Deportation, conversion of Muslims among proposals at Govt-sponsored programme to reclaim Hindu Rashtra

The two-day programme held on December 13 and 14, titled Sanatan Rashtra Sankhanad Mahotsav and conducted at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam, was co-presented by the Union government along with two Hindutva organisations and placed before participants a set of proposals aimed at capitalising on Hindutva pride, including formally declaring India a Hindu Rashtra through measures such as mass conversion of Muslims, population control targeted at them, curtailment of their rights, and large-scale deportations.

Organised by the Save Culture Save Bharat Foundation and Sanatan Sanstha, in association with the Union ministry of culture and the Delhi government’s tourism department, the event stood apart from similar Hindutva congregations due to the official involvement of the government, with Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Shripad Nayak and Sanjay Seth, along with Delhi tourism and culture minister Kapil Mishra, sharing the platform with prominent right-wing ideologues.

Union culture and tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat contextualised the programme within what he described as a broader cultural resurgence, linking the construction of the Ram Mandir to a restoration of India’s civilisational confidence, while praising Sanatan Sanstha for organising the event.

Kapil Mishra, meanwhile, underscored the political shift that had enabled such programmes to be organised with overt state support, while advancing a sharply polarised narrative that contrasted Hindu cultural values with depictions of Muslim social practices, particularly in relation to women and interfaith relationships.

BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay advanced a series of claims portraying Muslims as responsible for demographic imbalance, illegal voting, forced conversions and social disorder, while proposing ghar wapsi, mass reconversion drives and the dilution of constitutional equality as corrective measures. He further suggested that large-scale institutional and corporate participation could accelerate religious reconversion and restore what he framed as national harmony.

Sudarshan News owner Suresh Chavhanke focused on population growth, alleging that demographic change posed an existential threat to Hindus, while advocating selective legal restrictions on Muslims, the implementation of the National Register of Citizens, deportation of alleged infiltrators, and incentivising larger Hindu families. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari reinforced demographic anxieties by alleging the displacement of Hindus in Muslim-majority areas.

Other speakers, including Rahul Dewan of Hindu Fund and Sri Ram Sena founder Pramod Muthalik, called for offensive strategies to establish a constitutional Hindu Rashtra, mass conversion of Muslims, reclamation of mosques, and the expansion of coercive state measures.

Collectively, the programme advanced an exclusionary vision of nationhood that sought to normalise policies targeting Muslims, all under the aegis of government participation.

The presence of senior ministers, coupled with the use of government logos and publicity material, imparted institutional legitimacy to a gathering that repeatedly questioned the secular foundations of the Indian republic.

The organisers framed the Mahotsav as an intellectual and cultural exercise intended to articulate the philosophical basis of a Sanatan Rashtra, while foregrounding historical narratives centred on Maratha rulers and portraying Muslim rule as an aberration that had allegedly suppressed Hindu civilisation.

Sanatan Sanstha chairman Abhay Vardhak projected the idea of a Hindu Rashtra as intrinsic to the nation’s identity, while the organisation claimed participation from more than 3,000 delegates representing over 800 Hindu groups from across the country.