News Analysis |
In a viral social media video, a group of Hindus can be seen disrupting a Muslim congregational prayer. Despite the pleas of the prayer leader and other Muslims, the hooligans continued to raise provocative slogans and remove the rugs and other material.
According to the video, the Muslim group had come to pray outside their mosque as the congregation was too large to be accommodated. However, a small group of four to six Hindus marched on to the scene and began to raise slogans and tear away the sound system and rugs. The slogans consisted of “Bolo Jay Shree Ram” (Say Long Live Lord Ram), which is often used by Indian extremists to coerce minorities into shouting the slogan and others which are often used in Hindutva discourse.
The atrocities against the Indian Muslims is a crime under the Indian constitution but the situation is that perpetrators of such act get away scot free and are venerated by segments of the Indian Hindus.
Muslims in India form the largest religious minority in the country. According to the 2011 Census, they comprise 14.4 percent of India’s total population — roughly 174 million people. The aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 saw large-scale sectarian strife and bloodshed throughout the nation. Since then, India has witnessed sporadic large-scale violence sparked by underlying tensions between sections of the Hindu and Muslim communities. One of the most violent events in recent times took place during the Gujarat riots in 2002.
Read more: Fake Video provokes Hindus to attack Muslims
Tens of thousands of people were left homeless as the rioters set fire to Muslim homes and businesses. Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the violence. They have often been a target of radical Hindu groups primarily the RSS of which the ruling BJP is the political wing.
The slogans consisted of “Bolo Jay Shree Ram” (Say Long Live Lord Ram), which is often used by Indian extremists to coerce minorities into shouting the slogan and others which are often used in Hindutva discourse.
The BJP and its partner organizations in the Hindu right have started a concerted campaign against all religious minorities, including Muslims. The main features of this campaign include protests against the so-called ‘love jihad’ – Muslim men allegedly converting Hindu women to Islam by trapping them in love affairs – and ‘ghar wapsi’ (homecoming) initiatives which convert Muslims and Christians ‘back’ to Hinduism. Moves towards Hindusation have also been taking place across India.
Read more: Muslim family told to move to Pakistan by Hindutva extremists
The atrocities against the Indian Muslims is a crime under the Indian constitution but the situation is that perpetrators of such act get away scot free and are venerated by segments of the Indian Hindus. A BJP leader proudly claimed in a meeting that all the walls in churches would be demolished and a day will come where India will be only for Hindus.