The Indian State appears "reluctant" in intervening to contain "majoritarianism" which has grown "bolder" since 2014, scholar and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Rajmohan Gandhi observed today.
The ultimate objective of the "extremists" is to promote through coercion the Hindu identity of an individual rather than his Indianness, he said.
It also seeks to establish that a non-Hindu "cannot enjoy equal rights", Gandhi said, delivering the 23rd Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture here.
"Indian counterparts of Pakistani extremists have also been active for long. Over the last two and a half years they have become bolder. 'Why not a Hindu rashtra', they ask?
"Crucially and tragically, the State frequently appears reluctant to intervene...The final aim of 'zabaradasti' (coercion) is to compel everyone in India to accept that they are Hindus rather than Indians and that the non-Hindu cannot enjoy equal rights," he said.
Former Prime Minister Shastri's sons, Anil and Sunil, were also present at the event organised by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Memorial Trust.
Gandhi, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on an AAP ticket, said Shastri was someone who "listened" to the Indian people rather than "talking" to them.
"India of 2017 is very different from India under Shastri," he said, lamenting how secularism is "seen as anti-national" and also criticised "falsehoods" against Nehru.
He said that Pakistan's example should prod India to counter radicalism "both ideologically and operationally".
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