Indian rationalist at risk
Pictured: Narendra Nayak, TEDxPSPU, ‘The importance of scientific Temper’, 2019. Credit: Flickr Jinal Patel, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED Humanists UK has voiced its concerns about the safety of prominent Indian rationalist, Narendra Nayak, as the rise of Hindu nationalism in India continues unabated. In an intervention delivered to the UN Human Rights Council, Humanists UK highlighted how Hindu nationalism facilitates intercommunal violence and increased persecution of non-religious and religious minorities. Freedom of religion or belief in India India has a long tradition of rationalism as a belief system dating back to the 6th century BCE. Its Constitution is famously secular, protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief, as well as the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. Nonetheless, a de facto ‘blasphemy’ provision in the Indian Penal Code allows up to three years imprisonment for the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging religious feelings, and insults or attempts to insult religion or religious beliefs. Since his election in 2014, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted a Hindu nationalist agenda. Several …