Land of hate

Ever since the BJP assumed power in India in 2014, its leaders have been trying to incite hatred against religious minorities, especially Muslims. Not that before coming to power the BJP was any better; as a regional party in various states of India it had ruled and won elections on the basis of its Hindu nationalist agenda. Who can forget the Gujarat pogrom of the early 20002, when now Prime Minister Modi was chief minister of the Indian state and his BJP — led by its violent RSS ideology — had instigated extreme violence against Muslims. Muslims were murdered, raped, torched with abandon by BJP workers — in violence of barbaric proportions. At the time, at least, there had been some hope from the courts.

In the past eight years, the BJP government has stuffed India’s courts with judges who are toing the BJP line. The most recent example of this is the release of those who perpetrated the most heinous crimes. Just last week, 11 men convicted of gang-raping a pregnant woman — the Bilkis Bano case — during the riots in 2002 in Gujarat walked free. Though the Indian Supreme Court is likely to hear a petition challenging the release, if recent past is any guide there is little hope for justice under the Modi government. The authorities in Gujarat released the men after considering the time they had served after conviction in 2008. The BJP and its allies have been demonstrating their sheer hatred for the Muslim community in both deeds and words. Its ministers and leaders have repeatedly issued objectionable and provocative remarks against Islam and its most sacred of tenets and beliefs. Now another leader of the BJP has done the same. Pakistan has strongly condemned the sacrilegious remarks by Raja Singh who is a member of the state legislative assembly of the Indian state of Telangana. In the past three months this is the second time a senior BJP leader has made such disrespectful comments.

The BJP has never taken any concrete actions against its leaders and members who target Muslims and their holy personalities. The courts have almost invariably released them on bail or acquitted them. BJP zealots roam around freely with daggers drawn pining for the Muslim blood. Unfortunately, the global denunciation and outrage against India is not as forthcoming as it should be, just like it is with Israel. If such pernicious acts continue, the future of Muslims in India looks bleak. The persistently spiteful behaviour of the BJP government and its leaders is also reflected in a complete absence of any Muslim in the 77-member Union Cabinet of India. For the first time in the history of India, there is absolutely no representation of Muslims in the federal cabinet. From a land that had once prided itself on its ‘secular’ nature of governance, India has turned into a land that can only see hatred for the Other.