BEHIND THE SCENES OF ESCALATING VIOLENCE AGAINST INDIAN MUSLIMS

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on subcontinent affairs, commenting on the escalation of religious tensions in India and the protest of some extremist religions against the hijab of Muslim women in high schools and colleges, said: This issue goes back to the approach of the ruling party in India; the ruling BJP Party in India is made up of various factions, many of which are made up of radical Hindu religious groups. Groups who believe that India should not be a place for Muslims and other religions.

Pir Mohammad Mollazehi, in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said: Radical groups in the ruling party claim that India is a Hindu country and should be governed by Hindu values.

This expert, noting that this thinking is very strong among groups affiliated with or allies of the BJP, said: Those people have a very high influence at universities, therefore they have now argued that the hijab of Muslim women is against Indian values and a sign of the Islamic symbol in that country.

According to Mollazehi, there is a mentality among those people that before the British occupation of India, the government was in the hands of the Muslims and the Mughals of India ruled there for about 300 to 400 years.

He added: In fact, this mentality is very strong in the radical Hindu faction, and they were the same groups that caused conflict between Muslims and Hindus after 1947, when the Indian subcontinent became independent, and finally Muslims saw a solution in the disintegration of the Indian subcontinent in order to form their own country.

Referring to the destruction of the Babri Masjid (Mosque) in 1992, Mollazehi said: At that time, some radical Hindu groups attempted to destroy the Babri Mosque. Those people claimed that the place was formerly a Hindu temple that was destroyed by the Muslims and a mosque was built; therefore, with such a claim, they destroyed the mosque and again built the Ram Mandir (Temple) in that place.

The expert on sub-continental affairs, saying that the conflict continued until the victory of Mr. Narendra Modi in Gujarat as the chief minister, noted: During Modi’s tenure as the chief minister in that area, clashes erupt between Muslims and Hindus, in which more than 2,000 Muslims were killed in Gujarat.

Mollazehi stressed that since then, the differences have sometimes intensified and sometimes subsided.

The expert, referring to the ruling period of the Congress Party said: It was a secular party, and Muslims could have more activity in the society, but since the BJP party came to power, radical currents have infiltrated in the security apparatus, universities and other organs, and were also supported by Mr. Modi.

He continued: Even now, such radical currents are using the issue of hijab as an excuse and pressuring Muslims in this way to advance their objectives.

Regarding the reaction of the Islamic world to such pressures and injustices against Muslims in India, Mollazehi said: As in the past, the Islamic world, through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, was sensitive to such unfortunate events, it is expected that with the timely measure of that organization and Islamic countries, continuation of such unacceptable approaches should be prevented.

Unfortunately, due to the divisions in the Islamic world and the existence of some political considerations on the one hand and the promotion of the Ibrahim Project with the US support on the other hand to deceive some regional governments to normalize relations with the Zionist regime and their neglect of the aspiration of the Palestinian nation and the fate of Muslim nations in the world, one cannot expect much a serious reaction from them.