The Hole in India’s Definition of Terrorism https://thediplomat.com/2023/10/the-hole-in-indias-definition-of-terrorism/ Rashad Khan
October 12, 2023 Hindutva violence is not included in India’s official conception of terrorism, but rather enjoys the blessing of the state.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project, showed that from January 2016 to October 2022, South Asia recorded almost 16,270 cases of anti-civilian violence, of which, 62.4 percent of cases happened in India. A closer look at the data shows that it is specifically violence perpetrated by Hindutva militant organizations that has consistently been on the rise.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the law that is in effect in India to combat terrorism, defines a terrorist act as “any act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, [economic security,] or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.”
The list of organizations designated as terrorist organizations as per the India’s Ministry of Home Affairs does not include a single organization that aligns with the Hindutva ideology. Going by the definition of a terrorist act as per the UAPA, many of the Hindu nationalist organizations must be included in the list due to the amount of terror and damage they perpetuate.
The BJP government has said on record in the Rajya Sabha that no separate data is maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau on the people killed or injured by Hindutva vigilante groups. This shows the intrinsic bias the government has toward spreaders of saffron terrorism: Far from seeing these acts as terrorism, they are not seen as crimes at all. We see representatives of the BJP endorse those responsible for acts of terrorism against minorities by garlanding them, giving the acts of violence perpetrated by them legitimacy and sending the message across to other vigilantes that this form of terrorism is desirable