Israeli role model for india

Modi sees Israel as a model for an ethno-nationalist state with a rigid religious identity.

As in Zionism, a central logic of Hindutva is that there is no contradiction in projecting oneself as both oppressed and under threat, as well as superior and domineering.

Under Modi, Indian Muslims have been lynched for merely being suspected of carrying meat; entire Muslim-majority neighbourhoods have been razed; and Muslim businesses have been boycotted, as state-backed vigilantes promote nativist entrepreneurship and the isolation of Muslims.

At the same time, Hindu leaders openly called for genocide against Muslims in public processions – often in full view of the police and judiciary.

Under Modi, Delhi revoked Articles 370 and 35A in 2019 and issued more than 80,000 residency certificates to Indian citizens, allowing these new residents to vote, buy land and property, and secure government jobs in Kashmir.

Delhi has approved the construction of Hindu-only settlements in Kashmir, described even by Indian officials as mirroring the Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Just as it was designed to do in Palestine, the aim is demographic transformation – turning native Kashmiris into a minority on their own land.

And yet, when this story is told, India is never cast as the aggressor. It is always the democracy under attack from “outsiders”.

But as Kashmiris will tell you – living in the most militarised zone on the planet, where Indian troops operate with impunity under special laws, where police can detain and disappear at will, and where Israeli tactics of surveillance, censorship, and weaponry define the occupation – this is the true face of the Indian state.

With India deploying Israeli drones into Pakistan, firing missiles indiscriminately at mosques and schools, and refusing to pursue a diplomatic resolution to a crisis that has already cost so many civilian lives, perhaps the rest of the world will finally see it too.