During a recent Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) panel discussion hosted at the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) annual convention on 5 September, the founder of Genocide Watch, Dr. Gregory Stanton, repeated a warning that he and his organisation have made since 2002: “India has all of the preparatory stages for more genocidal massacres.” Dr. Stanton had made a similar warning in an early 2022 congressional briefing, citing comparable examples in Myanmar and Rwanda. Genocide Watch has called for action against the Indian government for over 20 years, but this has fallen on deaf ears. [1]
Earlier this week, there was an appalling video making the rounds that showed a number of Indian Muslim men being attacked by suspected plainclothes police officers in broad daylight. The reasoning behind their public humiliation? It is understood that the men were accused of interrupting the Hindu Navrati Garba festival that was taking place in the area. [2]
In the video – which is understood to have been recorded on Tuesday in the Gujarati city of Kheda – a large Hindu audience is seen chanting and expressing approval of the beatings while the men are brought out one by one, tied to an electricity pole and/ or held in place by an officer tugging on the victim’s hands, before receiving a number of blows that caused considerable pain, made apparent by the men’s cries. [2]
How was this public torture allowed to take place? Quite simply, it is due to the ever-increasing level of anti-Muslim sentiment in India, which is often lauded for being the world’s most populous democracy. For such a democratic nation, India is a particularly lawless land when it comes to issues of the treatment of Muslims.
An antecedent for further troubles
The Tuesday beating of Muslims in Gujarat state is an obvious antecedent to further troubles for Indian Muslims. Given the fact that police were able to initiate a punishment without so much as a court filing or a review of the facts, the mood amongst Indian Muslims is one that is fraught with worry.
Dr. Stanton – who has done extensive work in the field of genocide studies and accurately predicted the Rwandan genocide – further added while speaking to audience members at the ICNA convention,
“Persecution of Muslims is reflected in termination of Kashmir’s autonomy… Much Muslim property has been expropriated or destroyed, and Muslims have been displaced into enclaves.
“A climate of impunity reigns, in which eyewitnesses to mass murders of their own families have been terrorized into recanting testimony, and the killers have been acquitted.” [1]
Modi: an RSS devotee from the age of eight
From joining the fascistic Hindutva-aligned paramilitary organisation, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), at the tender age of eight, Modi steadily climbed its ranks and became a permanent member in the late 1960s. He then relocated to the headquarters of the Gujarat RSS at Maningar, Ahmedabad, where he studied under the tutelage of Lakshmanrao Inamdar. Notably, Inamdar was one of the founders of the RSS and is often credited with being Modi’s political mentor. Gaining promotion to pracharak (a full-time missionary) in 1972 and to vibhag pracharak (head of a local RSS division branch) in 1978, Modi has spent a lifetime incorporating and blending his upbringing through the RSS mindset and superstructures with political aspirations to dominate the country and rule by what he believes is the only way appropriate – Hindu ethnonationalism. [3]
These days, Narendra Modi is the prime minister of India. A Gujarat native and celebrated former member of the RSS, since 2014 he has been the head of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alongside his position as prime minister and Leader of the House in Lok Sabha. Since his premiership began, Modi has accelerated anti-Muslim sentiment with the use of legislation such as the poisonous CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), as well as the reciprocal backing of powerful fellow BJP politicians and chief ministers in various states. [3]
For those who may be unfamiliar with the CAA, the legislation was passed in December 2019 and concerns the granting of Indian citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants – who entered the country prior to 2015 – from the countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. While the CAA welcomes applications for citizenship from people of Parsi, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, or Christian faiths, it deliberately excludes Muslims. This has arguably meant that the law is unconstitutional as India’s constitution calls for a non-discriminatory approach to all faith groups. [4]
The “Gujarat model”
The state of Gujarat is one of the most notorious regions of India when it comes to anti-Muslim sentiment. For Modi, holding the position of Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 allowed the state to thrive economically, albeit at the detriment of Muslims. How did Modi achieve such levels of economic success during his premiership of Gujarat state? By enforcing the so-called “Gujarat model” of high economic growth established upon private-sector manufacturing and huge government subsidies, along with a ‘law and order’ public image, Modi oversaw electoral successes that exploited Hindu-Muslim tensions. Indeed, many political analysts have condemned Modi and the BJP for acting as puppet master during periods of intercommunal violence, and for using such mayhem as a tool for electoral success.
Former Gujarat chief minister Suresh Mehta told the German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), in December 2020,
“In the event of a riot, like we saw in Delhi this year, the BJP pulled the strings like it did in 2002. It manipulated the institutions of power like the parliament and the police and it orchestrated the riots, despite claiming otherwise…
“Who mobilized the crowd, handed them their weapons? Why did the police stay silent while people were butchered? All those who spoke up against the administration are either jailed or live in fear. This fear peddling has now reached a national level, because evidence against those in power were simply removed from the public forum.” [5]
It is clear from extensive research by political opponents, analysts, and reporters that Modi is a highly skilled operator who has been able to push for Hindu support for the BJP by creating an imaginary enemy out of Muslims, while backing this up with the use of violence in order to appear as though law and order is a tenet of the party. Through this masterful manipulation in intercommunal relationships, Modi’s BJP has been able to dig itself out of electoral weak spots by fuelling the very environments needed for success at the ballot box.
“Preparation for more massacres has already begun”
Speaking at the IAMC panel on 5 September, Dr. Gregory Stanton specifically made note of the BJP’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, where over 1,000 mainly Muslim people died. “Preparation for more massacres has already begun,” said the former Research Professor in Genocide Studies and Prevention at the George Mason University. [1] [6]
The riots of 2002 began shortly after the Sabarmati Express train carrying a group of Hindu pilgrims caught fire. While blame was apportioned to a local Muslim man, Hussain Umarji, the evidence against him was unreliable and he was later acquitted of the charges. However, this acquittal was not before tensions between Muslims and Hindus were allowed to wreak havoc. The riots had eventually caused the deaths of over a thousand people and chief minister Modi got his way in blaming a ‘Muslim mob’ for the fire. [6]
The son of Hussain Umarji, Saeed, told DW in 2020,
“My father apologized on behalf of the Muslim community in Godhra after the train burning incident, but he was picked up as a scapegoat by the police almost a year later.
“Our religion is being used to target us, which is why I no longer want to hold onto my religion, as it opens me up to harassment and discrimination.” [5]
Following on from the 2002 riots, many more Muslims have continued to live in fear and threats are made to their lives on a daily basis. One local resident told DW,
“Life has gotten worse after 2002. Boys living in the resettlement area don’t get jobs because they are Muslims. The Hindus who live across the road call my area Pakistan and their side Hindustan. When we protested against the Modi government’s Citizenship Amendment Act, stones were pelted at us from across the road.” [5]
So there we have it: India is ruled by a prime minister who is a BJP-RSS ultranationalist of the most extensive training from the young age of eight; who openly expresses disdain for Muslims whilst pushing for Hindu advancement in society; and who utilises state machinery (including his political party) to continue to wreak havoc upon all non-Hindus including Muslims and other minorities.
When will this anti-Muslim oppression end? Perhaps not before other Muslim countries are brave enough to speak out
We must consider the fact that India has a Muslim population of around 200 million people. That places it third on the list of countries with the biggest Muslim populations after Indonesia (231 million) and Pakistan (212 million). [7] It seems that the reason why Indian Muslims are in such a predicament is precisely due to the unbelievably powerful state institutions that are biased against their favour.
It is for this reason that the dangerous situation for Indian Muslims needs to be addressed by not only India’s politicians, but also international players and organisations such as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the United Nations Human Rights Council, as well as large Muslim countries in the continent, including the likes of Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Source: Islam21c
Notes
[1] https://iamc.com/genocide-watch-founder-says-india-is-at-cusp-of-genocidal-massacres/
[2] https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/10/05/outrage-after-video-shows-indian-police-beating-muslim-men-in-public/
[3] https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-rss-pracharak-politician
[4] https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/india-s-new-anti-muslim-law-shows-broad-allure-right-ncna1112446
[5] https://www.dw.com/en/is-indias-gujarat-providing-a-model-for-muslim-discrimination/a-55987068
[6] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4536199.stm
[7] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/muslim-population-by-country