Marginalization of all religious identities, especially the onslaught against Muslim communities is a daily occurrence, especially in the wake of electoral campaigns in Uttar Pradesh and other states, where communal politics is routinely used to intimidate minorities.
The recent controversy surrounding the hijab in Karnataka universities, which was followed by mobs breaking into classrooms and demanding that Muslim girls take off their hijabs or leave, highlights how quickly Hindu-supremacist politics in India are eradicating alternative identities and customs.Participants said that while the world was aware of the predicament of Kashmiri Muslims even before Article 370 was revoked, the Modi government’s takeover of political rights and the tsunami of tyranny it unleashed during its second term are unparalleled, even by Indian norms.
At a convention in India, an extremist Hindu woman clad entirely in saffron, the religion’s holiest color, exhorted her adherents to murder Muslims in order to “protect” the nation.A senior member of the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha political organization, Pooja Shakun Pandey, declared on camera that “we will win… protect India, and make it a Hindu nation” if 100 of us were troops ready to kill two million Muslims.
A video from the three-day meeting in the northern Indian city of Haridwar showed the thunderous acclaim the vast audience gave her when she called for violence, as did other religious leaders.
We find ourselves at a pivotal point in history as we observe the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide. The 48-year-old 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide serves as a sobering reminder of the world community’s dedication to the grave promise of “never again.” However, genocide’s menacing clouds hang over India, throwing doubt on the very values we pledged to protect.
An alarming warning has been issued by Genocide Watch, a watchful eye on mass crimes, on the possible extermination of Muslims in India. The leader of the group, Gregory Stanton, who predicted the genocide in Rwanda, makes ominous comparisons between the policies of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the discriminating actions that caused the Rohingya issue in Myanmar. Stanton’s concept, ‘The Ten Stages of Genocide,’ reveals an unsettling trend in India, wherein Assam has already reached Stage Eight: Persecution. Stages 6, 7, and 8 of the BJP government’s campaign against Muslims and Dalits are classified as Polarisation, Preparation, and Persecution. The state-induced impunity and involvement, together with the unrelenting violence and extremism, present a dire picture of a possible genocide as early as 2025.
The measures pursued by the Hindu nationalist administration led by Modi have made matters worse for the Muslim community and appear to be part of a systematic purging with the purported goal of creating a “Brahminical State.” With the violence and extremism on the rise, it is vital that the worrying threat that Muslims in India face be addressed immediately. The world community needs to unify in the face of these alarming indicators to stop the worst moments in history from happening again. There is a global call to action when it comes to the possibility of a Muslim genocide in India. The world waits anxiously to see if the promise of “never again” can be kept and the horrors of genocide vanish as we consider the values embodied in the Genocide Convention.
