By: Muhammad Fahim
Though the constitution of India gives equal rights to all its citizens, however, according to many reports, Muslims have faced institutional and systemic bias since the inception of modern India.
The incumbent Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has become a nightmare for the Indian minorities, especially Muslims. He has been accused of massacres and bloodletting of Muslims since he has come to power as chief minister of Gujarat. Before his election to the center, he served as chief minister of Gujarat state of India for approximately 13 years. During his election campaigns, he opening called the Indian Muslims terrorists. He famously said; “All Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims”. He was instrumental in the 2002 Gujarat riots where thousands of Muslims were murdered and women were mass raped. The local Hindi and Gujarati language media biased reporting against Muslims aided fuel into the fire.
Later, he tried to justify the Gujarat massacre by saying that the Gujarat violence was the reaction of the Sabarmati Express incident which according to him was done by Muslims. He blamed the Muslims for the Sabarmati Express incident even before police investigations.
He used the state machinery – such as the state government and police – to name and shame the Indian Muslims. His then home minister, Amit Shah, and police officers were found involved in the extrajudicial killings of Muslims and violence against Muslims. However, no legal action has been taken against the police officers and Amit Shah – then Gujarat home minister and an incumbent Home Minister of India.
The United States of America refused to grant him a visa while he was serving as chief minister of Gujarat. However, after becoming a Prime Minister of India, he visited the United States several times. Upon his maiden visit to the United States of America as Prime Minister, many congressmen lashed him out for the human rights violations that happened under his watch.
Modi is a lifetime member of RSS which follows the Hindutva Ideology of Vinayak Savarkar. In 1923, Vinayak Savarkar introduced his Hindutva ideology which is based on Hindu superiority.
According to him, Hindutva is not merely based on the Hindu religion but it encircles everything, including culture, history, and religion. According to the Hindutva ideology, India is the land of Hindus only. The followers of Abrahamic religions, Muslims and Christens, are deemed as invaders and not Indian. The politics of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and Modi’s party, BJP, revolve around the Hindutva Ideology. They believe in racial superiority and consider Muslims and Christens as second-class citizens.
Sectarian violence between Muslims and Hindus has erupted many times throughout the history of modern India. However, the Lynching of minorities, especially Muslims, in broad daylight has increased drastically since Modi’s assertion into the throne after winning elections in 2014 and 2019. Though the constitution of India gives equal rights to all its citizens, however, according to many reports, Muslims have faced institutional and systemic bias since the inception of modern India.
To mention a few, Tabrez Ansari was lynched by the Hindu mob in Jharkhand. In 2019, the Father of Irshad Khan, Pehlu Khan was lynched by an angry Hindu mob in Jaishingpur village. In Dadri, Muhammad Akhlaq was lynched by a Hindu mob for allegedly consuming beef. However, later the police report confirmed that the meat in Akhlaq’s house was Mutton, not beef. Since Modi’s assertion into the throne, thousands of mob lynching incidents have occurred and still occurring on regular basis.
The constitution of India has been perceived as a hurdle by the right-wing Hindutva forces. They always yearned to alter the constitution but they did not do it due to a lack of majority in the parliament. But this has changed when Modi’s BJP secured a landslide victory in the 2014 and 2019 elections. Modi is changing the Indian constitution and passing laws that discriminate against Muslims. NRC, CAA, and the revocation of article 370 are the best examples.
The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad. He tweets @FahimKhanDawar