Narendra Modi has been officially announced the Prime Minister of India for a second term, as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw a landslide victory in the country’s general election. [1]
Modi, who is a Hindu nationalist, is the first non-Congress prime minister in India to return to power following a complete five-year rule. [2]
India’s Election Commission shows that Modi’s BJP won 303 of the 542 seats. This is more than the 282 seats it had in the 2014 elections. 352 seats were secured by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). [3]
However, the Indian National Congress (INC), an opposition party, only won 52 seats in the elections.
900 million individuals were eligible to cast their votes in this year’s elections. With 67% participating in the country’s elections, in which the ruling party has campaigned on a hardline Hindu agenda.
Many Muslims and minorities are concerned for Modi’s second term rule on India, an India where cow vigilantism is the more palatable term given to violent and hateful Hindu mobs targeting and sometimes killing human beings in the name of the cow, which they take as a deity. [4]
It has been a growing trend in India since Modi’s Hindu nationalist party came to power in 2014. Squads of extremists are known to roam the streets, seeking out livestock trucks in order to take the law into their own hands should any cows be found. [5]
Whilst some politicians have reacted with strong words, little underlying action has ever been taken by the ruling BJP, leading to accusations of complicity. After all, it was under Modi’s rule of Gujurat that saw Hindu mobs act with impunity, killing hundreds of Muslims in 2002. [6]
Highlighting the government’s lack of condemnation and slow response, one Muslim MP had tweeted in 2018:
Cow in India has a Fundamental Right to Life under Art 21 & a Muslim can be killed for they have no Fundamental right to LIFE
Four years of Modi rule – LYNCH RAJ https://t.co/IZuQSPY56F— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) July 21, 2018
One BJP legislator, Gyandev Ahuja, is said to have reacted to Akbar Khan’s death in 2018 by defending the murderous mob, with one of Khan’s friends claiming that the attackers specifically named Ahuja as their protector and enabler to act with impunity.[7] Ahuja has since denied defending them but has previous history of such behaviour. In a similar incident in 2017 he was quoted saying with regards to another murdered Muslim:
“He was a cow smuggler… sinners like him will meet this fate.” [8]
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Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/indian-general-elections-2019-latest-updates-190521080547337.html
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c27kzzpqm7xt/india-elections-2019
[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/indian-general-elections-2019-latest-updates-190521080547337.html
[4] https://www.islam21c.com/news-views/modis-india-muslim-man-transporting-cows-beaten-to-death/
[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/india-mob-lynches-muslim-man-transporting-cows-rajasthan-180721090817178.html
[6] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13170914
[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/07/24/will-modi-stop-indias-cow-terrorists-from-killing-muslims/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.dc22f549dcfe
[8] https://indianexpress.com/article/india/cow-vigilantes-no-regret-over-pehlu-khan-dairy-farmer-death-alwar-bjp-mla-gyandev-ahuja-4627024/
