Political decency is always expected, especially with matters pertaining to religion, race, community etc. More so from the ruling party in any country. However, all those boundaries were breached far beyond comprehension when the ruling BJP’s Gujarat unit released an extremely offensive caricature of bearded Muslim men being hung on ropes.
The caricature was drawn in response to an Ahmedabad court’s conviction of 49 (Muslim) men in connection with serial bomb blasts that rocked Ahmedabad in 2008. Twenty-eight other accused persons were acquitted. While condemning terrorism is one thing, and must be done so rightly, putting up a caricature that shows an entire religious community as terrorists is vile at the very least.
And of course, nothing better can be expected from a state like Gujarat, where Muslims have been heavily ghettoised. However, this kind of brazen vilification of Muslims, that too from the official social media handles of the ruling BJP, shows how anti-Muslim hate is now being normalised in India, much like it was done against Jews under Nazi Germany.
Soon after the caricature surfaced, netizens were rightly shocked, with many reporting it to Twitter and Instagram. More importantly, a very interesting and disturbing caricature from Nazi Germany under Hitler also surfaced as well, comparing that to what the BJP had put up. See the similarities. Here is the original photo. The caricature has since been taken down.
So what does all this mean? Such caricatures will only push and normalise existing prejudices that the majority community has against Muslims that all of them are terrorists. Leave the fact that currently in India, Muslim girls are facing an attack on their constitutional right to wear their headscarves. That too from a state government, which is bent on making lives difficult for girls or young women in Karnataka.
It is very easy for hate to spread in this country as India has an unfortunate history of communal violence. History will not be as kind as the ruling dispensation thinks it will be.
| 
