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Sunday, October 6, 2024

‘Kattar Hindu Ekta’: Persecution of Muslims has defaced ugly face of secular India

The conversion of 'secular’ India into RSS-dominated Hindu India should open the eyes of those who are still enamored of Indian democracy, writes Amjed Jaaved.

The Delhi Police in its supplementary charge sheet have made startling revelations. The 2,695-page ‘Delhi Police’s report points out that the RSS goons created a WhatsApp group ‘Kattar Hindu Ekta’ (fanatic Hindu unity) to feed misleading messages to group members. Here is a bird’s eye view of messages: Muslims are migrating into Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh into Muslim majority pockets to create trouble there.

They have launched jihad that deserves a tit for tat; planting 12 signs of jihad and thus, calls for an economic boycott of Muslims. On February 25, a day after the riots broke out; the same message was shared by two members of the group, at 9.42 am and a minute later: “The Hindus are in large numbers. There is tension in the air, but elderly Muslims are still not scared. They know about Hindu culture. But just think can a Hindu safely pass through when there is a Muslim crowd?”

Read more: The RSS’s surreptitious censorship of syllabus: An effort to distort history

Soon after, four participants left the group, following which they were branded Muslims and participants were encouraged to track them down. At one point, participants sent out messages about a “fight between a Hindu & Muslim”. There were multiple requests by participants to share their location. Several put up videos apparently of the riot spots.

On February 26, Solanki posted his first message, introducing himself, “… I have come with my Ganga Vihar team. We have everything… bullets, guns. Everything.” A participant asked some group members to come to their aid at Bhagirathi Vihar’s Gali No. 13 where a “local RSS member” was under threat as “some Muslims are making plans to corner his house”. Binni responded, “Scare them away. They are all scared today.” One user posted an update about targeting a Muslim “around 9 pm”.

The article guarantees `equality before the law and prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth’. What a journey from `Bangladesh zindabad’ (joi bangla) to `drive out Bengalis’ (bongla kheda)

The police’s report says, “In order to take revenge from Muslims, some youths of that area failed to perceive the bottomless stupidity of the propaganda and, as saviors of their community, created a WhatsApp group”.  Besides the previous message to kill the Muslim, another message was shared on the group asking its members to “boycott Muslims economically” since “many countries around the world have adopted this method”.

Was Jinnah’s optimism about post-Partition peace with India correct?

The persecution of minorities, including the Muslims, has denuded the ugly face of secular India. Some intellectuals, including Gautam Naulakha are under trial, having been dubbed `traitors’ by India’s National Investigation Agency. To humiliate them they were kept with 350 other jail inmates with access to only three dreary toilets.

In marked contrast to Hindu leaders, the Quaid called himself the protector general of minorities. Throughout his life Mohammad Ali Jinnah yearned for lasting peace with India but the Hindu leaders never reciprocated his earnest desire. Before his final flight (Aug 7, 1947) from Delhi to Pakistan, he sent a message to the Indian government, “the past must be buried and let us start as two independent sovereign states of Hindustan and Pakistan, I wish Hindustan prosperity and peace.”

Read more: Op-ed: Future of Muslims in India

Vallabhbhai Patel replied from Delhi “The poison has been removed from the body of India. As for the Muslims, they have their roots, their sacred places and their centres here. I do not know what they can possibly do in Pakistan. It will not be long before they return to us.”

Even Nehru, an ostensibly liberal leader, regarded the creation of Pakistan as a blunder. His rancor against Pakistan reaches a crescendo in his remarks: “I shall not have that carbuncle on my back.” (D. H. Bhutani, The Future of Pakistan, page 14).

During his last days, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was perturbed at the Cold War rivalry emerging between the USA and the USSR.

The Quaid keenly desired that the subcontinent and all of South Asia should remain aloof from the rivalry. Therefore, he proposed a joint defense pact with India. Had India accepted his idea, the two countries would not have been at daggers drawn after independence. The British historian Alex von Tunzelmann in his book ‘Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire’ suggests that the Quaid was remorseful at having created Pakistan. And he wanted to return to India.

The conversion of `secular’ India into RSS-dominated Hindu India should open the eyes of those who are still enamored of Indian democracy

Had the Quaid been alive today, he would have no longer been remorseful. He would have been anguished to see those involved in Gujarat genocide were acquitted like those who demolished the Babri Masjid, explicit anti-Muslim bias, India’s Citizenship Amendment Act and National register of citizenship. Also, the nineteen lac Bengali refugees or settlers in Assam being dubbed `infiltrators and Amit Shah, a minister, calling Bengali refugees “termites”. Another politician even suggested that they should be shot dead if they do not leave India.

It is eerie that the refugee argument was used by India to attack erstwhile East Pakistan.  The forbears of some Assamese Muslims go back 500-700 years, but they do not have any documents to prove their nationality. India is all set to drive the `infiltrators’ out. Most of the settlers were sheltered during 1971 war as precious raw material for mukti bahini (freedom fighters). The citizenship criterion violates provisions of Article 14 of the Indian constitution. The article guarantees `equality before the law and prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth’. What a journey from `Bangladesh zindabad’ (joi bangla) to `drive out Bengalis’ (bongla kheda).

Read more: The Great Transformation: How is RSS transforming India into a fascist regime?

The conversion of ‘secular’ India into RSS-dominated Hindu India should open the eyes of those who are still enamored of Indian democracy.

Mr. Amjed Jaaved has been writing free-lance for over five decades. He has served federal and provincial governments of Pakistan for 39 years. His contributions stand published in the leading dailies and magazines at home and abroad (Nepal. Bangladesh, et. al.). He is author of eight e-books including The Myth of Accession. He knows many languages including French and Arabic. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.