[ad_1]
New Delhi, India -The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan provides another excuse for Hindu supremacists in India to launch a new wave of Islamophobia against its Muslim minority.
Muslim politicians, writers, journalists, social media influencers and ordinary citizens have become the target of hate campaigns launched by the right wing of the country, including members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
After the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government last month, the hashtag #GoToAfghanistan became popular on Indian social media. This is a repetition of the #GoToPakistan movement initiated by right-wing groups that hope to turn India into a Hindu nation-state.
“The term Taliban or Talibani was deliberately added to the vocabulary of the masses by both parties-possibly anti- or supporters of the BJP,” poet and activist Hussein Heydri told Al Jazeera.
“It does it like Pakistani or’jihad’ or’aatankwadi’ (terrorism) terms are treated as slander against Muslims.”
Soon after the Taliban took over Kabul, BJP politician Ram Madhav called the Moplah rebellion in 1921 one of the first manifestations of India’s “Taliban mentality” and the Kerala government was trying to “whitewash” it.
Madhav delivered a speech at an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the peasant uprising in southern countries against British colonial rule and feudalism.
In another incident, the media reported that Muslims in Madhya Pradesh made pro-Pakistan slogans during the Muharram march. The Chief Minister of the People’s Party commented on these reports, saying that he “will not tolerate Talibani’s mentality.” Two days after his comment, the leading fact-checking website Alt News debunked the initial media report.
In the northeastern state of Assam, 15 Muslims, including Islamic scholars, politicians, and local journalists, were arrested for allegedly “supporting” the Taliban in social media posts, and according to the “Illegal Activities (Prevention) Act” or UAPA was arrested, a severe anti-terror law that put dozens of Muslims and other government critics in prison.
“What do we have to do with the Taliban?”
Haidli said Muslims who fight back against hatred or outspoken about community brutality are accused of being Taliban sympathizers, even if they condemn the organization.
In Lucknow, when the famous poet Munawwar Rana compared the Taliban with Varmiki, who wrote the Indian epic poem “The Ramayana,” he faced right-wing anger.
In a TV debate two weeks ago, Rana said that the role would change over time, and cited the example of Valmiki, who “became a god after writing Ramayana; before that , He is a bandit”.
Rana said he was right and his Muslim status is becoming the target of those who wish to divide society on religious lines before his Uttar Pradesh elections early next year.
“As Indians or Muslims, when have we supported any terrorists? What do we have to do with the Taliban? However, if there is an explosion anywhere in the world and Muslims are involved, we will be blamed for it,” Rana told Al Jazeera.
Another Muslim, Uttar Pradesh politician Shafiqur Rahman Barq (Shafiqur Rahman Barq) faces charges of sedition for allegedly comparing India’s struggle for freedom with the United Kingdom and Afghanistan’s struggle with American occupation .
A video clip released by the ANI news agency on August 17 showed that Barker said that Indians were fighting for freedom when the country was occupied by the British.
“Now they [Afghanistan] Under U.S. occupation, it was Russia earlier, and they [Taliban] Also want to be free and liberate their country,” he said.
However, on the same night, he and the other two were filed in a sedition case-they are said to have issued “similar statements.”
Buck told Al Jazeera that his statement had been misunderstood, and he referred to the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan as the country’s internal affairs.
“The governments of other countries are constantly changing. Why should we be interested in what happens anywhere? Our country [government] A policy will be formulated on whether to recognize their [Taliban’s] Whether we rule or not, we will abide by it,” Buck said.
Although the leader and spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party called the Taliban a “terrorist”, the country’s ambassador to Qatar Meet On Tuesday, the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha.
Like Rana, Buck also stated that because Uttar Pradesh is a key state in national politics, the BJP is distorting his statement and polarizing voters.
A video posted by Islamic scholar and member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Committee, Sajjad Nomani, congratulated the Taliban on the further occupation of Kabul, sparking controversy.
At the same time, a group of militants, journalists and Muslim intellectuals condemned the Taliban’s actions and the “excitement” of “a part of Indian Muslims” over the Taliban’s seizure of power.
When discussing Barq, Nomani and Rana with Al Jazeera, political anthropologist Irfan Ahmad said that no Democrat should find anything offensive in their statement because they have been commenting on the Taliban’s struggle with foreign powers. , Criticized the 20-year occupation and the bombing of a poor population. A country named after the “war on terror.”
“It’s not so much praise for the Taliban as it is for their behavior: they entered Kabul in a non-violent manner, promised and continued to implement girls’ education, and maintained sectarian harmony,” said Ahmed, a senior researcher at Max. Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany.
The statement that was interpreted as supporting the Taliban provided more material for BJP leaders and spokespersons, especially in the context of the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of the controversial saffron robe in Uttar Pradesh, quickly caught up with the trend, claiming that such statements were “an attempt to make the Taliban in India”.
“The kind of violence against women that happened there… but some people shamelessly support the Taliban,” he said in the state legislature.
The Adityanath government announced the establishment of a new counter-terrorism center in Deoband. The birthplace of the Deoband school is the loose ideological foundation of the Taliban.
This influential Islamic school has inspired tens of thousands of institutions around the world.
State spokesperson Shalabh Mani Tripathi said on Twitter when commenting on the counter-terrorism center: “Amidst the barbaric acts of the Taliban, listen to the news of UP. Yogiji decided to immediately open an ATS commando center in Deoband.”
Buck said that the Uttar Pradesh government is “busy in formulating an anti-Muslim policy”, calling Deoband a terror center and setting up a center there to promote its “hate politics.”
“What did Deoband do to be labeled as such? This is an Islamic seminary, where alim (Islamic scholar) studies, what’s the problem there?”
“This is a policy of hate which they think will win them the elections.”
Hindu supremacists “reactivate hysteria”
Hate attacks against Indian Muslims, including public lynchings and companies targeting them, have become a daily affair in India.
Last year, following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of Islamic missionaries named Tablighi Jamaat were accused of spreading the virus in India.
In its 2020 report, the United States Committee on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) called India a “country of special concern”.
The report stated: “The national government allows violence against minorities and their places of worship to continue with impunity, and participates in and tolerates hate speech and incitement to violence.”
Since the fall of Kabul, programs broadcast by Indian TV channels have portrayed Muslims as “Taliban apologists” or “spokespersons.” In daily debates, famous Muslims such as Rana and Barker were forced to explain themselves, while members of the BJP group called them “Talibani.”
Our embassy is in #Afg Was attacked twice. We lost a diplomat. Haqqani Network is in charge. Now they are in power.Would you classify the Taliban as a terrorist organization #UAPA? If not, will the BJP ask its spies to shut up and stop calling the Taliban on TV?pic.twitter.com/YISO6AW8OK
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 27, 2021
In one of the programs, a state official stated that India should learn from what happened in Afghanistan and curb “Islamic fundamentalism.”
A lot of misinformation also swept the newsroom. Old videos and photos from Syria, Yemen, or Iraq were faked as incidents from Afghanistan. Many fact-checking websites refuted these claims.
According to Ahmed, Hindu supremacists have used Muslim men’s accusations of “barbarity” and atrocities against women to “reactivate the hysteria against the Taliban” and continue to humiliate Muslims.
Many Indian Muslims stated that as long as terrorist-related incidents involving Muslims occur anywhere, they will be censored, and the community is expected to condemn this behavior.
Regarding the question of why Muslims should be held responsible for foreign incidents, Ahmed said: “Assuming it is because your religion is Islam, it is a global religion, so you must condemn it.”
“But the opposite has never been assumed. In other words, Indian Muslims will never be held accountable for the good humanitarian work of overseas Muslims, and such work by Indian Muslims will not become news in the Indian media,” he said.
[ad_2]
Source link