Surprisingly, this is not about American politics.
The BBC has a story up by Rajesh Joshi that will probably sound awfully familiar, whether or not you can pronounce the names or recognize the acronyms.
The discomfort of the Hindu hardline right with Mahatma Gandhi became apparent once again when a senior leader of the governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "bigger brand name" than the iconic leader of India's freedom struggle.
Anil Vij, a senior minister in the BJP government in the northern state of Haryana, also said that Gandhi's picture would eventually be phased out of the currency notes.
His comments came soon after a government department replaced Gandhi's pictures on its calendars and diaries with Mr Modi's. Critics perceived it as a move to slowly replace Gandhi with the prime minister.
A “bigger brand name.” Erasure and marginalization of a champion of tolerance and inclusion. Members of government cozying up to radical nationalists. It all seems so familiar.
The currently-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party grew out of a national volunteer organization called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or “National Patriotic Organization,” founded in 1925 and gaining strength in mid-century with inspiration from European nationalistic organizations and parties (one in particular; yes, that one).
Its emphasis on a pure, Hindu India led the RSS to essentially sit out the India independence movement, based on members’ hatred of Gandhi, who sought unity with Muslims and religious equality for all Indians.
The modern BJP has not forgotten its religio-nationalist roots, nor its particular dislike of Mr. Gandhi. While gestures like taking his picture off of government calendars (and lobbying to remove his image from the nation’s currency) are small potatoes, the animosity to Gandhi’s ideals runs much deeper. Recently Sakshi Maharaj, a BJP member of the Indian parliament, praised Nathuram Godse, an RSS member who assassinated Gandhi on this date in 1948, as a hero.
Now the BJP, the political child of the RSS, controls the government under the leadership of Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi. (Many were surprised and alarmed when Modi ascended to the PM’s office, as he had been found to be complicit in the anti-Muslim riots in the state of Gujarat while chief minister there.)
While Modi and other “mainstream” BJP leaders try to distance themselves from the more extreme elements of their party and movement, religious nationalists in the country have felt a boost by his elevation to prime minister, and indeed religious violence has increased under his rule, leading the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to conclude in 2015, ““India is on a negative trajectory in terms of religious freedom.”
These are dangerous times, and it should be clear to anyone paying attention that there is no hiding place from the forces of division and hate. We must, as Bapu showed us, stand and fight in our own country, for our own country, and all its people.