By: Asem Mustafa
It was after the loss of many lives brutally over decades and India enjoying a strategic partnership with the United States was given a warning of getting blacklisted by Anthony Blinken US Secretary of State over its stigmatized human rights record.
The right to live is next to nothing in the Hindu dominant society in India where minorities in order to stay alive accept Hinduism as religion against their wishes.
How many have died the number is not in hundreds but in thousands and every minority group in India has tales which are both horrific and gruesome in nature. Starting with Kashmir the Indian atrocities in its illegal occupation have now numbered in many a thousand and for over seven decades the issue has been in the United Nations pending solution.
The killing counter in India is always on the rise against the minorities and there is no end to it.
The burning of churches and Christian missionaries getting beaten and killed by the extremist Hindus is but of recent past and many perished when the crowd burnt the structures.
The Modi regime which has extremist following in the form of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its militant wing that is RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) has held hostage the so-called largest democracy of the world.
The Dalits or untouchables in the Indian caste system are faced with the worst scenario as they are killed and beaten whenever the extremist Hindus get a chance.
Social media is full of videos where these Hindu extremists are seen killing and burning the churches, homes and even torching the people alive.
The world owing to business and economic interest has always turned a deaf ear to the screams of many thousands who died and cried for help with every strike from the Hindu extremists.
The representatives from the Indian civil society finally made their way to the US Secretary of State with a dossier carrying the bloodied tales of the innocents who died in the quest for basic human rights which is the ‘right to live’.
Kashmir has been under siege for over a year and the Modi regime is trying to change the population ratio of the area issuing domicile and identity documents to Hindus while canceling the identities of the Muslims who have been living there for centuries.
Such is the complexity of the situation that anyone if caught and believed to be from other faith and religion, the Hindu extremist beat and tie the person making him sing the Indian national anthem ‘Vande Mataram’ besides saying things that are derogatory to his/ her original faith. People going out for work have pseudo names to get minion jobs and carry one of the thousand gods in their pocket or in lockets to appear as Hindus.
The US official warning to the Indian government is viewed as a ray of hope by the minorities it is but the time that will tell whether that warning was real or just shot in the air with no impact.
Business boom over the dead and India is the biggest market in the world after China which has conflicting interests with the United States.
The writer is Special Correspondent at The Dayspring