Under Prime Minister Modi, India is overexerting for applause in the international arena. However, its recent military adventurism against Pakistan has highlighted that India is as weak on the external front as it is from within. The 1.4 billion people in India continue to suffer at the hands of Modi’s hyper nationalism. Spanning over decades, India has forcefully woven together people of different faiths, languages, cultures, and histories into a fabricated nation. Its centralised governance structure has forced an unnatural unity upon diverse ethnicities, fuelling resentment and socio-political divisions. The BJP government continues to impose stringent laws in the wake of its Hindutva ideology that renders India a country for Hindus alone. As the forces of separatism grow stronger across the country, India hinges on securitisation of Pakistan and minorities to evade responsibility and justify military coercion.
Since 1947, Indian political elites have managed to maintain a superficial harmony by keeping the people sceptical of Pakistan. Securitisation theories determine how India has framed Pakistan as an existential threat through media narratives and covert actions by its intelligence agencies. India’s hyperreaction to the 2019 Pulwama attack and the most recent Pahalgam attack blaming Pakistan evinces the fact that India has made Pakistan a strategic escape for its political and religious follies. If this constructed Pakistani threat is removed from the equation, India will crumble in no time.
The Pakistani factor is significantly at play in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), where India is tactfully changing the regional demography to reduce the percentage of the Muslim population. For decades, India has conducted state terrorism and false flag operations in Kashmir to malign Pakistan. Since the BJP government abrogated Article 370, ending the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir, the terrorist attacks have further intensified, all to rationalise India’s militarisation of the region and human rights violations against Kashmiri people.
Moreover, history is repeating itself in Punjab with the Khalistan movement regaining momentum and popular support. The Indian army is attempting to reinforce control with force, just as it did during Operation Blue Star in 1984. Across other regions, India also resorts to military violence to supress separatist movements. In India’s Red Corridor, the Naxal movement backed by Maoists, has increased its resistance against capitalist, democratic India due to its discriminatory policies and prevailing underdevelopment. According to conflict theories, it is not absolute deprivation that leads to civil wars and insurgencies, but relative deprivation, where one group of people is marginalised against others in terms of resources and political participation.
Marginalisation also largely accounts for growing dissent in the Seven Sister States of India. The area of Hebron in Nagaland functions as a state within a state. This self-declared Republic of Nagalim has its own prime minister, a parliament, and a well-equipped army of 15,000. The Indian army is backed into a corner against Nagalim forces, just as it has been fighting a losing battle against 10 rebel groups in Manipur for more than two years now. Similarly, in Assam, Indian forces face three rebel groups seeking to establish an independent state.
Apart from decades-old grievances, another factor behind rising discontent is the delimitation process, which is likely to take place in 2026. This process would alter India’s electoral map, reducing the number of seats from the south in the Lok Sabha due to a lesser population there. Ultimately, it would mean more chances for the BJP to win the next elections. This step will further consolidate the foundation of Modi’s idea of ‘Bharat’, centring on Hinduism and cultural homogeneity.
Given the fact that southern states contribute more to federal revenue and may possibly have less political representation following delimitation, political parties in southern India are increasingly vying for separate statehood, especially in Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister MK Stalin’s move to replace the symbol of Indian rupee with Tamil letter ‘Ru’ and repeated calls for the eradication of Hinduism from Tamil Nadu also suggest a desire for secession from the Union of India.
While more than 15 of India’s 28 states are at war, the BJP continues to operate under its racial majoritarian agenda, defining nationhood through Hindu supremacy as per RSS’s century-old ideology. The Modi administration hinges on extremist measures to achieve its interests. Pakistan has, time and again, called for dialogue, but India, knowing that it has no logical grounds for its actions, keeps refusing. India has descended into fascism, and Indian policy has normalised resorting to violence, intimidation, and propaganda to assert its control instead of negotiation and dialogue.
All in all, India is nothing more than a huge chunk of land pretending to be a functional democracy. Blaming its internal separatist struggles on Pakistan only reflects India’s strategic short-sightedness. The deeper causes lie within its codified political suppression, coercive governance, and racial majoritarian ideology. While these structural tensions appear to be intensifying under the BJP rule, it is only a matter of time before India hits a pothole.
Be the first to comment