Honourale Minister, Are Hindus The New Naxals?

 

When Karnataka’s Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara announced the creation of an Anti-Communal Force*, I paid attention. And when he said this force would be modelled on the Anti-Naxal Force, I paused — not out of curiosity, but out of concern.

Anti-Naxal? That phrase isn’t ordinary. It refers to armed insurgents, enemies of the Indian state, people who take up guns against democracy. But now, that same framework is being applied — not to Maoist hideouts in forests, but to Hindu-majority districts in coastal Karnataka.

What exactly is being implied here?

Are my community’s festivals, our beliefs, our expressions of identity now grounds for surveillance? Is our very presence in this region being treated as a threat that needs to be contained? It is a deeply unsettling signal, and one that many Hindus will not miss.

Coastal Karnataka is a region that has seen tensions, yes. But so have other parts of the state. Why then is this Anti-Communal Force being deployed only in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada? Why this selective scrutiny — if not to suggest that something is inherently dangerous about the Hindu presence in these districts?

The message is clear: We are the ones to be watched. Not equally, not fairly — but disproportionately.

And then there’s Dinesh Gundu Rao, the minister deputed to assess the situation. His public comments have repeatedly targeted right-wing Hindu organisations. His role in this initiative only reinforces the suspicion that this is less about maintaining peace and more about policing Hindu assertion under a bureaucratic pretext.

Let us be absolutely clear. Violence of any kind, by anyone, must be condemned. But the state cannot equate cultural identity with extremism, or reduce centuries of tradition to a law-and-order problem. Hindus across Karnataka have every right to wonder: Are we being bracketed with Naxals simply for expressing who we are?

This isn't just about a government order. It’s about the perception of intent. It’s about a force — trained, uniformed, and empowered — being positioned in our spaces, not as protectors, but as silent accusers.

And I must ask: Is my belief now a suspect? Is my bhakti now a file in the Home Department?

If the Congress government wants to maintain peace, let it do so by applying the law equally, not by creating targeted mechanisms that single out one community while ignoring others. True secularism is not silence in one direction and scrutiny in another.

Hindus are not insurgents. We are not communal by default. We do not need a force to manage us — we need a government that respects us without suspicion.

If this is about law and order, let the rules apply to all. But if this is about reining in the majority, then let it be known: the people are watching — and remembering.