TMuslims already marginalized after two Muslim men killed a Hindu tailor in Rajasthan, India. A ruthless call for revenge on the population has been triggered.
The horrific death of Kanhaiyaral on June 28 fueled tensions between denominations that had long been encouraged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist supporters. AP told police that Lal's Islamic perpetrators recorded that they had torn their throats. Then they posted a second video of. In this video, he accused the Prophet Muhammad of insulting him and threatened to kill Modi as well. Lal appears to support the derogatory remarks made by former BJP spokesman Nupur Sharma about the Prophet in May, withsayinginternational condemnation.The Supreme Court of India demands that she apologize
The reaction was immediate. Government officials temporarily closed the Internetand banned subsequent rallies to contain religious unrest. The two were arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Islamic politicians and Islamic preachers swiftly condemned the killings. India's interior minister, Amit Shah, tweeted that federal police will thoroughly investigate "the involvement and international ties of all organizations."
People respect on June 30 Represents the murder of a Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal, who was murdered by two Muslim men.
Sajjad Hussain / AFP—Getty Images
But since then, "Hindu LivesMatter" has appeared. .. Especially on social media, the slogan took the form of a hashtag, andSouth Indian actress Pranitha Subhash, who was tweeted thousands of times, posted her photo on Instagram with the phrase. Political experts call it dangerous and risk amplifying violent but isolated crimes to allegations of systematic violence against Hindus, who make up about 80% of India's 1.2 billion people. I am. Two members of the community can't commit this kind of crime and paint the entire community with the same brush, "said Indian political journalist and author ofShadow Armies: Fringe Organizations and Foot Soldiers of Hindtva. Dhirendra Jha says. "This is not good for Indian democracy."
Prior to the 2014 Modi election, the elected government was a Hindu, thanks to its secular democracy. Together with Muslims, Christians and other groups, he paid close attention to emphasizing the religious diversity of India. However, rhetoric, policy and violence targeting Islam, which makes up about 14% of the population, has dramatically escalated under Modi. Between May 2015 and December 2018,Human Rights Watchreported attacks on at least 44 people, 36 of whom were Muslims. Connection with a group of right-wing Hindus. Modi's Government of the People's Party of Indiarobbed Muslim homes and businesses, and "Jihad of love" that Muslim men are trying to convert Hindu women to IslamAutonomy of Jammu & Kashmir, the only Muslim-dominated state in India that spreads the conspiracy theoryand lacks politics.
Read more:Increased violence against Muslims in India talks about Matter's second phase
"Messages like Hindu Lives Matter are that you have to read within this extensive infrastructure of messages calling for theIslamic massacre," said Mohan Dutta, a professor at Massay University in New Zealand. say. Studying anti-Islamic hatred in India.
Dutta worked on the2021 reportonthat Indian Muslims experienced with Islamophobia content on digital platforms, 2014 and 2019. "The hatred of digital platforms in India and the Diaspora of India has skyrocketed exponentially since the victory in Modi's election of the year."
"The digital hatred promoted by Hindu Tova "Content" refers to the ideology that promotes Hindu supremacy, "has been directed to Indian religious minorities, Muslims, Christians, and the oppressed caste community."
Dutta is rooted in the organization of racist structuresBlack Lives MatterThe use of languages that reflect the slogan is for Hindus to systematically in India. It is said to falsely suggest that it is being suppressed. "It's ironic that the majority of organizations use their hashtags to spread hatred to the Islamic minority community in India, which has always been the target of hatred," he says.
The slogan of Hindu life problems emerged when a strong-minded hard-line Hindu publicly called for a genocide ofMuslimslast year, right wing. A key member of the Hindu political party in Japan said: "If 100 of us become soldiers and are ready to kill 2 million (Muslims), we will win ... Protect India and make it a Hindu country." BJP Yogi, Uttar Pradesh Prime Minister Adityanas made frequent violent remarks about Muslims in 2017. From dehumanization to the call for real violence, what we are seeing in India today is that all these steps are in progress, "says Dutta.
Angana Chatterzi, a scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, said the murder in Rajasthan was horrifying in its details, but in the greater context of the repeated targeting of unarmed ordinary Muslims by Hindu nationalist violence. It states that it must be considered in. "Organized violence by state institutions and Hindu vigilants against Islam must begin a cycle of violence," she says.
"The problems of Hindu life" presupposes that their lives are overlooked. Hindu life is not overlooked in the major Hindu nations, "says Chatterji. "This is a revisionist fabrication of history and present."
Sanya Mansoor (sanya.mansoor@time.com)