Hindutva in India and Zionism in Israel have much more in common than either an Indian or Israeli would like to admit. They both preach some form of ethno-religious supremacy and has rooted religious nationalism that invariably leads to conflicts and human rights abuses. Even if they were based on different historical and cultural contexts, these movements are united in their understanding of the methods used to govern and take control over territories, as well as to commit repression of minority communities.
 
The Roots of Hindutva and Zionism
 
Hindutva, the concept of a Hindu nation in India is as old as 1920s brought to life by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. This argument rests on the premise that India was meant to be Hindu land and therefore other religions (Islam in particular) — as well cultural identities at odds with a puritanical diminishing view of religion. As the 19th century came to a close, Zionism -- specifically political Zionism — was led by Theodor Herzl. It demanded a Jewish homeland in Palestine, leading then to the 1948 establishment of Israel. The twin movements are committed to the ethno-nationalist state—and thus India for Hindus and Israel for Jews—at times at great cost to other ethnicities and religions.
 
Further, creating the conspiracy to establish Hindustan for India, or “Akhand Bharat”, meaning “unified India”, in other words “Greater India”. Greater Israel for present-day Israel. Various areas of South Asia being occupied, as well as Kashmir being fully occupied by Hindustan. Greater Israel, which includes the Nile to the Euphrates, from Medina to Lebanon, including territories from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, entire Jordan, and Occupied Palestinian territories. As Theodore Herzl said, “From the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.” In the biblical sense, meaning “The promised Land”.
 
Naturally, various people have different ideas on what "Hindustan" entails. It has greater significance when interpreted in light of the Hindutva movement. Its meaning is simply "Greater India." The word "Hindustan" is derived from the Persian word "Hindu," which, in ancient Persia, denoted the territory of the Hindus that lay beyond the Indus River.
 
Objectives and Political Similarities
 
The present-day primary focus of Zionism, is to be the deriving focus in order to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians, and to occupy and colonise Palestine. The same could be said for Hindutva, but rather for Kashmir. The land grab has not ended yet. Zionism and Hindutva are very similar movements that also have tendencies towards revisionist ideas, where Zionists back the expansion of Jewish territories, whilst Hindutva pursues reclaiming lands under its vision of Akhand Bharat -- unified India. In addition, both are militaristic and create an institutional framework that is oppressive to their respective minority communities, Palestinians in Israel and Muslims in India. From these objectives arise policies meant to deny the same rights, of those minorities and intended for state violence and repression.
Despite the fact of the oppression towards the minorities by India and Israel, the bigger picture comes after understanding the power dynamics. India being a superpower country, enforcing Hindu views, occupying land, having settlers to take over. A lot of this being a learned manner from Israel. Fortunately, many have now uncovered the truth of Israels ways towards the Palestinians.
 
The Fascist Tendencies in Both Movements
 
Critics have compared Zionism to its fascist-like ideology that characterised the ethnic identity of Jewish citizens above democratic ideals, and has undermined democracy with policies available only on apartheid grounds against Palestinians. All that home demolitions and indeed illegal Israeli house construction in apparent disguise as settlement infrastructure behind walls under military guard. In this sense as well, Hindutva is in many ways authoritarian and supremacist. Since a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led-government came to power, India has pursued policies that emphasise Hindu culture at the expense of Muslims and Dalits as well as other minorities, these being among the Kashmiri people.
 
 
India-Israel Alliance: A Strategic and Ideological Partnership
 
The political alliance is more evident between India and Israel, especially in the defence, military cooperation. Both countries have deployed comparable repressive measures against their Muslim populations. For example, Indian occupation in Kashmir is similar to the policy Israel pursues on West Bank and Gaza. The abrogation of Kashmir's special status by the Indian government in 2019, epitomised similar Israeli settlement policies- as a result both nations are making use of legal frameworks to alter population dynamics and demographics in disputed territories.
 
Shared Repression Techniques: Kashmir and Palestine
 
Each of them, India and Israel, deploys very comparable tactics for the subjugation of occupied territories; India, in IOJK (Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir), and for Israel it would be West Bank. Kashmir has long been under a military occupation. The policies by India, in Kashmir, disturbingly resemble those of Israeli land grab policies. Policies being land expropriation by Israel), suppression of dissent through arbitrary arrests etc. Once there the military commits unspeakable violent crimes with impunity, aided in Kashmir by a comprehensive regime of exception that runs parallel to what Israel does in West Bank. The objective on both sides, in fact is to change the population of these areas and surround them with settlers that will support long-term control.
 
Hindutva’s Fascist Ambitions and the Rise of Hindu Nationalism
 
This is played out further and how time-tested fabric of secular democracy has been slowly dented, thanks to Hindu nationalism, particularly under BJP led by Modi. The most well-known law in that vein is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by Modi's government, which provides expedited citizenship to everyone except Muslims. No doubt, the killings of innocents by or incensed mobs and vigilante violence is on a wide scale, echoing the xenophobic notions as it is hurled out by fascist regimes. In addition, the hands of settler-colonialism are not beyond discernible in how Kashmir is being governed by the Indian government: an unmistakable yet so austere a replication as it shares with Israel from ground zero.
 
The Global Context and Future Outlook
 
But the India-Israel bonding is about something more than interests; it is driven apparently by a shared view on governance — that ethnic nationalism, and suppression of minorities, are either justified or necessary. In reality, the international spread of right-wing politics across borders and anti-Muslim narratives within it, has helped both countries to justify their actions by casting them in terms of national security requirements. Nonetheless, human rights organisations have ratcheted up their criticism of these policies due to the consistent and wide-scale nature of violations, taking place on both sides in Kashmir as well as Palestine.
 
To summarise, Hindutva and Zionism is akin to a kind of modern-day fascism, whereby, political power-mongering leverages on jingoistic practices as well as religious or tribal exclusivism. Although less dramatic and bloodier, the common strategy of repression, militarising societies, or manipulations in systems are worrying enough for democracy globally. As India and Israel converge, their ethnonationalist ideologies may lead to further conflict and suffering for the marginalised communities under their rule.