WASHINGTON, DC April 20 :The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has condemned the violence unleashed by Hindutva extremists against Muslims across several Indian states during the holy month of Ramadan. Indian American Muslim Council in a statement called on the US State Department to ask the Indian government to stop stoking the anti-Muslim sentiment and punish the Hindutva Hindu extremists involved in the violence.
Starting from the first week of April, the violence spread far and wide with targeted street violence against Muslims. In the violence that broke out in the wake of Hindu festivals of Ram Navami on April 10 and Hanuman Jayanti on April 16, their places of worship, homes, stores and businesses were destroyed, the statement said.
Viral videos that have flooded social media show Hindutva Hindu extremist mobs armed with swords, guns and rods, taking out processions through Muslim areas, blasting Islamophobic songs, chanting Hindu religious slogans, attacking mosques, shrines, Muslim families, homes and their businesses, the IAMC said.
The news reports and videos circulating on different social media platforms clearly suggest that the violence was orchestrated by Hindutva extremist groups like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal owing allegiance to the Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Most incidents were reported in the Indian Capital of New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Goa, Bihar and West Bengal states.
Muslim homes, businesses, mosques and shrines were attacked, vandalised and burnt in the BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone city, the epicentre of violence, the local administration demolished Muslim homes and shops, doubly victimising them after Hindu extremist mobs had terrorised and targeted them. In Gujarat’s Himmatnagar, the Hindu extremists set fire to a Muslim shrine, the IAMC added.
In Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, Hindutva VHP and Bajrang Dal men, armed with swords, tridents and guns took out a rally on Hanuman Jayanti and tried to hoist saffron flags and pelted stones at a mosque. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi blamed the BJP for instigating the violence, stating that the AAP’s Hanuman Jayanti procession had been entirely peaceful.
In Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Muslims reported that Hindu extremist mobs stormed Muslim dominated areas of the city pelting stones at properties, attempting to break into homes, and chanting hateful slogans. Hindu extremists threatened to bulldoze Muslim-owned homes and forced several Muslim families to flee.
In Mulbagal, Karnataka state, police assaulted Muslim residents including a boy who was on his way home from offering prayers. All this happened during a Hindu extremist rally.
Raja Singh, a BJP leader from Telangana state, was booked by the Hyderabad police for leading a Hindu extremist rally and delivering an anti-Muslim hate speech. Singh had claimed that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Modi, would “use a bulldozer to clean the country” and “turn it into a Hindu Rashtra (nation) very soon.”
Instead of holding the Hindu militants accountable, the police in the states ruled by the BJP have arrested Muslims on false and fabricated charges of violence, Indian American Muslim Council said.
Authorities in various BJP-ruled states have also ordered the demolition of Muslim-owned homes and shops, punishing poor Muslims for resisting the violent Hindu mobs. It is noteworthy that no Hindus who set mosques on fire, pelted stones, beat Muslim, or robbed Muslim homes have had their homes bulldozed.
“Every religious group has the right to celebrate their festivals. However, it is shameful and despicable that Hindu extremists in India are using their festivals to terrorise Indian Muslims with physical assaults, vandalism, and arson. It is alarming that these acts of large-scale violence are being committed in the presence of the police,” said Rasheed Ahmed, Executive Director of IAMC.
Ahmed termed the bulldozing of Muslim houses and shops as “complete injustice” and “grave breach of Indian and international law.”
IAMC urged the international human rights organisations and civil society groups to take note of the deteriorating situation in India, which has a potential to turn into a full-blown Muslim and Christian genocide in the coming months
IAMC also called on the US State Department to ask the Modi government to stop stoking the anti-Muslim sentiment, punish the Hindu extremists involved in the anti-Muslim violence, and accept the recommendation of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to designate India as Country of Particular Concern (CPC).