(This is the latest edition of the Political Line newsletter curated by Varghese K. George. The Political Line newsletter is India’s political landscape explained every week. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.)

Brown public figures in the United States and the United Kingdom have a tough time explaining their location in the wake of increasing nationalism, often accompanied by white supremacism. People on different registers are trying to fit into the native nationalism of the U.K. and U.S. based on what their ethnic and religious origins are.

In the United States, a Hanuman statue envisioned by Indian spiritual leader Chinna Jeeyar Swami and inaugurated on 18 August 2024, had triggered a wave of anti-India, anti-Hindu rhetoric. Sharing the image of Lord Hanuman at the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land, Texas, a conservative podcast host, Jesse Hughes, wrote, “Btw, when we win, we are tearing this down.”

Joining the army of a country is considered a claim of legitimacy as a member of the nation. That was the comeback attempt against Hughes, by Ruchir Bakshi, apparently an American veteran. In response, he invoked his Hindu American identity and his U.S. Army combat veteran status to push back against Hughes. He said in a social media post:

“I’m a U.S. Army combat veteran and a Hindu American. I didn’t put on that uniform, leave my family, and go to war so some third-rate talk show guy could announce that when his side “wins,” they’re coming for my religion. I served with Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and other Hindus…. You don’t get to tear anything down. Not legally. Not morally. Not in the country for which I actually sacrificed.”

If this man invoked his Hindu faith in defence of his American identity, Dinesh D’Souza, India-born brown apologist of American Christian nationalism had to confront his fellow nationalists who attacked his daughter’s national identity. D’Souza’s daughter is married to Republican Congressman Brandon Gill, who represents Texas’ 26th Congressional District.

“She’s Christian, born in America, and her mom is white. Care to shows (sic) us a picture of your family?” D’Souza said, in defence of his daughter and son-in-law.

Ro Khanna, a Democrat with Indian ancestry, responded to D’Souza, saying he is Hindu and his mother is not white, but does not make him less American:

“Dinesh, like your daughter I was born in America & have an Indian immigrant father. I am Hindu and my mom is not white. Does that make me any less American or matter in any sense?”

In the same thread, Ro Khanna further reasoned that Abraham Lincoln similarly had to answer to objections about the “Americanness of recent immigrants.” At that time, “many claimed that those with French and German and Scandinavian blood were not American because their family did not fight in the Revolution.” Today, the question is put to those of Indian, Mexican, or Chinese heritage or to Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists. “You see, Lincoln had to answer the same objections about the Americanness of recent immigrants. Back then, many claimed that those with French and German and Scandinavian blood were not American because their family did not fight in the Revolution,” Khanna wrote on X.

Bloodlines, faith-lines, or fighting a war for the country – all these may support claims of membership of the national community. But supporting your country’s team in sport is an essential eligibility test for nationhood, it seems. Rishi Sunak, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, referred to the Tebbit Test and warned against using race as a benchmark for British nationhood. The Tebbit Test, or “cricket test,” is a controversial concept introduced in 1990 by British Conservative politician Norman Tebbit. It was proposed as a measure of the loyalty, integration, and assimilation of immigrants and ethnic minorities into British society, particularly South Asian and Caribbean communities.

“Whatever issues people had with me as PM (and there was no shortage) my race and religion weren’t among them,” he said on X. He listed Islamism and the failure of governments to control immigration as challenges to the UK’s democracy. But, he was quick to point out the risk of equating skin colour with nationality in the context of the U.K., including his own experience when questions were raised about whether he was English at all, given that he was “brown Hindu” and he was referred to as “Paki.” Paki is a derogatory word used to refer to those of Pakistani or South Asian origin. He said, “If you’re not white you can never be English.” He also defended his policy of deporting undocumented residents in the U.K. to Rwanda under a controversial government programme.

Federalism tract: notes on diversity

Blood can be thicker than logic

Mixed bloodlines were the claim to American nationhood for D’Souza, but mixing of blood itself can be hugely contested for imagined communities. Even in situations of medical emergency, as it turns out. The family of a patient at a government medical college hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa has alleged that the blood bank staff at the hospital refused to accept blood from a Brahmin acquaintance and asked them to arrange a donor from their own Vaishya caste. The hospital administration, however, claimed that two potential donors the family had brought in had been rejected due to their medical conditions.

Lines of separation

Following the State government’s notification of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 2026, last month, churches across Chhattisgarh are putting up notices advising non-Christians that they enter church premises at their own risk. The advisory is a precautionary measure in light of the stringent provisions of the new law, which leaves room for anyone to be implicated under it, says Diamond Philus, general secretary of the Dhamtari District Christian Forum.

Finding the register

The Assam Cabinet approved rules to operationalise the registration framework under the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act, 2024, which replaced legislation enacted in 1935. The colonial-era Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act provided for voluntary registration of marriages. Under the 2024 Act, the responsibility for registering Muslim marriages and divorces has shifted from licensed Muslim registrars or qazis to government-appointed registration officials.

Song of unity

The Supreme Court observed that a democratically elected government may set a National Song, but cannot infringe upon individual or collective religious freedoms or impose penal consequences on conscientious objectors who choose not to sing Vande Mataram in full or in parts. The observation was made during the hearing of a petition filed by Carnatic vocalist and author T.M. Krishna, challenging the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026.

Divided U.P.?

Om Prakash Rajbhar of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) has claimed that Uttar Pradesh will be divided into four parts following the caste census. Rajbhar, who is a Cabinet Minister in the current Uttar Pradesh government, has brought fresh attention to demands for the division of the State.

Non-Uniform Civil Code

West Bengal CM said the Kurmi community would be kept outside the scope of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and promised constitutional recognition for the Kurmali and Rajbanshi languages. Kurmis are a prominent community in the State’s Jangalmahal region and are currently under the Other Backward Class (OBC) classification. During the previous Trinamool Congress government, members of the community had organised road and railway blockades to demand Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and the inclusion of Kurmali in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Many tongues

The Karnataka government has decided to grant Tulu the status of a second official language in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. The decision fulfils the long-standing demand of the people of coastal Karnataka.