India 'ever more like Pakistan': Ramachandra Guha

India is increasingly abandoning its secular foundations in favor of Hindu majoritarianism, making the country's political and social landscape "ever more like Pakistan," according to Indian historian Ramachandra "Ram" Guha.

Guha, a left-leaning historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research spans social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, argues in an opinion piece that the country is witnessing a systematic shift toward faith-based governance.

"India is currently on a path that makes it ever more like Pakistan," Guha writes in an opinion piece published in the Telegraph India, noting that the primary distinction is that Hindus, rather than Muslims, are now the dominant group ruling over fellow citizens.

Guha traces the origins of the shift to policies by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who, he says, "cynically and instrumentally" brought religion into statecraft. According to the historian, Gandhi's approach of appeasing both Hindu and Muslim hardliners created a "vicious cycle" that ultimately empowered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the sangh parivar.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, Guha says the BJP has pursued a "Hindu-first" politics that has largely excluded Muslims from public life. He points out that "not one of the over 800 BJP MPs elected in the last three general elections is Muslim," and that working-class Muslims face discrimination in housing, employment, and targeted violence.

Guha highlights legal and symbolic measures reflecting majoritarianism, including the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the abolition of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and Modi presiding over the inauguration of the Ram temple. He also observes a cultural dimension, noting that Bollywood increasingly portrays non-Hindus in a negative light.

Drawing historical parallels with countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Israel, Guha warns that merging faith with the state can have economic and political consequences. "There is no reason to believe India will be exempt from these disastrous results," he writes.

According to Guha, the consequences of faith-based governance include political and social marginalization, institutional and legal degradation, economic and developmental setbacks, and global isolation or civil strife. He argues that public institutions, including the judiciary, have experienced a "moral degradation" by failing to check hate-filled rhetoric and by enabling officials to act as members of a faith rather than representatives of a secular state.

Other historical leaders are contrasted in Guha's analysis. He credits India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, with maintaining a secular state that provided equal rights to minorities. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he writes, had "majoritarian instincts," but coalition constraints limited his ability to act on them.

Guha concludes that India's shift toward Hindu majoritarianism repeats mistakes seen in countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where centering a majority religion in state policy contributed to civil strife, institutional decline, and developmental setbacks.