LATEST reports in the regional and international media confirm the widely-held perception that Prime Minister Modi’s India has become unliveable for all minorities in general and Muslim in particular. Buoyed by some highly biased judgements of the judiciary and discriminated policies of the state and central governments, Muslims feel highly marginalized facing threats to their lives, honour, properties and businesses.
Tension between India’s majority Hindu community and minority Muslims is flaring up in different parts of the country but police and local administrations have become a silent spectator to systematic erosion of rights of Muslims. In the latest wave, anti-Muslim riots that erupted in Haryana State left seven people killed including Imam of a mosque as mobs attacked religious sites of Muslims as well as their shops and businesses. Muslims in Gurugram say men have been coming to their communities and threatening them with violence unless they leave. Hindu mob attacks have become so common in recent years that India’s Supreme Court warned that they could become the “new normal.” In fact, Muslims are living in constant fear in what is being dubbed as ‘secular’ India where Muslims are being denied the fundamental right to follow their faith and identity and Muslim families are butchered or their houses burnt on suspicion of keeping cow meat at their homes. Since Modi’s re-election in 2019, the government has pushed controversial policies that critics say explicitly ignore Muslims’ rights and are intended to disenfranchise millions of Muslims. Hate speech and misinformation spread online have also encouraged violence against Muslims. No doubt, many foreign governments and international bodies have condemned the BJP’s discrimination of Muslims, citing actions in Occupied Kashmir, the Citizenship Amendment Act and anti-Muslim rhetoric as particular concerns but in view of the intensity and scale of the systematic persecution of the entire Muslim community, the issue needs to be agitated not only from the platform of the OIC but also the United Nations.
