India, April 6 -- A century-old project to define the Indian citizen as fundamentally Hindu, regardless of their current profession of faith, seems to be reaching fruition in the law books. The shift from individual faith to state-monitored identity reached its zenith this March, with Maharashtra joining 12 other states in enacting "Freedom of Religion" laws. A massive geographic arc now criminalises the act of changing one's religion while simultaneously sanctifying the act of "returning" to the fold. This sleight of hand, a Constitutional asymmetry, is built upon a foundation of thirteen statutes: Odisha (1967), Madhya Pradesh (1968 and revised in 2021), Chhattisgarh (2000/2026), Gujarat (2003/2021), Arunachal Pradesh (1978), Himachal P...