India is being ruled by a Hindu Taliban

[DaZahroJaam.]

religious or muslims scholars did not achieve their wisdom by going through the hardships that the budha did and neither did the budha get a salary for spreading his wisdom. he was not driven by greed.
muslim scholars have achieved their status by (perhaps) putting more time towards studying religion (at the most) and pretending to have studied it, otherwise. so why do we need to pay mullahs or whatnots to teach us something that we are supposed to learn on our own?? i don't know what that game is but when we were young, the teacher would sit us in a circle and whisper a sentence in our ear that we were supposed to whisper in the ear of the person beside us. by the time the sentence has taken a round across the classroom, it was totally different.
if everyone referred to the book (not just the quran) there wouldn't be so much confusion or various versions of what the truth is supposed to be.

it's not just in religion. writers and painters become alcoholics and end up shooting themselves once they have exploited their own talents for the greed of wealth or fame.

[Manzareh]

religious or muslims scholars did not achieve their wisdom by going through the hardships that the budha did and neither did the budha get a salary for spreading his wisdom. he was not driven by greed.
muslim scholars have achieved their status by (perhaps) putting more time towards studying religion (at the most) and pretending to have studied it, otherwise. so why do we need to pay mullahs or whatnots to teach us something that we are supposed to learn on our own?? i don't know what that game is but when we were young, the teacher would sit us in a circle and whisper a sentence in our ear that we were supposed to whisper in the ear of the person beside us. by the time the sentence has taken a round across the classroom, it was totally different.
if everyone referred to the book (not just the quran) there wouldn't be so much confusion or various versions of what the truth is supposed to be.

it's not just in religion. writers and painters become alcoholics and end up shooting themselves once they have exploited their own talents for the greed of wealth or fame.

Bet you couldn't even name 5 important Scholars of Islam. If you know nothing about the struggles of our scholars then keep your mouth shut instead of spouting baseless 'opinions' .. You are uneducated in Islamic history and clearly were deprived by any religious schooling due to fear mongering drilled into you on the 'big bad mullahs'

[DaZahroJaam.]

^ I am holding a finger up in the air for you. Can you see it?? No?? Why don't you squint harder?? Who am I kidding, if you squint any harder, you will fall asleep or something.

[Manzareh]

^ I am holding a finger up in the air for you. Can you see it?? No?? Why don't you squint harder?? Who am I kidding, if you squint any harder, you will fall asleep or something.

What you mean to say that big fat sausage is a finger, crikey.

[DaZahroJaam.]

O good. You can see it.

[Manzareh]

O good. You can see it.

Yup, not too good with sign language though.

[Shapur]

religious or muslims scholars did not achieve their wisdom by going through the hardships that the budha did and neither did the budha get a salary for spreading his wisdom. he was not driven by greed.
muslim scholars have achieved their status by (perhaps) putting more time towards studying religion (at the most) and pretending to have studied it, otherwise. so why do we need to pay mullahs or whatnots to teach us something that we are supposed to learn on our own?? i don't know what that game is but when we were young, the teacher would sit us in a circle and whisper a sentence in our ear that we were supposed to whisper in the ear of the person beside us. by the time the sentence has taken a round across the classroom, it was totally different.
if everyone referred to the book (not just the quran) there wouldn't be so much confusion or various versions of what the truth is supposed to be.

it's not just in religion. writers and painters become alcoholics and end up shooting themselves once they have exploited their own talents for the greed of wealth or fame.

Buddha after being enlightened realized that putting himself through unnecessary hardships was not the way. After being enlightened Buddha said to follow the middle path and not go to extremes of severe penance or hedonism.
It is unfair to generalize muslim scholars into one category, scholars like Abu Hanifa went through extreme hardships and persecuations by the rulers of the time for standing up for truth. Abu Hanifa was several times offered lofty positions by the Caliphs of the time but he declined. There are people who use religion for their own interests in all religions. It is not particular to Islam.
In regards to paying the mullahs, I mean they serve a certain purpose in the community and deserve to be paid just like anyone else. They have chosen the path of serving their community by being religious scholars otherwise they could have chosen to be doctors, engineers, accountants and earned money that way.
If you notice in almost all religions, there are sects who collect alms, christian and buddhist monks, hindu yogis, muslim faqirs and so on. These people ask for alms because they want to help people not to be attached to their possessions. Its not because these people are lazy or greedy but there is great wisdom behind their way of life.

[Kabulistan]

i have never seen a confrontational indian but unity in a community or society is something to be proud of. muslims in general are so resentful towards each other. they are always pointing out the negatives in each other.

Being Muslim means nothing...there is no unity or solidarity because anyone can be muslim....people want to be part of more exclusive groupings (like race/ethnicity)...its quite natural.......in India they are all dark, look and talk like apu, of course they have no problem being united when they all look and act the same...muslim or hindu doesnt make any difference...they are all indian.

[DaZahroJaam.]

Buddha after being enlightened realized that putting himself through unnecessary hardships was not the way. After being enlightened Buddha said to follow the middle path and not go to extremes of severe penance or hedonism.
It is unfair to generalize muslim scholars into one category, scholars like Abu Hanifa went through extreme hardships and persecuations by the rulers of the time for standing up for truth. Abu Hanifa was several times offered lofty positions by the Caliphs of the time but he declined. There are people who use religion for their own interests in all religions. It is not particular to Islam.
In regards to paying the mullahs, I mean they serve a certain purpose in the community and deserve to be paid just like anyone else. They have chosen the path of serving their community by being religious scholars otherwise they could have chosen to be doctors, engineers, accountants and earned money that way.
If you notice in almost all religions, there are sects who collect alms, christian and buddhist monks, hindu yogis, muslim faqirs and so on. These people ask for alms because they want to help people not to be attached to their possessions. Its not because these people are lazy or greedy but there is great wisdom behind their way of life.

which is why i didn't vouch for any of the other religions instead. being a doctor or engineer gets you nothing in a society run by fanatics. being a like minded and self proclaimed religious leader or scholar, surely does.

[DaZahroJaam.]

Being Muslim means nothing...there is no unity or solidarity because anyone can be muslim....people want to be part of more exclusive groupings (like race/ethnicity)...its quite natural.......in India they are all dark, look and talk like apu, of course they have no problem being united when they all look and act the same...muslim or hindu doesnt make any difference...they are all indian.

i have no idea what you are on about.

[Firdousi]

India is being ruled by a Hindu Taliban | Anish Kapoor | Opinion | The Guardian

India is being ruled by a Hindu Taliban | by Anish Kapoor

The Hindu god Vishnu has several incarnations, many of them human. The latest of these appears to be Narendra Modi. All over India there are images of the man, right arm raised in the benevolent gesture of good fortune. But this strong-but-enlightened-man image hides the frightening and shrill reality of an increasingly Modi-led Hindu dominance of India.

The country’s openness to social and religious minorities (more than 500 million people) and regional differences is at serious risk. Of late, Modi’s regime has effectively tolerated – if not encouraged – a saffron-clad army of Hindu activists who monitor and violently discipline those suspected of eating beef, disobeying caste rules or betraying the “Hindu nation”.

In the UK, people might perhaps be familiar with India’s cricket prowess, atrocities in Kashmir or the recent horrific rape cases. But beyond that, many of us choose not to know. India’s global image now mimics China’s – a rising global economic power with attractive trade and investment opportunities. As a result, business trumps human rights, with little concern, especially on the part of David Cameron’s government, for the rising wave of Hindu tyranny.

All this is good news for Prime Minister Modi, who flew into London today. He won’t be seriously called to account for human rights abuses or systematic thuggery. If there is one thing that has marked the man’s first year and a half in power it is this: he is not a man who takes kindly to scrutiny or criticism. In fact, he has used the very economic agenda that causes Britain to turn a blind eye to his regime’s human rights abuses to muzzle dissent within India.

Protesters demonstrate against Cameron’s welcoming of Narendra Modi on Thursday
Modi’s latest move has been the strangulation of Greenpeace India, culminating last Friday with the organisation’s licence to operate being removed. Respect for human rights and environmental organisations is so often a litmus test for the democratic state of a country. Worryingly, the Indian government has been cracking down on all “foreign-funded” charities for the past year, claiming that the national economy is threatened by environmental restrictions and other “un-Indian” activities. Nine thousand NGOs have been “de-registered” in a concerted effort to force out these “nuisance” groups and cast them as foreign enemies.

Of late, many Indian journalists and human rights activists have been harassed and threatened with “sedition” charges: for example, Teesta Setalvad, who still seeks justice for the victims of communal violence in the state of Gujarat in 2002, when Modi was the state’s chief minister; and Santosh Yadav, arrested in September in the state of Chhattisgarh on what Amnesty International believes are fabricated charges resulting from his investigatory journalism exposing police brutality against Adivasis (indigenous people). A few weeks ago, even a musician who sang a satirical song criticising the chief minister and state government of Tamil Nadu over alcohol sales was charged with “anti-Indian activity”.

This alarming erosion of democracy is a slippery slope that may end up targeting not just minorities and “outsiders” but any dissenting “insiders”. What I’ve seen happening is a spirit of fear taking hold, which threatens to silence activists, artists and intellectuals alike. We’ve never known that before.

A Hindu version of the Taliban is asserting itself, in which Indians are being told: “It’s either this view – or else.” A friend told me: “There is huge oppression of anyone who’s different.” Last month, dozens of Indian writers handed back their literary awards in protest, following communal violence against Muslims and attacks on intellectuals.

India is a country of 1.25 billion people, including 965 million Hindus and 170 million Muslims. We have a long tradition of tolerance and, despite differences, have managed to pull our huge country together. But the government’s militant Hinduism risks marginalising other faiths and tearing apart these bonds. Many of us dread what might then happen.

We in Britain cannot bite our tongues any more; we have a responsibility to speak out. And we need to work on at least two fronts: demand that Cameron not make business deals at the cost of human rights, and press Modi to answer for the Indian government’s abysmal rights record; and recognise and support the many Indian citizens, journalists and organisations that are resisting growing Hindu fanaticism and state authoritarianism.

I’ll be joining protesters outside Downing Street today. Following the lead of India’s opposition groups, we have a duty to speak out for the people Modi is trying to silence, precisely because we are free to do so.

• This article was amended on 13 November 2015. An earlier version referred to criticism of the state governor, rather than the chief minister and state government, of Tamil Nadu.

Every citizen must be equal before the law regardless his/her ethnic or religious background. Indeed Modi is a Hindu nationalist but I believe there is nothing wrong about this. I mean India is a Hindu nation so that country should give a more important role to Hindu values than other faiths. Just like Muslim nations would do. There is nothing wrong about rule of majority.

Honestly I find hilarious how many Pakistanis call Modi terrorist and Muslim-killer. True he was behind the riots of Gujarat but Pakistan has by far killed much more Muslims than India. Pakistan butchered 3,5 million Muslims in Bangladesh. Pakistan is behind the death of thousands of Muslims in Afghanistan, Pashtunistan, India and Baluchistan through proxy forces. Modi is much better than Pakistan.