New Delhi
Amid the growing tide of Islamophobia in India, police in capital Delhi has booked head of a quasi-judicial body Zafarul Islam Khan for thanking Kuwaiti government for speaking in favor of Indian Muslims.
In an unprecedented event, the Special Cell of Delhi Police registered a case of sedition, charging Khan, chairman of Delhi Minority Commission, a constitutional body, for the subversion of the constitution and incitement of discontent.
The move came after Khan wrote on his social Media last week: “Thank you Kuwait for standing with the Indian Muslims! The Hindutva bigots calculated that given the huge economic stakes involved the Muslim and Arab world will not care about the persecution of Muslims in India. The bigots forgot that Indian Muslims enjoy huge goodwill in the eyes of the Arab and Muslim world for their services over centuries to Islamic causes, excellence in Islamic and Arabic scholarship, cultural and civilisational gifts to world heritage.
“Names like Shah Waliullah Dehlavi, Iqbal, Abul Hasan Nadwi, Wahiduddin Khan, Zakir Naik and many others are respected household names in the Arab and Muslim world. Mind you, bigots, Indian Muslims have opted until now not to complain to the Arab and Muslim world about your hate campaigns and lynchings and riots. The day they are pushed to do that, bigots will face an avalanche.”
The strict penal provision demands a punishment up to life imprisonment. Many prominent Indian citizens have issued a public statement expressing support for Khan.
In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Khan, also an author and journalist said he believed in core ideals of Indian secularism and rejects the politics of hate. Replying to question, What message you wanted to give through your social media post, that has become controversial, Zafarul Islam Khan said Indian Muslims since long have faced communal violence and marginalisation. Under the current central government, we had a campaign by radical Hindu outfits to convert Muslims to Hinduism, attacks in the name of cow protection, and lynching on a wide scale until these stopped some time back when those behind them realised that it was giving them very bad publicity internationally. So, these attacks stopped abruptly just as they had started abruptly.
But policies of polarisation and marginalisation continue unabated. The latest was the citizenship law controversy which in essence wanted to push Muslims to second-class citizens’ status. Protests were held all over the country, some lasted more than one hundred days. Then came the manufactured riots in the northeast district of Delhi. These riots broke the back of the Muslim community in parts of the national capital.–Anadolu Agency
