Sajjad
Shaukat
It
is surprising that media did not take much notice of the report of a US
Congress-established panel which has shown serious concerns over the
maltreatment of religious minorities in India. In this regard, on April 30, in
its annual report 2015, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom
said, “Since the [last year’s] election, religious minority communities have been
subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to the ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu
nationalist groups, such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishva Hindu
Parishad (VHP). The report pointed out, “Hindu groups had announced plans in
December to forcibly reconvert at least 4,000 Christian families and 1,000
Muslim families to Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh as part of a so-called ‘ghar wap’'
(homecoming) programme…the Hindu groups sought to raise money for their
campaign, noting that it cost nearly 200,000 rupees per Christian and 500,000
rupees per The Panel asked the Obama Administration to press the Indian
government to publicly rebuke officials and religious leaders who make
derogatory remarks about various communities However, as part of anti-Muslim
and anti-Christian approach, leader of the BJP and Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is giving impetus to Hindu chauvinism. Indian society is rapidly radicalizing,
as unprecedented rise of Hindu extremism has posed serious threats to the very existence
of the religious minorities.
It
is amazing that theoretically, Indian Constitution safeguards the rights of
minorities, but in practice, ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) prevails.
Hindu majority led by the BJP has shown complete disregard to it, and commit
excesses and cruelties against Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Dalits with
impunity. Hindu politics and culture, dominated by the fundamentalist parties
such as BJP, VHP, Shiv Sena and RSS including other extremist outfits have been
propagating Hindutva. Provocative utterances of their extremist leaders have
resulted into unending violence especially against the It is mentionable that
Hinduvta agenda enabled BJP hardliner, Narendra Modi to get a land sliding
triumph in the Indian elections 2014. In this respect, RSS driven anti-Muslim
move of the BJP including other Hindu fanatic parties could be judged from
various developments. On May 28, 2014, Rashtriya Hindu Andolan, a
Mangalore-based Hindutva outfit and activists from various right wing groups
organized a protest in Mangalore in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner
by demanding the authorities to ban the morning Muslim call to prayer (Azan) across
the country. Besides forcing the Muslim employee in a Parliament Canteen by BJP
leader to break his fast by stuffing piece of bread in his mouth, statement of
Deputy Chief of Goa, declaring India as a Hindu state might be cited as
example.
It
is noteworthy that in 1992, a large crowd of Hindu Karsevaks (volunteers) in
accordance with a preplanned scheme of the Indian high officials entirely
demolished the 16th-century Babri Masjid (mosque) to reclaim the land known as
RAM Janmabhoomi–birthplace of the god. The destruction of the Babri Masjid
sparked Muslim outrage around the country, provoking several months of
inter-communal rioting between Hindu and Muslim communities, causing the death
of at least 2,000 people, majority of whom were Muslims. Besides, massacre of
2500 Muslims in the in the BJP-ruled Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 and those
of more than 2002 Muslims during the communal riots of 2008 in Uttar
Pradesh—participation of Indian high officials and leaders of the VHP, BJP and
Bajrang Dal in the incidents might also be cited as instance. Similarly, in the
recent years, assaults on Christians, their churches and property have been executed
by the Hindu mobs in various cities of India. In this connection, at least 100
Christians have been assassinated by Hindu extremists, mostly in the state of
Orissa.
It is of particular attention that on November
7, 2011, leader of the VHP, Pravin Togadia, in his furious speech questioned
the past of Muslims and Christians, and further gave a call to Hindus to
capture the Islamic holy places in Arab and Vatican of Europe. It is
worth-mentioning that forced conversions of other religious minorities into
Hindus also continue. In this regard, Bajrang Dal, an offshoot of the RSS,
converted at least 57 Muslim families (200 people) into Hindus at a ceremony in
Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Previously, in early September 2014, Christians were also
forcefully converted to Hindus which created unrest among Christian clergy.
Recently, a similar event in Aligarh saw Christian families converting to
Hinduism. Since installment of the BJP government in the center, this campaign
has been accelerated. As regards persecution of minorities in India, Tom Lantos
Human Rights Commission Testimony by Human Rights Watch presented before US
Senate Committee on atrocious attitude of Hindu majority had highlighted the
plight of minorities in India. The report was presented before Indian general
elections 2014. But, it is strange that American government which had denied
visa to Modi on the basis of his involvement in Gujrat genocide, allowed.
Nevertheless,
some of the fanatic Hindu groups are not in favour of a separate and distinct culture
for minorities. A Hindu fundamentalist namely Prof Balraj Madhok had suggested
that the minorities must adopt Indian (Hindu) names. Now, schools and other
educational institutions are being systematically Hinduized. References to
Hindu gods and goddesses abound in the text books. Books, prescribed by the
Education Boards contain lessons giving false stories of Muslim atrocities on
Hindu women, kidnapping, Undoubtedly, Hindu fundamentalism is increasingly
widening its influence everywhere and has already established for itself a firm
base in every sector of the Indian society including bureaucracy, media,
educational institutions, and the like. The hate campaign unleashed by the fundamentalist
forces is keeping the minority wholly preoccupied with defending their basic human
rights and cultural identity. Nonetheless, it is a good sign that the US has
abandoned its double standard by showing grave concerns about mistreatment of
Indian religious minorities. American said report has exposed Indian false
claim of the largest democracy, acting upon the principles of liberalism and secularism.
Now, the West and particular the US must take appropriate steps against New
Delhi in this respect. Otherwise, Hindu extremists may cause World War 111 or
clash of civilizations.
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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