THE2014LINE

Chapter 18 · 12 of 15

Temple & Republic

The deepest contest: who belongs, and on what terms. Two shops, two Indias, one lane.

Temple & RepublicThe deepest contest

Before → after

Muslim MPs in the Lok Sabha

Now242024 · 4.4% of the House, 14% of the country

Ruling party's Muslim MPs

Now0a first in the Republic

Cow-related killings (HRW)

Now44May 2015–Dec 2018 · 36 Muslim

Hate-speech events (India Hate Lab)

Before6682023
After1,1652024 · 98.5% anti-Muslim

Excluded by Assam's NRC

Now19 lakha majority of them Hindu

Mosque suits frozen

Now18touching ~11 mosques, since Dec 2024
In-person hate-speech events against minorities
2023
668 events
2024
1,165 events

A US-based tracker; the government rejects it. No official Indian count exists.

Pew 2021: Indians live 'together, separately', %
Respecting all religions is essential to being Indian
84 %
Hindus: stopping interfaith marriage a high priority
67 %
Muslims: stopping interfaith marriage a high priority
80 %

Nearly thirty thousand respondents. Both truths in the same interviews.

One person, before and after

  1. 1

    Ramesh lights 41 diyas for the Ram temple.

  2. 2

    Aslam, two doors down, keeps his TV off.

  3. 3

    Ramesh called every night to check Aslam's son was safe.

  4. 4

    Aslam locks all his papers in a trunk.

Before 2014

After 2014

Ayodhya

5–0Supreme Court verdict, 2019
  • Site to temple; 5 acres to mosque.
  • Demolition: all 32 acquitted.
  • Temple consecrated Jan 2024.
  • BJP lost Faizabad 5 months later.

More mosque claims

18 suitsfrozen by the SC, Dec 2024
  • Gyanvapi, Mathura, Sambhal, Ajmer.
  • The 1991 law's fate is pending.

Symbols

Rajpath → Kartavya Pathrenaming the map
  • Kashi corridor, new Parliament, sengol.
  • New naval ensign.
  • Critics: Mughal ≠ colonial.

Citizenship

53dead in the Delhi riots, 2020
  • CAA: a religious filter for fast-track citizenship.
  • Assam NRC: 19 lakh out — mostly Hindu.
  • Rules notified only in 2024.

The laws

4 lawstalaq · conversion · waqf · UCC
  • Each lands on one community.
  • SC stayed parts of the waqf law.
  • Bilkis convicts sent back to jail.

The street

44killed in cow violence, 2015–18
  • Lynching data collected, never published.
  • Bulldozers: SC says unconstitutional.
  • Hate-speech events: 668 → 1,165.

Representation

0Muslim MPs in the ruling party
  • 24 Muslim MPs of 543.
  • No Muslim cabinet minister.

Caste

2027caste census
  • 10% EWS quota.
  • Bihar caste survey.
  • Govt adopted the caste census.

Still fighting about

1

Ayodhya: closed, or a template?

Government's case
  • Ended by a court, peacefully.
Critics' case
  • Claims now spreading to other mosques.

The book: Depends on the 1991 law's fate.

Where do you lean?

2

Equal citizens in practice?

Government's case
  • Welfare is faith-blind.
  • No big riot on the old scale but one.
Critics' case
  • Zero at the top.
  • Laws, lynchings, bulldozers.

The book: The distance between Ramesh and Aslam has grown.

Where do you lean?

3

Temple, or caste?

Government's case
  • Hindu unity won Bengal (2026).
Critics' case
  • Caste fears cracked UP (2024).

The book: 2029 decides.

Where do you lean?

The verdict

Temple & Republic

The deepest contestRule 6
Strongest verified FOR

No riot on the old scale but one; Ayodhya closed lawfully and peacefully

Strongest verified AGAINST

Zero Muslims in the ruling party's Parliament ranks; the lynch-bulldozer-speech pattern; eleven mosques' suits frozen, not settled

Yours

The book gives none. Slide; it is saved to your scoreboard on this device.

Clearly worseWorseNo real changeBetterClearly better

Your full scoreboard →Timeline for this sector →Quiz →
Read the full chapter — the book’s own words

Loading…

Whatever India believes, its children sit for the same exams and its sick queue at the same hospitals. What the era did for the classroom and the clinic — the NEP, the learning crisis, COVID's true toll, the vaccine miracle and the health bills that remain: Chapter 19.