EDITORIAL: Communal tensions in the BJP- ruled Indian state of Haryana remain high as the death toll rose to six on the third day of the clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Violence erupted on August 31 in the Nuh (previously called Mewat) district when a procession — armed to the teeth — taken out by radical Hindu extremists groups, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, passed through a Muslim majority neighbourhood.
Media reports say the clash was triggered by a video posted by Bajrang Dal activist Monu Manesar, wanted by the police for the lynching of two Muslim cattle traders last February in another part of the state. In it he had announced his participation in the procession.
He has regularly been posting videos celebrating attacks on Muslims accused of transporting or slaughtering cows, yet the police have failed to arrest him, believed to be protected by some within the BJP government.
The authorities took no action to prevent or stop the violence until arson and vandalism attacks spread to Gurugram, a major city close to New Delhi and a key business centre. There a mosque was set ablaze and its deputy imam murdered.
In another neighbourhood a 200-strong mob armed with sticks and stones looted several shops and torched a restaurant while chanting a religious slogan, “Jai Shri Ram”. None of this was unintended as confirmed by an opposition politician Sitaram Yechury in a tweet.
Strongly condemning what happened in Haryana, he wrote “the state government must stop patronising private hate armies & punish the culprits.” That amounts to demanding the impossible. The BJP thrives on politics of hatred. It has been stoking hate and communal tensions in several states. Just recently Manipur saw some of the worst violence against its Christian community.
Fanning communal fires and inciting Hindutva zealots to attack minority communities, in particular Muslims, is integral to BJP’s brand of politics. It galvanises Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva support base fetching him votes. After all, he has made a career out of Muslim bashing.
The 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat occurred on his watch. And under him BJP’s anti-Muslim narrative has come to define today’s India in which Muslims are systematically marginalised.
Yet Modi is feted in Western capitals as leader of the world’s largest democracy, emboldening him to continue inflaming religious passions to win votes. As India prepares for general election between April and May next year, the country’s over 200 million Muslims as well as Christians will have to prepare to face more outbreaks of violence.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023