Indian minorities do not feel any excitement for Republic Day due to the lack of recognition of their rights in the Indian Constitution. Reports from the Mumbai-based Centre for Study of Society and Secularism and the UK-based Minority Rights Group International suggest that minorities are facing hate crimes, such as lynching and forced conversions. In response, the United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) issued a joint statement calling for a “total shutdown” on Republic Day. As a result, ethnic and religious minorities feel unsafe in a country where Hindu extremists are attempting to establish a Hindu Rashtra. The Naxalbari movement might even lead to a breakup of India into a variety of states.

But today’s India is anything but a secular state. RSS/BJP has embarked on an arduous journey to make India a Hindu Rashtra where Hindus will be superior and non-Hindus will have no place; its practical reflection can be seen in today’s India. India once again built a false narrative of a strong union through Republic Day celebrations. However, the Indian union is fake and historically made of coercion, annexation, and false promise. Indian minorities saw their future in separate homelands as an impeding outcome of a pseudo-republic.

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