India Will Not Be Divided Over Religion: Student Protests Show Interfaith Solidarity
(ANALYSIS) Nearly two months after students launched protests against Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged medical entrance exam paper leaks, the minister resigned.
During the demonstrations, the movement reflected the spirit of India’s interfaith commitment as people from different religious communities came together in solidarity with the protesters led by the Cockroach Janata Party movement in the capital New Delhi.
Muslim men distributed food to protesters for free. A Buddhist monk was seen fanning a Muslim during his prayers at the protest site. While condemning the police action against protesting students, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church urged the authorities to address their concerns through dialogue and constructive action.
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Church fathers and members of the Christian community arrived at the protest site in New Delhi alongside Hindu, Muslim and Sikh groups. The participation of religious groups and leaders is part of a broader, interfaith effort to show solidarity with youth and students demonstrating against the Indian government.
Religious groups’ participation remains important
Since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the religious divide has widened in India. The Hindu nationalist extremists representing divisive forces led by the ruling BJP’s ideological organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, enjoyed impunity from the Indian government.
They dodged punishment, despite their alleged crimes, including lynching Muslims over cattle trade and beef consumption and allegedly forcefully converting Hindu girls into Islam.
According to non-partisan movement South Asia Justice Campaign, in the second quarter of 2025, at least 100 Muslim individuals across India were directly assaulted, injured or otherwise physically targeted in religiously motivated hate crimes.
Armed Hindutva gangs have destroyed churches, broken up prayer meetings and attacked pastors after some Hindu communities allegedly converted to Christianity. According to Open Doors, since Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, the annual reported number of violent attacks against Christians has increased significantly.
As of 2026, 16 Christians have been killed, 82 Christian buildings have been attacked, 1,622 Christians detained and 22 Christians have been raped or sexually harassed.
Amid this conflict, faith leaders from all religions are coming together to support young people and safeguard their future. It’s a strong and befitting reply to the divisive forces operating within the Indian government. Many see this message of unity and diversity as an apt response to institutionalized polarization that used religion as a weapon in the past decade.
Government supporters call protest ‘anti-Hindu’
Despite prominent Hindu leader Jyotirmath Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati publicly extending his support to the ongoing CJP, several people on social media have tried to label the student protest as “anti-Hindu.”
Protesters denounced the recent theft of millions of Indian rupees from a Hindu temple trust set up by the Indian government in Ayodhya. This temple was built after a 16th-century mosque was demolished by Hindutva extremists belonging to the ruling BJP’s ideological group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliate, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The mainstream media that failed to question the government has also been portraying the protests as “violent” by alleging that harmful slogans were shouted by protestors. They criticized that Sikhs were seen carrying their religious weapons such as “ceremonial kirpans” and long spears in front of Delhi Police and the special Rapid Action Force personnel.
Some social media users shared a cropped video showing some protestors raising the Islamic slogan “Nara-e-Takbeer” a proclamation of Allahu Akbar (God is Great) during the protest. But fact-checker site BOOM found that “the original video shows the speaker delivering a message of unity while raising slogans from other faiths alongside the Islamic ones.”
Some Hindu protestors stated that they have been bombarded with messages from fellow Hindus over social media that accused them of converting to Islam since they participated in the movement.
A Muslim man, who generously donated food to protestors for days, petitioned the Indian Supreme Court over alleged police harassment. In his petition, he stated that he was picked up by Delhi Police and kept in a police vehicle for up to six hours, was threatened and then dumped in the middle of a highway.
He further claimed that the police from the nearby state detained his father, raided his house and picked up his relatives as well.
No longer divided
On July 20, when police charged at peaceful protestors with bamboo sticks and tear-gassed them as they marched towards the Indian parliament, the nearby Hindu temples allegedly shut their doors on those seeking shelter to escape police brutality.
But the places of worship for Muslims and Sikhs — mosques and gurdwara, respectively — in the neighborhood allowed protestors in. In defense, the Hindu temple stated that protestors were stopped because they were allegedly entering the premises while wearing shoes, which is forbidden.
A large number of young protestors have sent a strong message that any attempt by the Indian government, the ruling BJP, police, mainstream media and their supporters to create tensions after the protest would be met with a bigger movement.
The message is loud and clear: Young India will not be divided over religion anymore.
Sonia Sarkar is a journalist based in India. She writes on conflict, religion, politics, health and gender rights from Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in a range of international publications, including the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia and Al Jazeera.