The use of hate and arbitrary power and calculated killings by Hindu nationalists reveal an ominous disregard for democracy, a forewarning of what is to come.
With Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly elections beginning, speculation is on whether Yogi Adityanath, the incumbent chief minister of the state, will be reelected to make a stronger bid to succeed Narendra Modi.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and his comrade, fundamentalist monk and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath
Starting on 10 February, the giant Indian state of Uttar Pradesh - population over 230 million! - is voting in crucially important state elections, in a major test of how much last year's victorious farmers' struggle has pushed back India's far right. The left and labour movement in the UK should be paying much more attention.
As Uttar Pradesh heads to state elections, minority groups fear more repression if state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a populist monk from the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, wins another term.