People share their pride and disappointment on the tenure of Britain’s first Asian and Hindu prime minister General election 2024: live news UK general election results live tracker With Rishi Sunak’s tenure as the first prime minister of Indian heritage having come to a crushing end, south Asians living in the UK have had cause to reflect. The Conservative party’s general election capitulation ends a shortlived but historic period for the country, which for the first time was led by a person of colour, and a Hindu. In his last address to the country, Sunak reflected on the significance of h ..read more

Police report says 250,000 people had gathered at a Hindu event in Uttar Pradesh that had a capacity of 80,000 About 250,000 people had gathered at the Hindu religious congregation in northern India where 121 people died in a crowd crush, triple the capacity permitted by authorities, a police report has said. The deadly crush took place on Tuesday at a religious function known as a satsang held in a village in Hathras, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, when hundreds of thousands of devotee turned up to see Bhole Baba, a popular self-styled guru ..read more

You don’t have to wear a floral wreath or take milk baths to adhere to a modern goddess philosophy Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life When I am on deadline, nothing yet defrosted for dinner, and the washing is hanging on the clothesline in the rain, I find it hard to connect to my inner goddess. If I turn to the internet for advice, I’m presented with yet another to-do list. To embrace my goddess self, I must love myself, eat healthy, exercise, take a milk bath, wear flattering-yet-practical clothes, adorn my hair with floral wr ..read more

I don’t want to be ‘McMindful’ but rather extend myself beyond my ‘self’ and contribute to the wellness of all beings Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life Mindfulness, spirituality, wellbeing – these words are treated as interchangeable in the global wellness marketplace. But spirituality is not the same as being happy. Spirituality, according to almost of the world’s great wisdom traditions, requires work, service and sacrifice. The world’s dominant religions – Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam – all encourage prac ..read more

India’s prime minister encourages a belief in his divinity, leading followers to think it is God’s purpose to spread fear and loathing “No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.” So reads the rulebook for Indian elections. Has anyone told Narendra Modi? India’s prime minister has resorted to overtly Islamophobic language during the two-month campaign, painting India’s 200 million Muslims as an existential threat to the Hindu majority. La ..read more

Hannah Ellis-Petersen reports from Uttarakhand, which offers a glimpse into what the future might look like if the BJP retains its power in national elections “One of the most significant elements of Modi’s rule is how his Hindu nationalist politics has reshaped the country,” the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen tells Michael Safi. “Uttarakhand is a state where I think we’ve seen the real consequences of that narrative play out.” Hannah explains how religious tensions have been stoked in the state of Uttarakhand through conspiracy theories, political rhetoric and the d ..read more

A region known as ‘God’s land’ offers a glimpse of the future if Indian prime minister’s BJP party retains its power For centuries it has been known as the “land of the gods”. Stretching high up into the Himalayas, the Indian state of Uttarakhand is home to tens of thousands of Hindu temples and some of the holiest Hindu pilgrimage sites. Yet as Hindu nationalism has become the dominant political force in India under prime minister Narendra Modi over the past decade, the government is accused of weaponising Uttarakhand’s sacred status for politics, making the state a “laboratory” for some of t ..read more

The colours and fabrics of my mother’s old saris are a thread linking me to my Indian ancestors It’s my first memory. I’m watching my mother put on her sari in her old bedroom in Southall. It’s 1969 and I’m two years old. It’s early evening, all dark browns and blacks in my mind, like a sepia-tinted film. I remember the long white petticoat, tied at her waist with string, her figure defined by a dim light from the hallway. She starts wrapping her body in the lengths of material, quickly tucking the first layer into the petticoat. Part of the sari is still lying in a heap on the floor, before s ..read more

Bechan Baba has dedicated his life to Varanasi’s Anarwali mosque, where Hindus and Muslims come to pray – despite the historical disputes raging outside In the heart of Varanasi, where the sacred Ganges meanders by and incense smoke mingles with the faint echoes of prayers from a myriad of temples, Bechan Baba sits at the entrance of the Anarwali mosque. A silent sentinel, the 72-year-old Hindu caretaker leans back on weathered stones that were laid almost 400 years ago. Bechan has dedicated his working life to the service of this ancient mosque, which represents a sense of unity in a city wre ..read more

Politically-inspired biopic of Indian politician who opposed Gandhi’s non-violence is hamstrung by its own lack of action Of all the hot takes you expect to see when you go to the cinema, the suggestion that Mahatma Gandhi was overrated is perhaps low down the list. But this Hindi biopic of Hindu nationalist leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (directed and co-written by Randeep Hooda, who also stars as Savarkar in a committed and involving performance) argues exactly that, although it’s careful to have Savarkar note: “I don’t hate Gandhi, I hate non-violence.” Okay then. In general, the stance ac ..read more