BY SAFA AHMED / The Progressive
Vivek Ramaswamy, an Indian American former pharmaceutical executive, recently emerged as a long-shot Republican presidential candidate. Approaching DeSantis in the polls, but far behind Trump, Ramaswamy’s anti-woke rhetoric, extreme policy proposals (like raising the voting age to twenty-five), and relative youth (he’s thirty-eight) have made him appealing to a segment of Republicans that seem to be growing more anti-democratic by the day. But for all of the attention on Ramaswamy, there’s one aspect of his campaign that’s been glossed over by the press: his support for Hindu nationalism.
Supporters of the movement believe that India belongs to Hindus, while religious minorities— specifically Muslims and Christians—should be subjected to violence, have their cultures and contributions to Indian history erased, and be reduced to second-class citizens, all while India’s secular democracy is restructured into an autocratic Hindu ethno-state. Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India since 2014, and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are both rooted in this exclusionary ideology.
This story was originally published in progressive.org. Read the full story here
