The Open Persecution of Muslims in India, & the World’s Silence

by Leyana Nabi || graphics by Coco Lashar

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International actress Priyanka Chopra and singer-songwriter Nick Jonas’s wedding, with familiar faces like Armie Hammer and Kelly Ripa in attendance, had a more surprising guest: Indian Prime Minister Modi. Chopra, who was appointed as a UN ambassador in 2010, has been vocal about her head-turning, ironic support towards the controversial leader for quite some time. Modi, who has been smoothly pushing his nationalist goals since 2014, has struck what seems to be an unusual friendship with the former U.S. President Donald Trump at a first glance. However, with just a further look, the pair’s similar supremacist agendas peek through. Nonetheless, the silent yet continual persecution, policing and dehumanizing of Muslims in India doesn’t seem to ring any bells to the since displaced American president or Priyanka Chopra for that matter. Trump appears to have no qualms about his friendship with Modi, which reinforces Americans’ obliviousness or sheer apathy towards Modi’s catalyzed violence against religious minorities. 

Back in February of 2020, Trump signed a 3.7-billion-dollar deal to help India receive advanced military equipment, encouraging India’s confrontation with Pakistan over Kashmir. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state in India, has been a prime focus of PM Modi’s. Increased militarization in the area ordered by PM Modi has escalated the decades-long clash for independence from India. In August of 2019, Article 370 was abolished, which blocked communications within the region leaving them with no internet or phone services. This allowed the Indian government to disregard human rights without an audience to watch or object. When Pakistan and India became independent nations, Pakistan decided it would be home to South Asian Muslims, leading to their claim on Kashmir. The land has years of conflict, and Modi has even jeopardized a nuclear war with Pakistan, their neighboring country. The only Muslim-majority state’s lack of autonomy reinforces the Hindu dominance which Modi is pushing, especially as he encourages Hindus to move into the region. It’s becoming clear that being confronted isn’t something Modi worries about, since a leader that has the power to respond quickly becomes a close ally.

In December of 2020, the government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), allowing Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from nearby Muslim-majority countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. India, which has a secular constitution, is thus explicitly excluding Muslims from gaining citizenship. There is no other way to interpret this bill other than “Muslims are not welcome.”

In the past 30 years, being a target of violence has been nothing new for Muslim Indians, but recently the number of attacks has dramatically increased as religious tensions are at an all-time high. The struggle over Kashmir has only increased strains on India and Pakistan, who have had tensions since they achieved independence from Britain.  The push for Hindu superiority has only been getting stronger, and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) cow protection campaign has only ignited the fire.  The amount of animosity towards these communities increased dramatically in 2014 when Modi was elected PM under his promotion of right-wing politics, which included making Muslims and other religious minorities the common enemy in the Hindu majority country. His attempt in uniting voters under a false cloak of patriotism by further marginalizing long victimized religious communities, pushes a narrative of Hindu superiority, and his attempts have seemingly worked. 

“It’s becoming clear that being confronted isn’t something Modi worries about, since a leader that has the power to respond quickly becomes a close ally.”

According to Factchecker.in, a hate-crime checking organization, 168 attacks by Hindu extremists, in the name of protecting cows, were committed against Muslims. This makes the attack on Muslims even more frightening, as the persecution is clearly being seen and recorded but not stopped. The number of violent attacks towards Muslims has grown due to Hindu nationalist activists declaring supremacy and lynching minorities like Muslims because of accusations of beef smuggling. In many Indian states, beef is illegal due to the religious sacredness of cows, but in many of these lynching cases, no laws have been broken by Muslims. Activists often film the attacks themselves and spread the videos on social media. Despite this, no course of action on a government level has been taken in preventing or even widely addressing the murders. In February of 2019, Kashmiri Muslim traders and students were beaten/threatened by the BJP party supporters as revenge for a militant attack on a convey. Kashmir has had a long history with India and Pakistan since the partition in 1947. While it is an Indian state, the majority of Muslim Kashmiris wish to be independent, while a smaller group of Hindus hope to be completely integrated with India. Reported by Amnesty International and some Hindu nationalists, Muslim men have been seducing Hindu women resulting in a “valid” reason to assault Muslims, when in reality, the two groups are consensually dating. Despite Modi saying, “Muslims are a part of our nation, and they have equal rights and duties as others,” his actions speak far louder. This continual vilification of Muslims and lack of discouragement in his radical supporters speaks volumes.

Muslims aren’t the only minority being discriminated against — Sikhs and Dalits have also faced attacks in the Hindu-majority country. The most well-known attack on Sikhs happened in 1984 after the assination of Prime Minister Indire Gandhi, India’s only female leader. Once news spread of Indira’s death by her two Sikh bodyguards on October 31st, riots and pogroms against Sikhs were organized. The anti-Sikh massacre left 3,000 Sikhs in New Delhi dead and 8,ooo overall in India. However, the bloodshed continued in Indian-state Punjab due to the Khalistan movement which involved Sikh’s separation from India. Dalits, an aboriginal group who are a part of the lowest caste system in India have also not been able to avoid the violence. In 2016, 40,801 attacks on Dalits were reported including rape, rioting, abduction, and murder. Uttar Pradesh, a Northern Indian state, is where most of the violence against Dalits occurs. Members of the upper caste often are behind the attacks and feel entitled to the utmost respectful behavior from Dalits.

During a time of uncalled violence with no consequences for perpetrators, Prime Minister Modi does nothing, America fails to acknowledge it, and the United Nations, as per usual, remains silent.

President Trump’s two-day campaign in February had automatic and brutal outcomes once he announced “America loves India,'' and showed his clear support for the fascist BJP party Modi represents. The BJP party, officially founded in 1980, has ties that reach far back to nationalism. The party is incredibly influential and has deep-rooted ties with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) party, which was founded by politician K.B. Hegdewar in the 1920s. Hegdewar’s mentor, B.S. Moonje was a fan of Mussolini and even met with the Italian dictator. Moonje wanted a similar plan for India but called it “military regeneration” for Hindus which is published in the Nehru Memorial Museum. According to author Marzia Casolari, another RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar even commended Nazi Germany and thought it was a “good lesson for us in [India] to learn and profit by”. The RSS rejected this kind of thinking, but only seventy years later. M.S. Golwalkar, B.S. Moonje, and K.B. Hegdewar were all men who shared ideals with racist dictators and were inspired to enforce their Hindu nationalism, these are the values that are embedded in the BJP party.  

The mere occurrence of a rally promoting the friendship between Trump and Modi initiated violence faster than the military deal the pair signed. Only days after Trump left Delhi, where the out-of-proportion rally was held, mobs openly attacked mosques, Muslim homes, and businesses.  These types of hate crimes aren’t anything new for India, Modi himself has allegedly covered up a pogrom as the Gujarat state leader in the past. It’s becoming more evident that the path Modi is leading India down mirrors ones we’ve studied before in history.

The friendship with President Trump was all but a green light for Prime Minister Modi, however with President-elect Joe Biden, a shift in US-India relations might occur. While the 46th president has made it clear that the countries should be on good terms, he, and his Vice President have both criticized India’s human rights violations and new citizenship act. Modi lost his most powerful ally, but despite what the Biden administration do next, Modi’s disguise of Hindu patriotism will no longer be ignored.

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