A supporter of BJP dances during celebrations after learning of initial poll results outside the party headquarters in New Delhi, on May 16, 2014. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

A woman dressed in the style of a Hindu goddess keeps her face partially covered for a ritual during Maha Shivaratri celebrations on March 12, 2021 in Kaveripattinam, India. Maha Shivaratri is a major Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god, Shiva. The festival is observed with chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating to overcome “darkness and ignorance” in life. (Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)

Protesters shield themselves as police beat them with sticks during a violent demonstration near the India Gate against a gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus last week, in New Delhi, India, December 23, 2012. The attack last Sunday has sparked days of protests across the country. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Associated Press)

An Indian bride, sits during a mass marriage of 162 Muslim couples in Ahmadabad, India, Sunday, March 3, 2013. Mass marriages in India are organized by social organizations primarily to help the economically backward families who cannot afford the high ceremony costs as well as the customary dowry and expensive gifts that are still prevalent in many communities. (Photo by Ajit Solanki/AP Photo/LaPresse)

Some 300 girls and women in India still practise open defecation. Over half the country’s population, 800 million people, do not have access to a toilet that meets basic standards. (Photo by Poulomi Basu/WaterAid)

Hindu devotees play with coloured powders during Holi celebrations at the Bankey Bihari Temple on March 21, 2011 in Vrindavan, India. Holi, the spring festival of colours, is celebrated by Hindus around the world in an explosion of colour to mark the end of the winter. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Hindu devotees watch as a 12 meter (40 feet) high statue of Hindu monkey-god Hanuman is washed during Hanuman Jayanti, the birthday of Lord Hanuman in Hyderabad, India, Friday, April 22, 2016. Hanuman is one of the most popular gods in the crowded pantheon of Hindu deities, and devout Hindus ascribe great strength and valor to him. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)

Prospective flight attendants listen to their instructor during an etiquette training course at Indigo Airlines' Ifly training centre in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi November 18, 2014. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)