German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht writes “The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out ‘stop!’. But today is the time to put a “Stop” to Indian barbarianism before this evil-doing comes like a falling rain. The so-called secular India, led by the extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been targeting the sentiments of Muslims minorities inside India since long but now this secular state with its motives of promoting hate speech, have launched another offensive campaign to target sentiments of Muslims worldwide by targeting personality of Prophet (PBUH).
India has become an increasingly toxic political state where ethnic cleansing of minorities has become a center piece of their political debates. The absurd and hateful statement by BJP’s spokesperson Nupur Sharma has given India an international fallout, but the problem today is that Delhi will not learn from the incident. Because those thinking that this is one incident happened once in a while are fooling themselves out. This is a hatched conspiracy and a well-orchestrated campaign against Muslims to hurt their sentiments and promote Hindutva. This is the mindset of the “Butcher of Gujrat” where media channels are holding provocative debates and social media is spreading hate over the sensitive issue. BJP in its statement later declares Ms Sharma as a “fringe element” although the lady has been associated with the party as an Official spokesperson. The lady herself accepted publically that she has support from Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
The comments by Spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal reflect the deeply penetrated religious polarization in the society, which India has been witnessing since years especially after the rise of BJP in 2014. Experts predict that the response by BJP may not be enough because what was being depicted as an India’s internal matter was actually a well-staged drama to hurt Muslims across the world. Muslim world, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and many other have criticized India in strongest terms. Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in their statement said that “Allowing such Islamophobic remarks to continue without punishment, constitutes a grave danger to the protection of human rights and may lead to further prejudice and marginalization, which will create a cycle of violence and hate.” Saudi Arabia in its statement also condemned India on this insensitive hateful statement “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the spokeswoman of the BJP”. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan summoned the Indian Charge d’ Affaires and conveyed the categorical rejection and strong condemnation of the derogatory remarks by BJP’s leaders.
The Muslim world has collectively protested against this derogatory statement by Indian government’s official representatives. Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) categorically conveyed displeasure over the derogatory remarks. The statement says that “it came in a context of intensifying hatred and abuse toward Islam in India and systematic practices against Muslims.” The Muslim world today is demanding to Boycott Indian products to register their protest. #BoycottIndianProducts #إلا_رسول_الله_يا_مودي , #ShameonModi and #ShameOnBJP have been trending on Twitter since past three days.
What is happening in India where the Muslims are lynched on the streets, where minorities celebrations are attacked, where genocide and ethnic cleansing has become a center piece of debates? Modi has cultivated this type of hate for decades, where mobs with free pass attack against minorities. We know what’s happening in India but the world is fearful of what will happen next? Today, it’s time for United Nations to take action against the extremist India especially after “International Day to Combat Islamophobia” was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly. The world should speak, not for Muslims but to protect the minorities from a greater Genocide.
