The suppression of minorities’ freedom in India was already grave but in the Modi led regime they are facing all kinds of humiliation, bigotry, restriction on free expression and religious freedom that one can only imagine. Minorities whether Christian, Sikhs, Muslims or Dalits are victims of Hindus extremism, narrow-mindedness and state sponsored terrorism. It is in the backdrop of Hindutva ideology and mind-set that hate crimes against minorities have become a norm in Indian society. The mobs of RSS, Shiv Sena, and Bajrang Dal are executing the worst forms of abuse on the minorities with impunity.

Owing to strong reaction from Muslims all over the world on recent derogatory remarks by BJP leaders against Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), the ruling party has suspended membership of its two leaders to show its apologetic face to world community. However, instead of learning from the past incidents and paying heed to legitimate grievances of minorities, the Indian Government fascist regime still continues old tactics of arrests and demolishing houses of Muslims on mere suspicion of participating in anti-government riots.

Whenever such incident happens, minorities especially Muslim population face state sponsored aggression. The Modi led regime does not consider Muslims as citizens to be treated as per the constitution of India or to be negotiated with, rather they consider them worthy of being controlled and managed through the use of brute force. This approach is the main reason that minorities in India are not safe and facing the worst kind of circumstances. From all acts of the Indian fascist regime, the message is very loud and clear that neither the constitution nor judiciary would come to the minorities rescue no matter what action the state takes against them.

Minorities in India are victims of Hindutva Ideology that preaches that Hindus are superior and have the right to rule others. Such malicious designs breed catastrophes and damage the thin fabric of the society. India’s ongoing incursion of laws targeting minorities have ignited protests which mushroom into riots after RSS goons get involved. Religious bigotry has brought the Muslim and Sikh communities face to face with the government. The false image of stability that the Modi regime has built will explode soon, taking with it India’s falsely projected image of a secular, peaceful and blissful state.

Talking about India’s gross human rights violation, its own National Crime Records Bureau reported about 41 percent increase in communal violence since 2014. As per its report, 336 cases of violence involving enmity between groups, races, and religions were reported in 2014 whereas, 2016 recorded 475 cases. The violence has intensified in recent years. In 2017 alone, 111 people in India were murdered whereas some 2,384 people were injured in 822 communal clashes in comparison in 2016, 86 people lost their lives and around 2,321 were injured in 703 incidents.  In 2018 alone, at least 13 people lost lives and 57 people got injured in 31 incidents at the hands of cow vigilante mobs.

According to a report by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, a look at the last seven decades after India’s independence shows a number of examples where minorities were targeted - be it the Sikh riots of 1984 (the most reliable estimates of the total number of deaths during the Golden Temple massacre range from 5,000 to 7,000 and are remembered by Sikhs as the “darkest time of their history”), the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, incident of burning Australian missionary Graham Stewart Stains and his two minor sons alive in January 1999 by the mob of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Gujarat riots of 2002 and the Delhi riots.

In comparison with Pakistan’s interfaith approach, the situation in India has exposed the state support to discrimination and ill-treatment against minorities that continue to result in loss of lives and property besides imparting a sense of fear and alienation among the minority communities. India’s Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by its parliament is an ‘anti-Muslim’ law that offers amnesty to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from three neighbouring countries.

Now the question should be asked from the international community: why does it remain silent on gross human right violations? Is it the Indian business market which has made all the world leaders turn a blind eye to these violations? If not, then why is the international community not asserting their influence on India to stop brutalities, humiliation and bigotry being faced by all the minorities especially Muslims living in India?

By Javed Iqbal

 –The writer holds MS in Media Studies and is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad