In an interview on a news channel, Nupur Sharma, the Former National spokesperson of the ruling political party of India, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), recently passed some derogatory comments on the character of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), causing a storm in the Muslim world. The remarks of Nupur Sharma drew the attention of almost all Islamic countries, including non-Arab states such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Maldives, who registered formal protests against the Indian Government. Countless people and many organizations in India reported complaints in police stations against Nupur Sharma, with most Muslim committees hitting the streets in many states of India.
Following the backlash, the BJP suspended Nupur Sharma and another serious offender of hate speech, Naveen Jindal, from the party; however, it was not clear enough to make up for the hurt sentiments of the Muslims around the world. In response to the protest inside the country, many cases were registered against members of the Muslim minority for illegal assembly and rioting, with a Hindu Monk’s state government in the heartland of India going as far as to dismantle the homes of Muslim protesters with government bulldozers unlawfully.
The Systematic Repression of The Muslim Minority Began with The Modi Government
Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into power eight years ago predominantly on the Hindu vote, and since then, he has left no stone unturned to please his Hindu Nationalist voters. This motivated and organized political shift of the Indian Government subsequently left its Muslim minority in a constant state of anxiety.
The apprehensions of the Muslim community are well-founded on the fact that the religious bigotry of the Hindu extremists has been allowed to fester and become mainstream. Islamophobia in India is at an all-time high, with Judiciary and Media acting as the protectors and propagators of the Hindu Nationalist Agenda. However, all this so-called “Nation Building” after seventy years of becoming a free country has so far come at the expense of its Muslim Minority, who is clearly at the moment fearing for their well-being in a democratic and secular Republic of India.
Cow Vigilantism Has Become the Rule of Law
Radical cow protection groups in India have unleashed a wave of terror on the minority Muslims, who have been publicly lynched in broad daylight. Few Muslims have been murdered recently, with no end in sight for these violent acts against the minority Muslim community. Implementing alienating policies to suppress the Muslim community has often received support from law enforcement agencies and Hindu nationalist leaders. Consumption of beef has become an official crime in the county, and Muslims are being hunted and harassed every day all over India for the suspicion of eating beef.
Muslim butchers have been forced to close their trade, and Muslim dairy farmers continuously face deadly mob attacks. Despite all the violence inflicted upon the Muslim minority, the BJP government and its communal rhetoric have not stopped their open campaign to make Muslims the villains of their Cow Goddess.
The Islamophobic Law of Citizenship Amendment Act
The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed on 11th December 2019 by the Indian Parliament, providing citizenship to the persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, the law defined and limited the persecuted religious minorities to only Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian identities, excluding Muslims from the protection of this law. The law and its legalities, such as using religion as a criterion for citizenship, became a topic of contention inside the country. At the same time, it also attracted global criticism for being explicitly anti-Muslim and xenophobic. The law was specifically brought to target the Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslim refugees who were facing a brutal genocide in the neighbouring country of Myanmar.
Subsequently, BJP leaders launched a campaign demanding the expulsion of all Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims from the region. At the same time, a countrywide crackdown also began, particularly in West Bengal, where India Government built detention centres for these Muslim Refugees.
The Conspiracy of Love Jihad
For a while now, Muslims have been demonized in India for the act of love. The Islamophobic conspiracy theory of Loved Jihad has reached its peak popularity in the reign of Narendra Modi, in which Hindutva forces are demonizing and dragging Muslims to courts and police stations all over the country.
Muslim men and women are targeted for marrying in the Hindu community, after which they often land in state jails. Even though the couples are happily married, the law and the state institutions book mainly Muslim men for forcible conversion, under which these men face severe criminal charges like rape and kidnapping. Many BJP-ruled states have already brought love Jihad laws, while the central Government is also looking to pass a similar amendment for the whole country.
The Ambitions of Indian State In Kashmir
For more than three decades now, the Muslim Majority Kashmir valley has been kept under military lockdown, with a severe crisis of human rights that seems never to end. On 5th August 2019, the Hindu Nationalist BJP Government struck down Article 370 and Article 35A of its constitution, taking away the already limited autonomy of the disputed Muslim-dominated region.
After the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, the State’s special status was revoked, and the State was made a union territory, brought directly under the Central Government’s supremacy. Following this unconstitutional and undemocratic move, thousands of politicians, civil society members, and activities were jailed, including three former Chief Ministers of the region. The whole State was brought under military curfew, which lasted for more or less six months.
Furthermore, on 6th March 2020, the Indian Government set up the Delimitation Commission, which is expected to take away political power by manipulating assembly seats from Muslim majority Kashmir valley to Hindu majority Jammu region. In addition to the grave human rights violation, the disputed and politically violated territory is currently fearing a demographic severe and cultural change at the hands of a Hindu Nationalist Government, whereby its proud people are anxious about the history and future of Kashmiri Civilization.
Conclusion
While the Indian State is hellbent on changing the names of Muslim cities and roads from Uttar Pradesh to Kashmir every other day, Muslims are not only seeing the erasure of their cultural heritage but a severe threat of eradication to their existence as well. It appears now that the violence against the Muslim minority has somehow become embedded in the DNA of the Indian State, which seems to approve the calls for genocide against Muslims and plan it as well. The attitude of majoritarianism of the Nationalist Hindu Government has shaped itself into an absolute tyranny of the majority, which seeks to eliminate the Muslim minority from their society like the Jews of Nazi Germany.
