Over the past decade, India has experienced a dangerous rise in Islamophobia. There are near daily episodes of harassment, public beatings and mob assaults, destruction of property, and lynchings that have created an atmosphere of fear for the country’s over 200 million Muslims.
Recently, Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University, US published a report titled, “Is a Genocide of Muslims Underway in India?” The report examines situation of Muslims in India utilizing Gregory Stanton’s 10 stages of genocide.
According to the report, India is at stage 8 of genocide (persecution) with indicators of stage 9 (extermination) becoming more and more visible..
Islamophobia has been central to the BJP and the Hindu nationalist movement, as their goals are reliant on the subordination and dehumanization of Indian Muslims. Over the past decade, India has experienced a dangerous rise in Islamophobia.
There are near daily episodes of harassment, public beatings and mob assaults, destruction of property and lynching that have created an atmosphere of fear for the country’s 200+ million Muslims. The rise in this bigotry has largely come into being with the election of PM Modi and his BJP.
The drumbeat of hatred, discrimination and exclusionary rhetoric is steadily raised by those in power as they seek to exclude Muslims and other non-Hindu communities from the country’s civil and public sphere. Journalists and activists who call attention to the hate speech and growing violence have been targeted by the authorities as the government clamps down on free speech and political dissent.
Islamophobia has seeped into all sectors of Indian society through the proliferation of conspiracy theories characterizing Muslims as a menacing, nefarious threat to the Hindu population. From hijab bans to laws essentially criminalizing interfaith marriages, Indian Muslims are navigating an environment where they are increasingly relegated to second-class citizenship.
BJP politicians and right-wing Hindu leaders have waged public campaigns to destroy mosques, Muslims homes, and businesses, with law enforcement and the judiciary often green-lighting these acts. The daily occurrences of anti-Muslim harassment, beatings, and killings are rarely met with prosecution, resulting in impunity for hate crimes.
Videos of BJP politicians and right-wing Hindu religious leaders calling on Hindus to bear arms and to kill Muslims have become a normal feature in Modi’s India, where the Prime Minister has failed to condemn these voices or speak out against the rising instability and divisions within society.
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