliable ally. While India’s fury over Iran foreign Minister Jawad Zarif’s tweets was not subsumed, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Michelle Bachelet knocked the door of the Indian Supreme Court (ISC) against the CAA.
And while the Indian government was trying to take care of these two moves, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) also sent its Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, Ambassador Yousef M. Al Dobeay to Pakistan to be briefed on the deteriorating human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K). Today, “India has degenerated into an inferno of systemic brutishness, imbecility and mendacity,” as Pankaj Mishra argues. In other words, present-day India is a garish image of RSS-istan that “Modi and his toadies” want to create.
Considering these developments, it is not wrong to assume that the world is waking up to the Indian menace and changing its tune. Organisations like the United Nations (UN) and OIC must speak in the loudest and most unequivocal terms against the ongoing state-sponsored violations of human rights in India. They need to convince the comity of the nations to do what is necessary to stop India from violating international law on Kashmir and otherising Muslims living in India.