Washington DC: The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s constitutional, on Wednesday condemned the large-scale violence against Muslims across several Indian states during Ramzan.
In a report published by IAMC, they invoke news reports and videos circulating on different social media platforms, which clearly suggest that the violence was orchestrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu supremacist paramilitary organization and its militant affiliates like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. The RSS is the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Further, the report illustrates the violence which took place across the states in India in April.
States where vandalism took place:
Muslim homes, businesses, mosques and shrines were attacked, vandalized and burnt in the BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone city, the epicenter of violence, the local administration demolished Muslim homes and shops, doubly victimizing them after Hindu extremist mobs had terrorized and targeted them. In Gujarat’s Himmatnagar, the Hindu extremists set fire to a Muslim shrine.
Delhi:
In Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, VHP and Bajrang Dal militants, armed with swords, tridents and guns, took out a rally on Hanuman Jayanti and tried to hoist saffron flag and pelted stones at a mosque. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has blamed the BJP for instigating the violence, stating that the AAP’s Hanuman Jayanti procession had been entirely peaceful.
Uttarakhand:
In Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Muslims reported that Hindu extremist mobs stormed Muslim dominated areas of the city, petling 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.
Telangana:
Raja Singh, a BJP leader from Telangana state, was booked by 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 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 extremists accountable, the police in the states ruled by the BJP have arrested Muslims on false and fabricated charges of violence.
IAMC’s appeal:
“Every religious group has a right to celebrate their festivals. However, it is shameful and despicable that Hindu extremists in India are using their festivals to terrorize 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.
IAMC urges the international human rights organizations & 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 call on the US State Department to ask the Indian 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).
