'A country with its own colonial past is now standing with a colonialist state': Why is Modi's India cracking down on pro-Palestinian support?

On October 23, hundreds of Indians, mostly student groups and activists, held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy in India’s capital city, New Delhi, to show solidarity with Palestinians.

Soon Delhi's police dispersed the protesters and started to detain them.

“As we reached the embassy, police barricades were already there and protesters were being assaulted by the police," one of the student protesters, Sourya tells The New Arab. "They then took us in four buses to different places on Delhi’s border."

On October 16, in the state of Karnataka, police officers briefly detained Alam Nawaz, a 21-year-old student for putting up a WhatsApp status saying 'Long Live Palestine.'

“I didn't commit any sin. It was just a song for Palestine. I  didn’t write anything which would be regarded as anti-national,” he told The New Arab.  

"Today, India and Israel share a defence and tourism partnership. India is the second largest buyer of Israeli weapons. More recently, India was one of the countries accused of having bought Pegasus spyware from the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group"

No official ban has yet been announced by the Indian government regarding demonstrations but soon after Hamas’ attack on October 7, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi issued a declaration in support of Israel. 

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel," he tweeted.

This was followed by huge support for Israel from Indian right-wing supporters on social media and WhatsApp.

In recent weeks, pro-Palestinian rallies have also been stopped by the Indian police, and people have been booked under criminal charges — especially those who are showing any solidarity with Palestinians.

In one of the instances, at least four students from India’s Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were booked under Sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), and 505 (statements inducing public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

Police also arrested a Muslim cleric in India’s Kanpur for making a dua (prayer) for Palestinians in a mosque. 

Muslims in the Indian-administered Kashmir have been stopped from praying for the past two Fridays after the Indian government closed down the famous Jamia Masjid and in India’s Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, its chief minister, directed police to take strict action against social media posts “in favour of Palestine.”

How it started:

After October 7, India saw a rise in pro-Israel rallies, organised mainly by Hindu right-wing groups. Multiple Indian right-wing users on social media offered their services to the Israeli forces.

Indian social media was full in support of Israel and trends like #IstandwithIsrael saw a steep rise on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

Prominent Indian journalists also became a part of spreading the fake news of “beheading babies” in Israel on social media platforms and on their news broadcasts. 

Over the last few years, the virtual ecosystem in India has normalised hate and disinformation against Muslims overall.

Despite there being no current restrictions on pro-Israeli protests, Indian Muslims are still fearful to show support online to Palestinians because of the reprisal from the Indian government. 

“Everywhere you see there is a disinformation campaign against Muslims in India. So these days when I want to post something about the situation of Palestinians, I have to be careful because we now see how people are being booked under criminal for merely posting,” said B, an Indian Muslim woman from New Delhi who wanted to remain anonymous.

She told The New Arab that in the past she has been called a “terrorist sympathiser” for simply standing up for the violence against Muslims in India on social media.

"This is sad because the country that has gone through more than 200 years of colonial experiences is now standing with a colonialist and Zionist state"

Brahma Prakash, an author and a professor at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) told The New Arab that the pro-Palestinian sentiments are still there among Indians, however, people are not ready to take the risk. 

“Especially, prominent activists from both the progressive and minority sections as they are already facing various charges. This is sad because the country that has gone through more than 200 years of colonial experiences is now standing with a colonialist and Zionist state,” he said. 

Prakash explained that organising “protests around farmers and Dalit issues in India," is okay, “but organising anything in support of Muslims is seen as supporting terrorism." 

India's changing stance:

On October 27, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a humanitarian truce, with the US and Israel leading 14 countries in voting against the measure. 

India was one of the countries to abstain from voting on the resolution. Criticising the government, the Indian Congress and Left parties said it was “shocking” and “goes against everything the country has stood for."

In India, due to its own colonial past, the first decades of independence saw its close ties with Palestine and the Indian government's policy to support a two-state solution to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has always been there.

"While there are no restrictions on pro-Israeli protests, Indian Muslims are fearful to show online support to Palestinians because of the reprisal on them from the Indian government"

However, India’s relationship with Israel flourished after it opened an embassy in Tel Aviv in January 1992. In 1999, Israel sent weapons to India during the latter’s brief war with Pakistan over Kashmir. 

After Modi’s win in the 2014 elections – in 2015 and 2016 – India abstained from a UN vote that discussed whether Israel should be brought before the International Criminal Court for its alleged war crimes during the 2014 crisis in Gaza. 

Also in 2017, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to ever visit Israel.

Today, India and Israel share a defence and tourism partnership. India is the second largest buyer of Israeli weapons. More recently, India was one of the countries accused of having bought Pegasus spyware from the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group. 

The Modi government has been accused of deploying spyware against judges, journalists, activists and political leaders, among others.

Experts say that although India still believes in a two-state solution for Palestine it has taken a strong counterterrorism-focused position towards this conflict and the “deeper partnership with Israel has given India a wider comfort level in taking a stronger stand than usual in support of Israel during the current conflict.”

A former researcher at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) in India anonymously said, “The Palestine question is uneasily viewed by the Indian establishment because of its own anxieties over the latent secessionist claims that it sees coming among many of its own, like in the North East and Kashmir. So India's position has been sort of like sovereignty and non-interference, and the unequivocal condemnation of terror."

Micheal Kugelman, the director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, and a leading specialist on India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, believes that “From New Delhi’s perspective, Israel’s assault on Gaza is a counterterrorism operation, launched as a form of self-defence in response to Hamas’s attack on October 7. And counterterrorism operations don’t pause for humanitarian truces.”

Meanwhile, Gaza's humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, with supplies of food, medicine, water and food running low because of a near-complete Israeli siege, with the death toll from Israel's relentless bombardment reaching 8,525, including 3,542 children and 2,187 women. 

Quratulain Rehbar is an independent journalist based in Indian-administered Kashmir and reports on politics, health, insurgency, human rights and gender

Follow her on Twitter: @ainulrhbr