Kashmir to Gaza: In May 2025, the world witnessed the most violent armed confrontation between the South Asian arch-rivals, India and Pakistan, in about two decades. Tensions began when India accused Pakistan of carrying out a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, which resulted in the casualties of about 26 tourists. India failed to carry out an impartial investigation or provide any evidence to the world to back its claims while persistently blaming and threatening its Western neighbour with a possible strike on the latter’s territory. That set the stage for India’s blatant aggression against Pakistan, as India targeted civilian areas in Pakistan, including mosques, in the name of “Operation Sindoor”, to which Pakistan also retaliated through “Operation Bunyanum Marsoos”. Both countries were then bound by a ceasefire agreement, which has been violated on and off to date.
Hindutva ideology: The South Asian Version of Zionism
To understand these military escalations, one must first unpack the ideology driving them. It is essential to conduct an in-depth examination of the Indian psyche behind this year’s political manoeuvres in the region, which are deeply influenced by the RSS, or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a political organisation that draws inspiration from Italy’s Mussolini regime as well as the Nazi Party’s fascist authoritarianism. Most importantly, over the past two decades, the RSS has emerged as the South Asian version of Zionist organisations. For Muslims in Delhi, this ideology translates into bulldozers at their homes and lynch mobs on their streets. Hindutva is an ideology of the RSS based on ideas of colonisation, as manifested in the state of Jammu and Kashmir; religious supremacy, as observed in the collective attitude of Modi’s India; and extreme ethnonationalism, as displayed by the Indian state’s persecution of religious minorities. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is currently the ruling party of India and is represented by Narendra Modi, an ultranationalist ruler, is the primary face of RSS and its Hindutva ideology. Modi’s followers and supporters, who now constitute a majority in the world’s so-called strongest democracy, have come to be known as the Deshbhakts (devoted patriots), and the rising intolerance among them is a perpetual threat to India’s multiculturalism and pluralism.
Hindutva and Zionism: The Ideological Twins
The characteristics of the far-right ultranationalist or extremist ideology of Hindutva share commonalities with Israel’s Zionism, and not just that, but their actions and policies in South Asia and the Middle East, respectively, also fall on the same spectrum. Firstly, Israel is represented by a coalition between the Likud Party and Religious Zionism, while India is led by the neo-fascist BJP. Secondly, Israel’s illegal occupation and then settlement on the Palestinian land is just like the BJP-led Indian government’s revocation of Articles 35A and 370 to enable demographic changes in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. Thirdly, Israel’s persistent genocide of the Palestinians, including Muslims and Christians in various territories, is akin to India’s massacre of Muslims in the state of Gujarat in 2002, under the Chief Minister Narender Modi, and the ongoing persecution of religious minorities under his rule.
Most significantly, Hindutva operates for the idea of “Akhand Bharat” or “Greater/Unified India”, a concept coined by Savarkar, which is very popular among the highly influential masses. Hindutva envisages Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tibet as a part of an undivided India, and thus, India continues to engage in border disputes with not just Pakistan, but also Nepal and China. Similarly, Zionism is also founded on the concept of “Greater Israel” with the Golan Heights, West Bank, Gaza Strip, and territories from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq.
Lastly, just as the Indian curriculum has vilified the image of Muslims, Israel’s curriculum also emphasises the rights of Israeli Zionists over the ancient land of Palestine. These few similarities are enough to draw attention to the fact that Hindutva and Zionism are ideological twins and pose a serious threat to global peace and security.
In a nutshell, the Hindutva ideology of Modi’s BJP has turned out to be the ideological and political clone of Zionism in the South Asian region, and both of these ethno-supremacist entities threaten the lives of people and world order in general.