Statues – big statues, the largest in the world – are being built all across India.
Like many public monuments, they attempt to convey history in a concrete form. But India’s new statues convey something else, too: the power and vision of one dominant group – and the vulnerability of others.
That’s because India’s biggest new public monuments all pay tribute to Hindu gods and leaders.
As a scholar of social change in India, I see statues as a projection of a nation’s values at a particular moment in time. For many Muslims and other religious minorities, then, these hulking public monuments of Hindu icons send an ominous message about their status in society.
Rising Hindu nationalism
The mammoth public shrines to Hindu nationalism are a pet project of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Since taking office in 2014, Modi has used his power to promote Hindu nationalism, a polarizing ideology that sees Hindus as India’s dominant group. Yet India is a constitutionally multicultural country with the world’s second largest population of Muslims – comprising over 170 million people.
Twenty percent of its 1.3 billion people are Muslim, Christian or another religion.
By 2021 India, which is already home to the tallest statue in the world – Gujarat state’s 597-foot-tall “Statue of Unity,” commemorating Indian independence hero Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – plans to unveil two more record-breaking monuments, both portraying icons idolized by Hindu rightists.
A 725-foot bronze likeness of the god Ram planned for Uttar Pradesh state will soon surpass the Statue of Unity in size. And in Mumbai construction has been halted on a 695-foot-tall likeness of the medieval Hindu warrior Shivaji, pending the results of an environmental review.
Guinness World Records also recently judged Tamil Nadu state’s 112-foot depiction of the face of the Hindu god Shiva as the world’s largest bust statue.
All this is happening under Modi, who is up for re-election in monthlong general elections that start on April 11.
He was voted into office in 2014 on a platform of “development for all.” Promising to boost the economy in a country where nearly 22% of people live in poverty and millions go hungry, Modi and the BJP won an historic parliamentary majority over the center-left Indian National Congress, its main competitor.
Since then, India has improved in international “ease of doing business” rankings, passing regulations that improve commerce and the protection of property rights.
But some of Modi’s boldest moves to improve cash flow and boost public revenues, including a 2017 tax reform initiative and a ban on saving in certain high-value currencies, have failed. Unemployment has risen under BJP rule, particularly in rural areas, and the national economy suffered during the “demonetization” process.
Over the last five years, under Modi’s administration, India has also seen a startling rise of Hindu vigilante violence.
Also read: The elephant in the room: Why Mayawati’s statues are under Supreme Court lens
Indian vigilante ‘cow killings’
The attacks – often called “cow protection” – are sometimes deadly assaults that target Muslims and other Indians who, unlike many Hindus, do not consider cows to be sacred.
Hindu militants killed at least 44 Indians and injured 280 in about 100 attacks between May 2015 and December 2018, according to the international not-for-profit Human Rights Watch. Most of the dead were Muslims in states run by Modi’s political party.
The prime minister and his BJP have faced criticism for being slow to condemn anti-Muslim violence and for prioritizing legislation to safeguard cows, not the victims of vigilantism. Cow protection violence has also crippled India’s beef and leather industries, since they are primarily Muslim-run.
Muslim men who date Hindu women are another common target of vigilante violence, as are students, journalists, academics and artists perceived to be critical of Modi’s leadership.
The Hindu nationalists’ crusade against pluralism takes place even as the Modi administration cracks down on civil liberties. Between 2014 and 2016, 179 people were arrested on charges of sedition for protests, critical blogs or anti-government posts on Facebook, according to government crime statistics.
Fears of religious minority groups
This is the cultural context that has Muslims worried over India’s statue-building spree.
The BJP is not the first party to build public monuments celebrating only one segment of Indian society.
From 2007 to 2012, a top politician named Mayawati built numerous memorials and parks across Uttar Pradesh state commemorating leaders from India’s marginalized Dalit class, formerly known as the “untouchables.” Mayawati, a Dalit, commissioned statues of herself, her political mentor Kanshi Ram and other Dalit icons who fought against India’s caste system.
It was the first time such grand homage had been paid to the Dalit leaders who crusaded against India’s deep-rooted caste system.
But the US$800 million price invited scrutiny, and the courts have asked Mayawati to repay some of those funds.
India’s election commission also insisted that Mayawati’s statues be shrouded ahead of state elections in 2012, saying the visibility of the then-chief minister and her party symbol might sway voters.
In contrast, resistance to India’s giant new statues has been muted. And Hindu nationalists are pushing for more public commemoration of their faith.
In November 2018, tens of thousands of Hindus gathered to demand the construction of a Hindu temple in the Indian city of Ayodhya – at the same spot where, in 1992, Hindu zealots demolished an ancient Muslim-built mosque.
The proposal to build instead an enormous statue of Ram in Ayodhya is widely seen as an effort to placate Hindu nationalists in their decades-long quest for a Ram temple.
Fearing a repeat of the deadly violence that destroyed the ancient mosque, some local Muslims fled the city last November.
Indian elections
Indians will decide whether to give Modi another five years when they vote this spring in the world’s biggest election.
Recent polls show Modi and his BJP leading in a race in which several competitor parties have allied to defeat him.
The prime minister’s public approval got a 7% boost, to 52%, after India’s brief but sharp escalation of recent tension with neighboring Pakistan, a majority Muslim state.
Border disputes are a classic move for a strongman leader during election season. Paying homage to Hindu nationalist icons in the form of giant public monuments, however, is something different. Modi is transforming secular India, one statue at a time.
Indulata Prasad, Assistant Professor, Women and Gender Studies, School of Social Transformation, Tempe Campus, Arizona State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
There must be site like Rotten Tomatoes for journalism, cz this kind of article should deserve some kind of rating. I mean smoking weed is one thing but writting articles while high is something out of sanity
Groups like the Thowheed Jamath are making non-Muslims as well as Muslims in India nervous and very frightened.
The burqa and the niqab are making Muslim women cringe and non-Muslims nervous, particularly after the fact that the burqa was used effectively to escape law enforcement by terrorists in Sri Lanka just a few days ago.
PS: While am not in favor of such blatant display of ones inner faith/beliefs. the good news is that these statutes dont kill people. Also BJP ought to focus on restoring older temples.
Hey Indulata Prasad, Let me congratulate you for being a Perfect #Presstitute !
How smartly you are peddling lies for The Print & The Quint. Whose Agenda are you Running by serving all the Crap????
Listen woman The giant Hanuman Statue that you Hinduphobic creatures have quoted here in the article and fooling the haters by projecting it as BJP’s ‘pet project’ was ACTUALLY built in 1997, in Karol Bagh Delhi. (It was Congress Govt in power with PV Narsimha Rao as the PM).
In the year 2007 (again Congress Govt in power with Manmohan Singh as the PM) it was recognised as the 3rd largest Hanuman statue in India.
And let me inform you Liars , it was in 2017 when the Centre has BJP Govt, that a CBI enquiry started to know if the Hanuman statue on an encroached land and Delhi High Court asked the authorities to check on whether it can be air-lifted and relocated.
Now to your another Crappy Lie-
The Ram Janam Bhoomi is legally Hindus. Hindus DID NOT ATTACK or INVADE Islamic religious places Muslim Invaders DID !
The first time that a case was filed in the court against the illegal construction of a mosque (babri) on the site of Ram Janam Bhoomi in the year 1822 !
Do NOT make it sound as if BJP started this after coming to power in 2014 .
And STOP this Farce of talking Justice ! Commies like you can only incriminate Hindus ! They will bury their heads in the sand when the people from minorities inflict atrocities on the majority community.
Bloody disgusting creatures like you won’t talk of railway stations, airports & main road blocking in big cities & towns on every Jumme ki
Namaaz or blaring Azaan On loud speakers, Slaughtering animals on road, mushrooming of mosques & churches in every nook & corner of the country by grabbing Govt land. Rapes, molestations, murders, love jihad, land jihad, smuggling, weapon, human & drug trafficking…the list can go on forever .. If you are blind to all this & can’t help yourself from being a SoldOutCrearure, better stay in some Hell hole & Not in the US or India ..
Absolutely true ! Salute u for such a tight slap to this presstitute.
All the big mosques built over or near the known Hindu temples all over India, what exactly have they been doing for centuries? Please write about them sometime. I am not religious but I feel something that belonged to Hindus even if centuries ago should lawfully come back to us.
Build what ever you want we care a shit. Dont try to frighten us by these worthless articles. Did any muslim tell you that he is afride of these statues? The election is over, be normal now.
Hey these #Presstitutes won’t listen to any sane voice ! Try that !
These so called well wishers of the underprivileged & Minorities in India will tell you that you don’t know anything about yourself , cz we know what & how things have to be projected ! That’s how their ugly agenda of divisiveness runs bringing them riches .
Imagine how ancestors of present day Hindus must have felt when Muslim invaders vandalised their temples and built mosques. Since 1970 Muslims in India have built more mosques with petro dollars. These are not visible to you. Present day Hindu aggressiveness is the reaction to the ways Indian Muslims have behaved post 1947.
Br. Jitendra, No Muslim is allowed to attack, vandalize or desecrate any place of worship. Prophet Mohammed said anyone who ill treats a Muslim or a non-Muslim is not “one of us”. More than 800 years of Muslim rule over undivided India, still majority of undivided India are non-Muslims, a proof that no force was imposed. When emperor Akbar married a Hindu, she became the queen of India. Even to this day, if & when a real educated Muslim married a non-Muslim, she will be the queen of his heart, hearth & home, till death. Every non-Muslim is at liberty to visit mosque from Indonesia in the East to Los Angeles in the West & see what is done inside a mosque – no statues or pictures of any god or goddess or king or queen or president or Prime Ministers – just worship of one creator. Even countries ruled by Kings or dictators are not allowed to keep their pictures, let alone statues. I admit there are some black sheep calling themselves Muslims who are a shame to Muslim community & the educated & learned Muslims would like to seem them punished suitably. In fact, for their crimes, Muslim countries have severe punishment than what is prescribed in India.
“who ill treats a Muslim or a non-Muslim is not “one of us…”
If that is the case, then you also would have been Hindu instead of Muslim. The fact is, forced conversion took place otherwise it was a death. The bravery of our ancestors is unquestionable who stayed grounded with their beliefs and gave life to swords of invaders. That’s why you see many Hindus saved and are not converted.
Hindustan is the only country which stayed strong against your so called ancestors. This is why we respect our ancestors as protector of nation, not as gods.
The author says ”Muslim men who date Hindu women are another common target of vigilante violence, as are students, journalists, academics and artists perceived to be critical of Modi’s leadership.” Do you know of Muslim men marrying their daughters to a Hindu man, without insisting on the groom changing his religion to Islam? If India is still secular it is because of Hindus , who despite allowing partition of India, to create land for Muslims, still remained secular. Hindus remained silent despite communal riots in Malabar, Bengal, pogroms against Hindus in J&K, but now no more,.
Students, Journalists, leftists espousing ”Bharat teray Tukde hongay, Insha Allah, Insha Allah” are no longer welcome .
Why do you call Shivaji as a “Hindu Warrior” and not “Indian Warrior”? Why do you have a problem with Sardar’s Statue of Unity? Why would Muslims feel uncomfortable with Sardar Patel? There are 50,000 statues of Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi across the country. But one statue for Sardar Patel is making you write this illogical article. I really do not think the actual Muslims of this country have any problem with these statues, since they are also building giant Mosques in their communities. What I only infer from this article is the usual Divisive Politics of the Leftists, who believe strongly in the DIVIDE-AND-RULE policy of the British Raj.
Kitne Indian Muslims se milkar apne ye article likha hai. Bilkul jhoot aur ghalat jankari likhi hai aapne. Yahan sabko qaanoon k daere mein rehte hue apne apne mazhab par chalne ki poori azadi hai.
”The Print” has become a platform for pushing anti establishment views, this may be still okay, but for god sake, don’t become an anti-hindu platform. Frankly I don’t care if the Muslims become nervous seeing Hindus practice their religion freely or openly, this right is for all religions and not just Muslims. India has a belligerent and vocal Muslim population which freely protests against building Ram temple on the site of Lord Ram’s birthplace, has implemented Sharia in J&K state, protests common civil code, triple talaq ban, insists on beef eating as if it is mandated by Islam, ignoring the culture and sentiments of their neighbors from Majority religion.
India has more mosques than anywhere else in the world, so no lack of religious freedom and expression for Muslims. Leftist propaganda has no place in India like elsewhere in the world.
I wish the author had seen the number and sizes of mosques built in India over last few years. In my hometown where there was no mosque and then a small mosque came and now it a gigantic structure. I do not fear this so far I see it as a home of God.
This is one of the better moves – building murthis of our Gods. Compared to rhetoric alone on the Ram Temple.
They look good and generally have a fair like atmosphere around them with pilgrims, tourists, small sellers. Reminds me of my childhood.
God bless them all. Wish this trend continues. 🙂
Buddha statues in Afghanistan made them nervous, Zoroastrianism made them nervous, Jews make them nervous, churches, synagogues and temples made them nervous, yazidis made them nervous, big universities like Nalanda and takshashila made them nervous, and they destroyed everything which made them nervous, Hindu statues have been making them nervous since last 1000 years nothing new in that, intolerance is a pillar in Islam, without which Islam will collapse.
Why always Muslims get offended on everything? Muslims are not comfortable if there is a non muslim in their locality performing his religious rituals, Muslims always offended by every action of other religious groups,
Even they are get more offended when there is nobody other then Muslims ( syriya,Iraq etc)
read Quran then you will understand why they are uncomfortable,
Unless you read Quaran its better to shut your shitty mouth.
All I want to say that Muslims Must understand that EVERY OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS ARE GETTING OFENDED AND FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE AND WHOLE WORLD BECOME UNSAFE BY WHAT THEY ARE DOING. AND END NOTE : YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET 72 HURS .
(sorry for my bad English hope you understand what I’m trying to say.
Comorade Indulata Prasad sitting thousands of miles away in a Capitalistic Democracy spews venom against Hindus and the Right wing Government. If you hate Hindus so much, covert, be a muslim and start wearing a Burqa. This will bring in your senses Moron
I am sure the writer is not ignorant about 3 lakh mosques India has which is 2nd highest in the world & it seems there is no proper count of churches in India, so stop this rhetoric in this election season. It’s obvious you are getting paid for this.
Why always hindus are targeted for everything. Go and see the other countries how majority community behaves. Minoritis in India are very well treated if you compare it to other countries. If you have the writing skills please use it for some unbiased useful articles. Don’t try to create the rift in the society bu such nonsense articles.
Will Indian muslims ever stand up for Hindus or not, or keep feelinghappy with all this divisive politics by lal salaam journos
Hindu Militants.??? Hindu terrorists.??? How dare u filthy the print!
It’s ok.. you have kept your view and we will prove what we are 22nd May 2019.
-Bhakt of Modi
Saudi funded mosques are springing all over the country, the ones in Hyderabad are huge and look scary , they scream through loudspeakers whenever they want and no one can stop them, they occupy the streets and block traffic, and you shamelessly say they are sacred and nervous.
The scared and nervous people challenge that if police is removed for 5 minutes they will eliminate Hindus.. bullshit.
The hippocracy and double standards of the writer are obvious. Consider the following :
1) During centuries of Muslim aggression and rule, more than 30,000 temples were destroyed and no new large Hindu temple was allowed to come up. There are massive mosques with tall minarets and Churches with tall spires and cruises all over India. Should the Hindus not feel threatened?
2) Portuguese resorted to subterfuge and violence while spreading their religion all along the West coast of India.
3) If the Muslims are so worried about their security, why thousands of refugees from Afghanistan who came here following Soviet occupation have not gone back? Why millions of people from Bangladesh have come here during the last 70 years and why thousands of Rohingyas have come here during the last five years? Indian Muslims are nervous, why are they not telling these entrants to go back if they are not safe here?
Want any Anti hindu, Pro islamic article to read, please subscribe The Print, and if u want a unbiased articles, no fake news, no fear mongering , healthy news please unsubscribe The Print with immediate effect, one of the most substandard news portal, can be rightly called as “PRESSTITuTe”
Let them visit “Muslim” countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and some others in South East Asia, and see for themselves the presence and reverence for Hindu Gods, the huge statues devoted to them, and common Hindu names prevailing there IN PEACE and HARMONY. They are falling a prey to fears deliberately fuelled by political parties such as Congress in India.
Biased and useless article…this is why the print can’t be trusted…I hope the govt takes strict action against this stupid author…..you should be more worried about the arabization of Indian Muslims…that’s the real threat
Not at all.. just a matter of time…not only in India but in Islamic countries too Muslims facing hardships because being diverted from Quran… Nothing to fear…..the day when Muslims started to become ‘Momins”.. this filth ends automatically…
What filth? care to explain.
Can’t understand this complain.The reason for partition was because M felt that they couldn’t live with others and wanted their own separate space so why crib and cry now or should we now yet again recarve India to accommodate them.Even I feel threatened seeing burqas which hide faces and are way more sinister . please can we have your views on this
When we will get rid of these so called pseodo seculirist{intelligetia) ? They are dominating media and through media they are creating in the mind of people of indiaa sense of insecurity by there wild imagination. Any thing great about hindu civilisation they just can not tolerate it insteat they abhore it.
They are just no connectedt with groung realities. The more they try todepict the majority community in bad light there will be more polarisation.
Can’t believe my eye seeing this kind of Anti India anti Hindu article running freely in India. Why this foriegn funded Jihadi group called the Print yet not banned in India. If Hindu God’s statue make someone nervous, he need to see a psycriatist or may be go for another country. What if Hindus say moring azan make them nervous? or Mosque or church make Hindus nervous?? Then it’s communal right??
LI’d loudly say Jai Shri Ram. Vande Matram. Bharat mata ki jai..
If any one offended he can fuck off.
It seems the author had only one chance to spew venom against Hindus, so she did her best to include every single fake issue/narrative built over five years. Why a secular country should be following tenets of on particular religion which can’t stand the concept of idolatry. Shouldn’t it be marked and reported for hateful content??
Writers like indulata know the real situation very much, but pretend that everything is fine in a secular society… She ignores the fact as to how history has been twisted in India all these years… She ignores what is happening in Europe and other places… In short she has wasted her and everyone’s time by writing this article… May have been paid by pseudo seculars…
Ms indulata prasad why u r so anti hindu? Is their any proof that hindus are terrorists? I think u r mentally sick. You don’t ve guts to tell the truth.
I hope & pray that Modi is successful in his mission. Peace.
All Terrorist are Muslims..
Muslims are making all World Nervous..
And
People like you sold there own sole,dignity,pride for money..
Change your name and convert in most peaceful community in the World..
The tone and tenor of the article says that the author of this article sucks Muslim dicks.
Modi is ok with building a statue for prophet the Mohammed also. But the islam prohibits display of Mohammed s idol or picture.
What ABout naming a pervert and follower of terrorism religion 5 times a day ?
This article is a testimony of the fact that no one but the so called self proclaimed liberal intellectual section of the society is feeling the heat of loosing the relevance. If Muslims are feeling threatened by the statues then I request you mam to take them along with you wherever you stay.
When was the Statue of Hanuman built on Delhi ??? It was there even b4 the present Govt came to power…. Why was it not highlighted then?? It’s become a fashion for The Print to attribute everything going wrong to Hindus and BJP hence the necessity all the more to be on offensive … pls also count the number of Mosques and Churches which came up all these years … Nothing wrong in them as per the “so called Secular cult”??? Pathetic and pity u guys….
We can build statue of mohammed too, want that?
Let us have some muslim saying yes.
Ms Indulata, if Hindus don’t build monuments and statues of their deities in India, then where else would they? Why only Hindus, don’t giant cathedrals and mausoleums look threatening to Hindus? Why they make monstrous building with cross and Quoranic inscriptions? Why are you after the Hindus?
Why did you write “Hindu Militants”? Do you know definition of Militants? Why did you ignore hundreds of Islamic bombs killing thousands world over and the Christian onslaught on non-Christians?
If Hindus are still a majority despite hundreds of years of slaughter, it is their fault or resilience?
You are typical of those bigots who know nothing yet write bogus and enraging articles.
And why deliberately kill cows despite knowing that they are considered revered by Hindus? Why not those beef-lover restrain themselves and have respect for the majority?
Should Hindus drown themselves in Bay of Bengal to make people like you happy?
One of the most communal articles in recent times. Full of ignorance and wrong information.
One more biased article. You call Sardar Patel and Shivaji as “Hindu” leaders and expect Akbar to be recognized as an “Indian” leader.
If you had not been biased like most of us, all these fears you are talking about will not exist.
It looks like it’s not Muslims who are having fear, but pseudo secularists who they are losing relevance in Indian society and politics.
The caption suggest that a number of statues of Hindu Gods have been built and are being built all over India during this regime. Strangely she could mention only one statue of a Hindu deity in South and another proposed to be built in north. A worst form of intellectual dishonesty !!!
U need to mind ur words. How dare u to call hindu terrorist. For u bloody liberals as u say terrorism has no religion. Moreover u need to think why only Muslims feel nervous. Many more minorities are there. They never feel so. So better shut up.
They are being paid for such articles. Even a prostitute has better morals than these presstitutes.
Change your name for Prasad to Marlena that will make this article more relatable
Dilwara temple, near Mount Abu.
Ìf muslims become majority, will there be secularism in India? They will declare India Islamic country
True
Hmm secularism.. like they haven’t unoficially declared ours a Hindu country already? Or would you like to call it “Hindu secularism”?
Very true.
It seems that some people have always problem with anything. If they have problems better to keep it for themselves.
They don’t frighten me, or make me nervous, but somehow they seem grotesque, very poor aesthetics, not at all necessary. Better to create something of lasting beauty, like the exquisitely carved Jain temples at Ranakpur, in Rajasthan.