Hindutva hubris
In a welcome surprise, police in India actually booked a former BJP legislator for “promoting hatred and enmity” after he was caught on tape calling for the lynching of Muslims. Gyan Dev Ahuja, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan from 2013 to 2018, also claimed, “We have so far lynched five people” and “given a free hand to workers to kill. We will get them acquitted and secure bail.” The victims of the lynchings he referred to were all accused of smuggling cattle even though there was little proof that the victims were doing anything illegal in any of the cases. He also credited his workers with thrashing several other Muslims accused of smuggling cows. When reporters contacted Ahuja to seek clarification on his comments, he actually doubled down by saying anyone involved in cow smuggling and slaughter would not be spared. He also defended Hindutva mob violence several times, including during his time in office, and has been full of praise for so-called ‘cow-vigilantes’.
Although the BJP was quick to disassociate itself from Ahuja’s words in the most recent instance, they actually echoed statements from several other BJP leaders, although the other leaders were not as explicit, usually relying on euphemisms. In fact, the BJP even denied him a ticket in 2018, reportedly as ‘punishment’ for his controversial comments. However, when he threatened to quit the party and run as an independent candidate, they rewarded him with a promotion, making him the number two man in the party’s state unit. Opposition Indian National Congress leaders quickly pounced on Ahuja’s comments, noting that they were proof of the “BJP’s religious terror and bigotry”. Indeed, when Ahuja made the comments, he was with leaders of the RSS and other Hindutva terrorist mills. And while BJP leaders have largely avoided explicitly calling for criminal actions against religious minorities, RSS leaders have often gone all in. Given that the RSS is also considered the parent party of the BJP, this in itself is proof of the extremist ideology of veteran BJP leaders.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2022.
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