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Hindu extremists take an oath to harm Muslims and India’s leaders keep silent

SHAFAQNA- A call for Muslim genocide in a Hindu religious assembly has triggered outrage in the country with a rights activists demanding action. Right-wing Hindu nationalists have preached violence online for years, but the violence has recently spilled onto the streets. Muslim fruit sellers have been beaten and their earnings snatched away after being accused of luring Hindu women into marriage to convert them. Muslim activists have been threatened with prosecution under an antiterrorism law that has been scrutinized by courts.

Indian Muslim: We are fast losing everything in this country

In recent years, Hindu groups have sprayed cow dung at Islamic prayer sites and called worshippers terrorists and Pakistanis — referencing India’s Muslim-majority neighbour and arch-rival. Moreover the local government, meanwhile, has steadily cut the number of approved outdoor worship sites.

In recent months, Hindu nationalists in Gurugram, a major technology center about 15 miles south of New Delhi, have confronted Muslims during Friday Prayer. Bands of right-wing Hindus have interrupted prayers with chants of “Jai Shri Ram!” Meaning “Hail Lord Ram,” a major Hindu god, the chant has become a battle cry for Hindu nationalists , According to Nytimes.

Dinesh Bharti drives around with other activists on Fridays heckling and harassing Muslims praying outside in Gurgaon, the latest flashpoint of sectarian tensions under India’s Hindu nationalist government.

Muslims praying in the open “create problems in the country and the entire world,” the thickset Hindu man in his 40s said, a red tilak on his forehead marking him out as a devout member of India’s majority religion.

“We are fast losing everything in this country, including the right to worship,” said Niyaz Farooqi, a Muslim who works in an automobile showroom in Gurugram. “A right given to us by the Constitution of this country.”

A call for Muslim genocide in a Hindu religious assembly

The three-day ‘Dharma Sansad’ was held by the controversial Hindutva figure Yati Narsinghanand from December 17 to 19, where multiple speakers made calls to kill minorities and attack their religious places. Setting a new benchmark for brazen hate speech, leaders of several far-right groups have called for ethnic cleansing of India’s 200 million Muslims, in a three-day summit organised at Haridwar in Uttarakhand , thelogicalindian told.

Right-wing Hindu activists at a conference took an oath to harm Muslims if necessary to make “a Hindu-only nation,” the most blatant example of rising anti-Muslim sentiment across India. Videos of Haridwar gathering in Uttarakhand state that called for violence against Muslims go viral. Sadhvi Annapurna, general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha [Hindu Grand Assembly], allegedly called for the murder of Muslims.

“Nothing is possible without weapons. If you want to eliminate their population then kill them. Be ready to kill and be ready to go to jail. Even if 100 of us are ready to kill 20 lakhs of them (Muslims), then we will be victorious, and go to jail,” she was heard saying in the video, UK.news mentioned

“Like [Nathuram] Godse (the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi), I am ready to be maligned, but I will pick up arms to defend my Hindutva from every demon who is a threat to my religion,” she allegedly said.

Four days after the conference ended, and after the videos circulated widely, the police in Uttarakhand announced that they had opened an investigation but that no arrests had been made. The police, who readily jail rights activists and comedians on charges lacking evidence, have been slow to take action.

The president of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, India’s largest socio-religious Muslim organization, accused the government of turning a blind eye to the open call against the Muslim community, as well hate speeches made regularly by fringe elements in an organized manner.

In a letter to the country’s home minister, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Committee for Minorities, and chief minister of Uttarakhand, where the assembly was held in the city of Haridwar, Maulana Mahmood Madni demanded strict action against the offenders. “They have posed threat to the peace and communal harmony of the country. I demand strong actions must be taken against organizers and speakers,” said Maulana Madni , AA reported.

Munawar Faruqui is a Muslim stand-up comedian who has recently suggested that he may not do any more shows amid protests by the Hindu right-wing outfits. Twelve of Faruqui’s shows got canceled in two months over alleged threats of vandalism as Hindu groups accuse him of mocking Hindu deities.

Modi has maintained a characteristic silence

The crowded auditorium, where right-wing Hindu monks called for other Hindus to arm themselves and kill Muslims, included influential religious leaders with close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing party, and even some members of the party.

Videos of the event have spread widely on social media in India this week. Yet Mr. Modi has maintained a characteristic silence that analysts say can be interpreted by his most extreme supporters as a tacit signal of protection.

Modi is a lifelong member of the hardline Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Hindu nationalist group. He was briefly barred from the United States over religious riots in Gujarat in 2002 when he was state chief minister, France24 told. Since his coming to power, a string of lynching of Muslims by Hindu mobs for so-called cow protection — a sacred animal for many Hindus — and other hate crimes has sown fear and despair in the community.

Several states have brought in legislation criminalising conversion to Christianity and Islam, including through marriage — or “love Jihad” as Hindu hardliners call it.

Multiple episodes of violence against Muslims during election season

The inflammatory remarks come as some states governed by Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., are holding elections, including in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where the conference was held. Mr. Modi was busy campaigning this week in Uttar Pradesh for Yogi Adityanath, his hard-line protégé and the state’s chief minister, who has frequently fanned anti-Muslim hatred. Multiple episodes of violence against Muslims have been reported during election season, including attacks by mobs trying to close businesses owned by Muslims.

Muslims are everywhere in a minority in India

India’s Muslim population of some 120 million is the third largest in the world – after those of Indonesia and Pakistan – and forms the largest religious minority in India. They are not a homogeneous group, divided as they are by language, ethnicity, culture and economic position. The great majority are Sunni Muslims, and the remainder are Shia, Refworld mentioned.

Muslims form a majority in the state of Kashmir, while elsewhere they are concentrated in particular areas. The largest numbers are to be found in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. In the north of India most Muslim communities speak Urdu, which is not a recognized official language of India-largely because of the lack of a distinct majority population in a specific area. Apart from Kashmir, Muslims are everywhere in a minority in India.

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