India is failing to protect all citizens as buildings razed
Tiananmen Square-type moments come only once a while and tend to restore our faith in humanity. One such incident happened recently in India.
Brinda Karat, a left-wing politician and a Hindu, stood in front of a bulldozer, waving an order of the Supreme Court, demanding that authorities stop the demolition of businesses and homes of poor Muslims. It was a bulldozer, not a tank, but she was the only activist who had the courage to stand up to the bulldozer.
“We saw bulldozers just smashing structures” she said. “We had to stop it.”
Bulldozing is being seen recently as a way to punish the weak and teach “them” a lesson. It bypasses all court proceedings. In the Karat incident, trouble started when a large Hindu mob wielding sticks and swords gathered outside a local mosque.
This is the month of Ramadan, when large numbers of Muslims gather at mosques.
The frenzied mob was beating drums, dancing wildly and shouting racist and bigoted slogans too crude to mention. This led to a predictable fracas. The authorities initially arrested individuals from both groups but then quickly freed those from the inciting Hindu mob as they had connections to the ruling ethno-religious party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The thin rationale given to bulldoze the tiny stores and tenements of Muslims is that they are illegal. The laws that demand appropriate notice be given and a chance to appeal were crushed. India has tons of illegal structures. Many are even Hindu temples built in the middle of a sidewalk. There are golf courses and homes of the rich that are illegal. But the only structures being bulldozed are those belonging to Muslims, illegal or not. This is the latest nightmarish manifestation of the virulent communalism that has gripped India. It is a virus for which there is no vaccination.
The hatred against Muslims in India has reached hysterical levels. Wearing the hijab, praying in peace and consuming Halal meat are being targeted. Additionally, there is a robust attempt to boycott Muslim businesses. Brazen hate-speech calling for the killing Muslims is routine with the perpetrators either untouched or let go with a slap on the wrist. Even more alarming is the recent finding of many swords and guns in a Hindu temple. A man named Pravin Togadia of the right-wing Hindu organization Vishva Hindu Parishad, proudly claimed that his group has distributed 500,000 tridents in ceremonies where the recipients take an oath to defend the Hindu faith.
No wonder Muslims feel unsafe in India. The state does not appear to be interested in curtailing this torrent of hate. Muslims are not the only minority at risk. Christians, a tiny group in India, are equally threatened.
Outside India, few are paying any attention. The United Nations is the only international group that has recognized the dangers of Muslim hatred and observed an “International Day to Combat Islamophobia” on March 15.
The current bigotry is shocking as inclusiveness was the norm in India before and after independence.
Muslim rule in India, with rare exceptions, was marked by tolerance. Harmony between all faiths was a common slogan in post-independence India. Bollywood made movies like “Amar, Akbar, Anthony” celebrating diversity.
Bollywood is now making different movies, purporting to be historical docudramas, with no connection to facts.
There is a lesson in this for United States. India is an example of how little time it takes for a society to become intolerant and dangerous for minorities. With the Bharatiya Janata Party in control now and for the foreseeable future, non-state actors are emboldened to perpetrate violence against minorities with impunity.
The minimum duty of a state is to protect its citizens. India is failing in that. The least that Indians who love their country can do is to shine a light on this injustice. A small number of Hindus in India and a tiny minority of Hindus in diaspora in the U.S., like the group Hindus for Human Rights, are doing just that. The fact that their numbers are small should not be discouraging. History tells us that small groups of dedicated individuals can affect change.
President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken should take inspiration from Brinda Karat’s courageous act.