‘Where are you taking India?’

Intolerance and incidents of hate speech and violence against Muslims in India are rising

The rising intolerance and incidents of hate speech and violence against Muslims in India have drawn some of the strongest reactions from the Indian apex court judges during the hearing of a petition on the rallies in Maharashtra. The petition sought contempt action against authorities, especially the Maharashtra police, for doing nothing to stop the violence meted out on Muslims in front of their eyes.

Sakal Hindu Samaj had been conducting rallies in Maharashtra calling for a boycott of Muslims. The bone of contention are the so-called ideologies of ‘love Jihad’ and ‘land Jihad’. The Hindus have an impression that Muslim men lure women into marriage, intending to convert them to Islam eventually. The rallies want to see this practice stopped. As for the Land Jihad, they are suspicious of Muslims buying government and public lands to build religious and residential structures. The rallies also want this practice stopped. According to Indian media, there have been at least 50 rallies since November.

Sakal Hindu Samaj is a Hindu nationalist umbrella group with deep links with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS — the ideological cradle of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), having a five million-strong paramilitary group.

The Indian Supreme Court, during the hearings, asked the State to stop being impotent in the face of violence against Muslims. The court categorically blamed the State for ceding space to the Islamophobic. The solution, the judges said, lay in separating religion from politics.

The statement aligned with the court’s refusal to drop contempt charges against the Maharashtra government for ignoring police reports of hating speech incidents.

Justice KM Joseph said, “Hate is a vicious circle. State will have to initiate action”, and “the moment politics and religion are segregated, all this will stop. We are telling you, whether you take it seriously or not”. The judges repeatedly asked the Solicitor where India was heading in a situation where every fringe element indulges in hate speech.

The court even took notice of the involvement of the politicians in the gory business of making hate speeches against minorities. In a nostalgic mood, Justice Nagarathna said, “There were orators like Jawahar Lal Nehru, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. People from other states, miles away, would assemble (to hear their speeches)…Look at the freedom at midnight speech (Tryst with Destiny)…Vajpayee’s speeches with couplets. People from rural areas used to come and hear their speeches. But, unfortunately, people who have no stuff, fringe elements on every side are making these speeches. Where are you taking India is the question.”

Justice Joseph further argued, “Why do we have a State when all this is happening?” These comments drew ire from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Centre. He asked the judges why the court had not taken a suo motu notice when genocide calls were made against Hindus and Christians at the Popular Front of India rally in May 2022.

The Solicitor General also refused to buy the argument that politics is at play behind the religious hatred. He insisted that whatever was happening in Kerala was “pure and simple religious hate speech”. To this Justice Joseph objected and said, “It has everything to do with politics.”

The Popular Front of India was founded in 2006. It is a conglomerate of several Muslims organizations of Kerala.

Responding to why the court had not taken action against hate speech emanating from Kerala, the judges said, “Now, are we going to go on taking contempt after contempt against every person in India? Should there be no kind of restraint on people’s speech in India? … We want to be No. 1 in the world, and this is what internally is in our society… if there is intellectual depravement, you can never take this country to No. 1 in the world. Intellectual deprivation comes only when there is intolerance, lack of knowledge, lack of education… where we should concentrate first….”

Talking to the counsel for the Sakal, who was also present during the proceeding, Justice Joseph said, “We are trying to say there are provisions in the Indian Penal Code. They are supposed to be invoked. Power is there. Power will not be invoked. What (then) happens to members of the particular community who are minorities? They also have rights guaranteed under the Constitution… envisaged by the founding fathers. This is a country, which sheds light on the whole world in terms of its spiritual legacy. What are you trying to say now? What is tolerance? Tolerance is not just putting up with somebody, but accepting all as fellow citizens.”

In reply to the Sakal argument that “My right to hold processions in accordance with my belief, can it be challenged by someone from some other religion? That too, without making me a party”, Justice Joseph said, “The minorities also have rights under the Constitution recognised by the founding fathers… What are you trying to say now? Suppose every day you sit in the court and everyone in the vicinity of where you are sitting, they say a lot of things about you. They say things, which are denigrating… The most important thing for a man is dignity. It is not wealth, health, the most important thing is your dignity. If your dignity is completely demolished on a regular basis with the kind of statements that are being made about — like ‘Go to Pakistan’… They are persons who chose this country, members of the community who stayed here. They are like your brothers and sisters… What we are saying is that things should not go to that extent.”

The court ruling also coincided with the letter from prominent Muslims led by former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The letter exposed the extremist face of Indian Hindus.

“There is virtually no letup in the consistent barrage of hate speeches, calls for genocide and acts of violence against Muslims. Most of this is in police presence, without any action, and even if there is action, it’s perfunctory and people are let off with ease,” the letter said. Mr Jung and his colleagues warned that “there is a sense of dismay and a question on the usefulness of our efforts. It is absolutely imperative that voices such as yours, as indeed from senior echelons of the Sangh (RSS), are heard loud and clear to condemn such acts.”

Mr Bhagwat, on the other hand, has been reinforcing RSS’s reticence to condemn the anti-Muslim violence and rhetoric. In an interview in January this year, Mr Bhagwat said that Hindus “have been at war for over a thousand years — it is natural for those at war to be aggressive.” But, to give further clarity to his comment, he added, “This war is not against an outside enemy, but against an enemy within.”

Undoubtedly, India is becoming an economic power to reckon with. However, India’s penchant for following in the footstep of Israel indicates India’s intellectual depravity towards which the honourable judges of India have also signalled.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2023.

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