majority countries, over 30 Hindu temples were attacked,6 Hindu homes and temples were attacked, and women raped, leaving around 10 people dead, respectively.7 IT IS TRULY POIGNANT TO NOTE THAT AT THE TIME OF WRITING THIS REPORT, THE SOCALLED “RAM MANDIR”, OR THE NEW HINDU TEMPLE AT AYODHYA, WAS INAUGURATED IN JANUARY 2024 ON THE GROUNDS WHERE BABRI MASJID ONCE STOOD. “RAM MANDIR” HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS “THE TOMBSTONE” OF SOUTH ASIAN SECULARISM. It is truly poignant to note that at the time of writing this report, the so-called “Ram Mandir”, or the new Hindu temple at Ayodhya, was inaugurated in January 2024 on the grounds where Babri Masjid once stood. “Ram Mandir” has been described as “the tombstone” of South Asian secularism.8 This paper is an overview of fascist and fundamentalist trends and actors in South Asia and Southeast Asia that are undermining human rights and social and gender justice, leading to the restriction of individual and collective freedoms and causing the contraction of safe space for people-led organizing. METHODOLOGY Secondary sources were used with the hope that this overview acts as a springboard for further in-depth study of the regions. This included reviews of journalistic reports, human rights documentation, and regional and local activists and analysts’ perspectives. The paper’s substance mainly focuses on events and actors that are significant in a current sense, or at most, spanning the last 5 years, with reference to history 6 Reuters, “Pakistanis Attack 30 Hindu Temples,” New York Times Archives, 1992, https://web.archive.org/ web/20181225031309/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/08/world/pakistanis-attack-30-hindu-temples.html 7 Minorities at Risk Project, “Chronology for Hindus in Bangladesh,” Minorities at Risk Project, University of Maryland, 2004, https://www.refworld.org/docid/469f3869c.html 8 Vats, V. (2024). “The Ram Mandir is the tombstone for India as South Asia’s great secular exception”. Himal Magazine. 10