When intolerance enters India's Temple of Justice
Decades of slow-burning polarization and an 'assertion' of identity have morphed into an aggressive intolerance
Someone just tried to mimic hooliganism in the garb of defending the Hindu faith — this time, within the Supreme Court of India.
When a 71-year-old lawyer threw a shoe at Chief Justice of India Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai on the morning of Oct. 6, shouting that India “will not tolerate the insult of Sanatan Dharma,” the country’s highest court descended into chaos.
Sanatan Dharma (eternal religion) is a Sanskrit term for the Hindu faith, which views it as the world’s oldest and most enduring religion, rooted in the everlasting values of truth, justice, and righteousness.
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The assault, which came weeks after Justice Gavai’s offhand remark — “Go and ask the deity itself” — in a case about a damaged Vishnu idol, raises uncomfortable questions. What has a decade of polarization done to Indians? And how far are some willing to go in the name of faith?
Let us be clear: such acts are not demonstrations of devotion or strength, but displays of weakness and cowardice.
The lawyer’s outburst followed the Chief Justice’s earlier dismissal of a petition, asking the petitioner to seek divine intervention. His tongue-in-cheek remark was clearly rhetorical: “You say you are a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu; go and ask the deity itself to do something now.”
Yet, in the fevered atmosphere of modern India, it was quickly weaponized. Several right-wing voices accused Justice Gavai of offending Hindu sentiments, suggesting he would not have spoken similarly about Muslim or Christian faiths. This line of outrage fits neatly within a broader narrative cultivated in recent years — that “secularism” in India is inherently “anti-Hindu.”
Since Independence, India has prided itself on pluralism and the rule of law. Hindus make up over 80 percent of the 1.4 billion population, while Muslims and Christians together comprise about 20 percent.
Yet, the country’s minorities have faced periodic waves of vilification, often cast as “foreign” or “not sincerely patriotic.”
The rhetoric has only intensified. Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the powerful Hindu group, the Rashtriyata Swayamsevak Sangh, recently declared that the Hindu national spirit “always keeps us together while accepting all diversities.”
He emphasized that “nations remain eternal even as states rise and fall.” The statement, while couched in philosophical terms, echoes the ideological project of building a Hindu rashtra — a Hindu nation.
Predictably, the political spectrum reacted sharply to the courtroom assault.
“The attack on the Chief Justice of India is an assault on the dignity of our judiciary and the spirit of our Constitution,” said Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called it a “mindless act showing how hate, fanaticism and bigotry have engulfed our society.”
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned it, tweeting that “there is no place for such reprehensible acts in our society.”
But condemnations, however prompt, are not enough.
As Ahmedabad trader Ilyas Qureshi observed, “When hooliganism reaches the Supreme Court, it shows the fear of law is gone. The shamelessness that accompanies talk of ‘Hindu rights’ has become normal.”
Remains of a burnt church in Langching village, 45 km from capital Imphal in violence hit-Manipur (snap AFP/UCA News)
Ramakanto Shanyal, a Kolkata resident, added, “Radical Hindutva followers have developed a habit of playing victimhood — first claiming Hinduism is insulted, then attacking constitutional authorities. The political atmosphere allows this.”
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was more direct: “The poisonous communal propaganda of the Sangh Parivar (a collective name for Hindu groups) is what drives individuals to such dangerous mental states.”
The truth is that decades of slow-burning polarization have corroded India’s moral center. What began as an “assertion” of identity has morphed into an aggressive intolerance that now dares to breach even the sanctum of the judiciary.
Prime Minister Modi’s party, the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological allies have long relied on Hindutva — the assertion of “Hindu-ness” — as their mobilizing force. But when that assertion crosses into aggression, it ceases to serve the faith and instead corrodes it from within.
As social worker Naushad Ali in Guwahati put it:
“A tolerant India wasn’t destroyed in a day. It’s been killed gradually — in the name of Hindu pride, through violence, bulldozers, and now, a shoe hurled in the Supreme Court.”
The temple of justice deserves better. So does India.
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