Under Premier Modi and Hindu monks, India is no more a secular state. It is not the same India, which used to be decades ago. In Modi’s Hindu Rashtra, minorities have no place to live. They cannot perform their religious duties freely. They cannot even follow their religious values and rituals. Those days have gone away. This is Modi’s so-called new India and only Hindus can enjoy their rights here. The people in Saffron shawls have taken over the charge of the country, targeting minorities, particularly Muslims in order to accomplish their Hindutva dreams. The past glory associated with democracy, secularism, and liberty has been replaced by authoritarian, saffron, and Hindutva approach fostered by the incumbent Modi government.
The recent incident of hackling a Muslim student Muskan Khan by a Hindu mob in the BJP governed the state of Karnataka has triggered another debate regarding Muslim/ Islamic culture in the country. The issue came to the limelight when six teenage Muslim students in the Udupi district of Karnataka state began protesting over being barred from classes for wearing a hijab.
Following outrage and heated debate on the issue in Indian/ international media, the college administration in Karnataka said it allowed students to wear the hijab on campus and only asked them to take it off inside the classroom. But the protesters attacked Muslim female students for wearing Hijab in college. It is pertinent to mention here that it’s not unusual to see women wearing hijabs and burkas (the full Islamic veil) in India, where public displays of symbols of faith are common, due to the fear of attacks by ultranationalist Hindus. These Hindu monks are also openly calling for Muslim Genocide.
Udupi, where the incident took place, is one of three districts in Karnataka’s communally sensitive coastal region – a stronghold of Premier Modi’s nationalist BJP. Political commentators often describe the region as a laboratory for majoritarian Hindu politics. BJP is currently governing the state after dethroning Congress’ majority government through illegitimate means.
Unfortunately, some Hindu student bodies are also toeing the line of extremist monks, creating a baseless fuss over the issue. The groups of nationalist Hindu students – both male and female – also began going on marches against their classmates wearing hijabs in Karnataka and another state of the country as well.
It is quite evident that India doesn’t appear to be a safe place for her own minorities particularly Muslims. The Hindutva factions promoting xenophobic ideologies and spreading extremism and hate in the name of Hinduism have saffronized the once pluralistic and multicolored India. Therefore, India seems to have become a living hell for minorities be it Muslims or Other Backward Caste (OBC). It could be anything but a safe haven for the persecuted ones.
Likewise, the timing of this Hijab controversy is crucial as it is taking place at a time when polls are due in some important states of India such as Punjab, Utter Pradesh, where PM Modi’s BJP is facing tough challenges due to its economic woes. By triggering this debate, BJP is surely trying to woo Hindu votes. This seems political, keeping in view the previous track record of BJP during election festivals. Modi’s BJP and other Hindu nationalist conglomerations are making the lives of minorities miserable. This must be stopped here at any cost. Unprovoked attacks on Muslims by Hindu mobs have become routine in India, but they seem to evoke little condemnation from the government. Communal violence is not a recent phenomenon, but it grows in sync with the strategies of those in power and political mobilization.
Leading international organizations such as United Nations, Amnesty International, UNHRC, and other Human Rights Watchdogs should take notice of the ill-treatment of minorities particularly Muslims – under state patronage – and ensure the provision of basic, fundamental, religious, and constitutional rights to minorities. Allowing India to continue with its hostile (Hindutva) and anti-Muslim approach will create further divisions within Indian society, which will ultimately lead to civil war in the country. The recent incident in India is also a test case for the international community to tackle the growing wave of Islamophobia in India in General and other parts of the world as well in particular.
