Despite pandemic, a rising Islamophobia in Modi’s India
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The current coronavirus pandemic has afforded the Indian government and parts of the Indian media an ideal opportunity to spew hatred against its hapless Muslim minority. Negative profiling of Muslims in India has become a repetitive trait, including the scapegoating of Muslims for the spread of the coronavirus. This apparently suits the Modi government in two ways: it hides its own mishandling of the coronavirus challenge and it pleases the Hindutva brigade, its solid support base.
The prevailing situation was well reflected in a recent tweet of the OIC Permanent Human Rights Commission, when it said: “We urge Indian government to take urgent steps to stop growing tide of Islamophobia and protect the rights of its persecuted Muslim minority.”
The responsibility of spreading this deadly virus was conveniently placed on a congregation of Muslim preachers held in Delhi last month. This is an annual event, attended by Muslims from several countries. It is a fact that some who attended this gathering tested positive for the virus, but why did the Indian government focus all its testing efforts on the participants of this gathering alone and not on other non-Muslim religious congregations? Strange theories and trending topics like CoronaJihad, concocted around deliberate efforts by Muslims to spread this virus, are gaining currency in India.
Arundhati Roy, the famous Indian novelist and rights activist has accused the Indian government of inflaming tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and said the pandemic was putting India’s fault lines on full display.
Similarly, Professor Amir Ali of Jawahar Lal Nehru University in Delhi said Islamophobia has been transposed onto the coronavirus issue. A Muslim guard, employed by a Hindu family in Delhi, was recently sacked as the family tested positive for coronavirus. When tested later on, the guard himself turned out negative for the virus.
The current coronavirus pandemic has afforded the Indian government and parts of the Indian media an ideal opportunity to spew hatred against its hapless Muslim minority. Negative profiling of Muslims in India has become a repetitive trait, including the scapegoating of Muslims for the spread of the coronavirus.
Javed Hafeez
It would appear that the thin veneer of Indian secularism has been blown away by the strong winds of Hindutva. This extremist concept was honed by a Hindu leader named Sawarkar in his book published in 1923-- a man who later went on to praise the leadership of Nazi Germany.
In his book, he clearly defined the difference between Hinduism and Hindutva. To put it simply, Hindutva is the political face of Hinduism and it is essentially hegemonic in nature. He wrote: “Hindus are those who consider India to be the land in which their ancestors lived, as well as the land in which their religion originated.”
It is on the basis of beliefs such as his that Indian Muslims are being asked to declare that their forefathers had converted from Hinduism. They are, therefore, encouraged to return to the fold of Hinduism.
India today is witnessing regression of a cynical nature. Even the fruit and vegetable vendors are being asked about their religion, while Muslim vendors are being scared out of residential areas, according to an NDTV report.
Can India achieve the coveted global power status while over 200 million of its population is virtually alienated? During an official visit to India in 2000, US President Bill Clinton had advised the Indian leadership to follow a pluralistic policy as an alienated Muslim community would become a liability. This sane advice was not heeded and communal lines have only been exacerbated over time.
Although secularism still remains India’s official creed, it has practically been thrown into the dustbin. The Modi government which came into power in 2014 and won a resounding victory again in 2019 has openly chosen Hindutva as a policy, in accordance with the BJP party manifesto. Its unilateral abrogation of Kashmir’s autonomous status and the passing of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) last year sent shock waves in its Muslim population which is the highest in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan.
But the government is least bothered as Hindutva consolidates its vote bank. If and when Muslims demonstrate for their rights, they face a hostile police. Even the opposition Congress and Aam Admi Party (AAP) have shown little empathy for Muslims.
Pakistan bashing is also a pillar of this policy. Pakistani leadership is naturally concerned about developments in India. Prime Minister Imran Khan recently said in a tweet that the Modi government was deliberately targeting its Muslim population to divert the backlash over its Covid-19 policy. Khan drew an analogy between Modi’s increasing policies toward Muslims and Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jewish people.
Interestingly, Indian wrath is only reserved for subcontinental Muslims. It shows a totally different face to other Muslims abroad. However, in a world where news travels at the speed of light and where social media is vibrant, it is no longer easy to hide the facts.
It is quite clear that such short sighted policies are deeply counterproductive in the long run. India is a diverse nation with multiple religious beliefs, ethnic groups, several languages and cultures. Only secular policies and inclusive politics will hold it together.
*Javed Hafeez is a former Pakistani diplomat with much experience of the Middle East. He writes weekly columns in Pakistani and Gulf newspapers and appears regularly on satellite TV channels as a defense and political analyst.
Twitter: @hafiz_javed
