US congresswoman Ilhan Omar asks the Biden administration about their silence about the Modi government criminalizing Muslims.
In her public speech, Ilhan Omar asked, “How much does the Modi administration have to criminalize the act of being Muslim in India for us to say something? What will it take for us to outwardly criticize the action that the Modi administration is taking against its Muslim minorities?” she asked.
US congresswoman Ilhan Omar pressed one of President Joe Biden’s most senior diplomats on Wednesday on US support for India given what she said is a long-standing campaign against the country’s Muslim minority.
Why has the Biden Administration been so reluctant to criticize Modi’s government on human rights? What does Modi need to do to India’s Muslim population before we will stop considering them a partner in peace? These are the questions the Administration needs to answer. pic.twitter.com/kwO2rSh1BL — Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) April 6, 2022
Omar, who is Muslim, directly asked Wendy Sherman, Biden’s deputy secretary of state, how US support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is “promoting a free and open region,” and lambasted what she characterized as a reluctance to openly criticize his government.
Sherman said she agrees that the administration must stand up “for every religion, every ethnicity, every race, every quality of diversity in this world.”
Omar quickly retorted: “I do hope we make a practice of standing up not just to our adversaries, but to our allies as well.”
“Absolutely,” said Sherman, who also noted the US has raised concerns about India’s human rights record directly with New Delhi officials.
Indian Muslims have witnessed a deterioration of the right to practice their faith under the rule of Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to multiple international rights groups.
Human Rights Watch reported in 2021 that the BJP’s prejudices have “infiltrated independent institutions, such as the police and the courts, empowering nationalist groups to threaten, harass, and attack religious minorities with impunity.”
It noted that Modi and the BJP have adopted laws and policies that “systematically discriminate” against Muslims.
#KBJ’s husband is white. #KamalaHarris’s spouse is Jewish.#AOC long term boyfriend is white.#IlhanOmar’s boyfriend is white. Boston Mayor #MichelleWu’s husband is white #KBJconfirmation pic.twitter.com/Sjrkz006UQ — Cassie (@Cassie77807804) April 7, 2022
Inciting Speeches Against Muslims Continue With No Arrests
The latest incident of inciting violence against Muslims openly with no arrests made of the perpetrator was a Hindu priest, and Mohammed Zubair from Alt News tweeted, “A Mahant in front of a Masjid in the presence of Police personals warns that He would K!dnap Muslim Women and ₹@pe them in Open.
According to the locals near Sheshe wali Masjid, Khairabad, and Sitapur. This happened on 2nd Apr 2022, 2 PM. What makes is terrifying is none of these people are arrested.
I am shocked and horrified! Threats to rape Muslim women followed by chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. What god will forgive you for that? https://t.co/mHFdRgvuW9 — Shweta Kothari (@Shwkothari) April 8, 2022
There have been mass massacres of Indian Muslims since 1964
There have been riots and massacres of Indian Muslims since 1964. Before that, Muslims and Hindus lived in relative harmony. The Mughal invasion of India in the 1500s under Barbar also saw Hindu and Mughal kings helping each other in the conquest of territory. It was never a religious battle, nor did Muslims pitch for converting Hindus, which is why India is still an 80% Hindu nation.
1964 Kolkata riots
Riots between Hindus and Muslims had left over a hundred people dead, and 438 people injured. While 7000 people were arrested. 70,000 Muslims fled for their lives, leaving homes. Around 55,000 Muslims were provided protection by the Indian army. Muslims in Kolkata became more segregated in the aftermath of this riot. Violence was also seen in rural West Bengal
1983 Nellie massacre
In Assam in 1983, the horrific Nellie massacre transpired where around 1,800 Muslims of Bengali origin were slaughtered by Lalung tribespeople (also known as Tiwa) at a village called Nellie.
It is known as one of the most severe massacres since World War II with the majority of victims being women and children, as a result of the actions of the Assam Movement.
The main cause for this monstrosity was it resulted from a build-up of resentment over immigration. The Assam movement insisted on striking the names of illegal immigrants from the electoral register and their deportation from the state. There was widespread support for the movement, which tapered off between 1981 and 1982.
The movement demanded that anyone who had entered the state illegally since 1951 be deported. The central government, however, insisted on a cutoff date of 1971. Towards the end of 1982, the central government called elections and the movement called for people to boycott it, which led to widespread violence.
The official Tiwari Commission report on the Nellie massacre is still a closely guarded secret (only three copies exist). The 600-page report was submitted to the Assam Government in 1984 and the Congress Government (headed by Hiteswar Saikia) decided not to make it public, and subsequent Governments followed suit.
Assam United Democratic Front and others are making lawful efforts to make Tiwari Commission report public, so that reasonable justice is delivered to victims, at least after 25 years after the incident.
1969 to 1989 Gujarat riots
During the 1969 Gujarat riots, it is calculated that 630 people were killed. The 1970 Bhiwandi Riots were anti-Muslim violence that erupted between 7 and 8 May in the Indian towns of Bhiwandi, Jalgaon, and Mahad. There was extensive arson and vandalism of Muslim-owned properties.
In 1980 in Moradabad, an estimated 2,500 people were killed. The official estimate is 400 and other observers estimate between 1,500 and 2,000. Shockingly, the local police were directly involved in planning the violence.
In 1989 in Bhagalpur, it is estimated nearly 1,000 people lost their lives in violent attacks, believed to be a result of tensions raised over the Ayodhya dispute and the processions carried out by VHP activists, who were rising in multitudes in a show of strength and to serve as a warning to the minority communities.
1987 Hashimpura massacre
The Hashimpura massacre happened on 22 May 1987, during the Hindu-Muslim riots in Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh state, India, when 19 personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) allegedly rounded up 42 Muslim youth from the Hashimpura mohalla (locality) of the city, took them in the truck to the outskirts, near Murad Nagar, in Ghaziabad district, where they were shot and their bodies were dumped in water canals.
A few days later dead bodies were found floating in the canals. In May 2000, 16 of the 19 accused surrendered and were later released on bail, while 3 were already dead.
The trial of the case was transferred by the Supreme Court of India in 2002 from Ghaziabad to a Sessions Court at the Tis Hazari complex in Delhi, where it was the oldest pending case.
On 21 March 2015, all 16 men accused in the Hashimpura massacre case of 1987 were acquitted by Tis Hazari Court due to insufficient evidence. The Court emphasized that the survivors could not recognize any of the accused PAC personnel. On 31 October 2018, the Delhi High Court convicted the 16 personnel of the PAC and sentenced them to life imprisonment, overturning the trial court’s verdict.
1989 Bhagalpur violence
On 24 October 1989 in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar, the violent incidents happened for over 2 months. The violence involved Bhagalpur city and 250 villages around it. Over 1,000 people were killed, and another 50,000 were displaced as a result of the violence. It was the worst Hindu-Muslim violence in independent India at the time.
1992 Bombay riots
The destruction of the Babri Mosque by Hindu nationalists led directly to the 1992 Bombay riots. The Hindu’s Frontline magazine, titled Gory Winter reported, “officially, 900 people were killed in mob rioting and firing by the police, 2,036 injured and thousands internally displaced.”
Several scholars concluded that the riots must have been pre-planned and that Hindu rioters had been given access to information about the locations of Muslim homes and businesses from non-public sources.
This violence is widely reported as having been orchestrated by Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist group led by Bal Thackeray.
A high-ranking member of the special branch, V. Deshmukh, gave evidence to the commission tasked with probing the riots. He said the failures in intelligence and prevention had been due to political assurances that the mosque in Ayodhya would be protected, that the police were fully aware of the Shiv Sena’s capabilities to commit acts of violence, and that they had incited hate against the minority communities.
It is reported that the “skyline of Ahmedabad filled with smoke as buildings and shops are set on fire by rioting mobs.”
2002 Gujarat riots
Since partition, the Muslim community has been subject to and engaged in violence in Gujarat. In 2002, in an incident described as an act of “fascistic state terror,” Hindu extremists carried out acts of violence against the Muslim minority population.
The starting point for the incident was the Godhra train burning which was allegedly done by Muslims. During the incident, young, children, and women were raped, burned, or hacked to death. Pregnant women had fetuses torn from their wombs, all killed brutally.
It is reported this massacre was favored by the ruling BJP, whose refusal to intervene led to the displacement of 200,000.
Death toll figures range from the official estimate of 254 Hindus with an estimated 2,000 Muslims killed.
Then Chief Minister Narendra Modi has also been accused of initiating and condoning the violence, as have the police and government officials who took part, as they directed the rioters and gave lists of Muslim-owned properties to the extremists.
Any critics of the massacre were silenced. Mallika Sarabhai, who had complained over state complicity in the violence, was harassed, intimidated, and falsely accused of human trafficking by the BJP. Three police officers were given punitive transfers by the BJP after they had successfully put down the rioting in their wards, so as not to interfere further in preventing the violence.
According to Brass, the only conclusion from the evidence which is available points to a methodical pogrom, which was carried out with “exceptional brutality and was highly coordinated”.
In 2007, Tehelka magazine released “The Truth: Gujarat 2002,” a report which implicated the state government in the violence, and claimed that what had been called a spontaneous act of revenge was, in reality, a “state-sanctioned pogrom”.
Human Rights Watch reported that the violence in Gujarat in 2002 was pre-planned, and the police and state government participated in the violence.
However, Mr. Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by a Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court.
The Muslim community is reported to have reacted with “anger and disbelief,” and activist Teesta Setalvad has said the legal fight was not yet over, as they had the right to appeal.
Human Rights Watch has reported on acts of exceptional heroism by Hindus, Dalits, and tribals, who tried to protect Muslims from the massacre.
2013 Muzaffarnagar riots
The violence again sparked in 2013 between August to September, conflicts between the two major religious communities Hindus and Muslims happened in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh state. These riots resulted in at least 62 deaths including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus and injured 200 and left more than 50,000 displaced.
2020 Delhi riots
The 2020 Delhi riots, which left 53 dead and more than 200 seriously injured, were triggered by protests against a citizenship law seen by critics as anti-Muslim.
Once again, the hate speeches roaring against Muslims over the countryside and cities are going to stir up a terrifying genocide amid silence from most people in authority and this is what led Ilhan Omar to question the Biden administration’s silence on the criminalization of Muslims by the Modi government. The government of India should not cry it is an international conspiracy because they are bringing it on from the rooftops when allowing this inciting behavior over India.
Liaquat–Nehru Pact
Seventy-one years ago, under the Nehru government, the Liaquat–Nehru Pact a bilateral treaty between India and Pakistan was made in which refugees were allowed to return to dispose of their property, as well as abducted women and looted property were to be returned, forced conversions were unrecognized, and minority rights were confirmed, a deed signed on 8 April 1950. Of note, violence inflicted on minority Hindus in Pakistan has also led in part to the CAA-Act being made, nevertheless, brutality in the nation is presently rising against minorities and it is the first time the violence has broadened to a pan-India movement as before, riots were limited to regions, and the nation is heading to a genocidal climate at this rate.
Comments