M Arslan Jamal Ghauri
Recently, 65 senior retired officials from different Central Services of India have exposed the true face of Indian extremism through an open letter written to the Government of India in which they have raised concerns over the growing intolerance, extremism and State high-handedness. The officials include retired chief secretaries and ambassadors. These officials have pointed towards the sense of deep disquiet that has prompted them to write this open letter as to what has been happening in India. They have urged all public authorities and constitutional bodies to take steps against the situation. The officials say: “It appears as if there is a growing climate of religious intolerance that is aimed primarily at Muslims. It is indeed quite an alarming situation that vigilantism has become widespread. To quote an example, one named Akhlaq was lynched merely on the basis of a suspicion that the meat he had in his possession was beef whereas Pehlu Khan was lynched while transporting two cows to his place that he had bought lawfully and for which he had the necessary papers.
The letter also exposes the Indian claim of tolerance and democratic attitudes as it goes on to say: “Students’ groups and faculty members, who raise ‘troubling’ questions about equality, social justice and freedom, are subjected to attack by the administration with a supportive government to back them. Not only that, disagreement and dissent are considered seditious and anti-national. And we are also seeing an ugly trend of threats and online intimidation of activists, journalists, writers and intellectuals who disagree with the dominant ideology. This intolerance in India is disgusting and more depressing is growing hyper-nationalism. The trend now is that if you are not with the government, you are anti-national.” In the end, the open letter appeals to all public authorities, public institutions and constitutional bodies to take heed of these disturbing trends and take corrective action.
In reaction of violence against Muslims in India, protests were held in cities across India against a wave of attacks on Muslims by mobs that accuse them of killing cows or eating beef. The protests follow the stabbing to death last week of a 16-year-old boy accused of possessing beef on a train. Several people have been arrested. A man was beaten and his house was set on fire by a mob that accused him of slaughtering a cow in eastern Jharkhand state.Waving “Not in My Name” banners and “Stop Cow Terrorism”play- cards, actors, writers and young mothers cradling babies braved monsoon rains in Mumbai, Kolkata and other cities, while in Delhi a cast of intellectuals and activists were joined by relatives of recent lynching victims.Critics accuse right-wing Hindu groups, some linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, of stimulating or not doing enough to stop violence against Muslims and lower-caste Hindus who eat beef or work in the meat and leather industries.In Mumbai, protesters refrained from shouting slogans but held up banners reading “stand up to Hindu terrorism” and “say no to Brahminism”.Narendra Bhandari,a businessman in his 20ssays,”I am a Hindu. I consider the cow my mother. But killing people is not right,” In Kolkata, singer-music composer Anjan Dutta said, “The rising trend of Hindutva is dangerous, I am afraid of the situation in my country now. We need to speak against this monstrosity. India is a place for everyone.”Anjali Arondekar, a professor visiting from the US state of California, said she had attended the Mumbai protest because “nobody seems to care anymore that a young Muslim man is being killed”. Community leaders called on Modi to do more to protect the 14 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people who are Muslims. Although the protest was originally planned to be held just in the heart of the Indian capital, the #NotInMyName hashtag quickly started trending on Twitter and generated a great deal of response.Protestor Sabika Abbas said”I’m here (to protest) against the silence of the State of not speaking about these cases of lynching and minority communities being targeted,”.The central protest saw hundreds gather in front of a stage to watch people recite poetry and to hear from family members of the victims.Navaid Hamid, President of the All India Muslim Majlis e Mushawarat in Delhisaid “Hate crimes against Muslims, Dalits, and marginalized sections have increased.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not taken any practical steps against violence by cow vigilante groups, a day after thousands of Indians gathered in cities across the country evening to protest against a string of attacks on minority Muslims that have sparked concern about the fraying of India’s secular fabric. TheIndian PM very hypocritically gave a statementspeaking at a public event in western Gujarat state, that “killing people in the name of [Cow Worship] is not acceptable. Someone may ask him that is he such an ineffective PM that his statement are never taken serious by his administration, even his party members are not align with his way of politics or it’s all a collective and converged party wisdom. The Indian government has otherwise been largely been silent on such the issues, which play well with hardliners among its Hindu nationalist base. The killing of a Muslim dairy farmer by a Hindu mob in BJP-ruled Rajasthan state, a ruling party politician said: “We have no regret over his death because those who are cow-smugglers are cow-killers, sinners like them have met this fate earlier and will continue to do so.”Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a prominent Indian public intellectual,he wrote in the local Indian Express newspaper, the violent attacks on minorities mark the unfolding of “a monstrous new moral order irrigated by the blood of our citizens”. There is a silent but systematic slaughter against Muslims in progress in India. It’s not too late to call it out.Indian government and its radical policies have been exposed by its own civil servants. India has to give due rights to all its minorities i.e. Muslims, Christians etc in order to become a legitimate State.
