After Criticizing the Far-Right Indian Ideology, Canadian Academics Received Murder and Rape Threats

Persecution and violence are prevailing against Muslims in India. However, the US news agency CBS news showed that criticism of the Indian government and advocating a policy that guarantees religious freedom in India was a reason behind targeting Canadian academics by extremist Hindu groups.

The CBC News investigation revealed that more than a dozen of Canadian academics faced harassment by local diaspora groups and foreign trolls for denouncing the Indian PM Modi's government support of the supremacist Hindutva ideology.

18 academicians described the hatred and threat messages they received, including death and rape threats from local diaspora groups. The reason for the attacks was the academicians’ criticism of the growing Hindu nationalism and violence against religious minorities in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing government.

 

Academics Threatened

The CBS news quoted Chinnaiah Jangam, the history professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, describing how he was attacked throughout hateful emails, along with abusive voicemails on his office phone.

He said that he received a “cartoon of himself cleaning a white person's boots.” He explained that he was also targeted in person by groups attending his lectures because they disagree with his political positions.

The CBS investigation disclosed that Jangam is an example of several Canadian academics who were subjected to harassment and death threats because their work relates to India. And mainly because of their critics “of both the country's politics under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva, the right-wing political ideology it espouses.”

Steven Zhou, a former researcher with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network believes that Hindutva is a superficial politicization of Hinduism.

Zhou pointed out: “Hindutva aims to cast Indian society as one that should be for Hindus first and foremost above other religious minorities." 

He said: “Hindutva is a modern political ideology that advocates for Hindu supremacy and seeks to transform India, a secular democracy, into an ethno-religious country.”

 

Growing Polarization

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairwoman of leading biotech company Biocon, has urged the BJP-led government in Karnataka to "find a solution to the growing religious polarization" in the southern state of 64 million people.

Xu Corporation is headquartered in Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka and the booming IT hub of India.

Her comments came in the wake of a heated debate over demands by extremist Hindu groups in the state to ban Muslim merchants from setting up market stalls in temples. These groups have also urged not to buy meat from Muslim butchers because they slaughter animals according to Islamic law, and these groups are now seeking to ban the use of loudspeakers in mosques and boycott Muslim mango sellers.

But that's not all. In the past months, tensions have engulfed Karnataka state after a government order was issued to ban veiled Muslim girls from entering colleges. The court upheld the order, and many students refrained from taking exams and attending classes in protest.

The BBC reported: “Last year, the government banned the trade and slaughter of cows in a state where the Muslim population is about 13 percent.”

It added that there are plans to include the Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita in school curricula, and there is a proposal to remove a chapter from the curriculum glorifying Tipu Sultan, the wealthy 18th century Muslim ruler.

Many of these moves have sharply polarized, with critics seeing as attempts to marginalize Muslims by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist government.

But many fear that all this will backfire and end up tarnishing the image of one of India's relatively prosperous states.

Referring to state Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in her tweet, Ms. Shaw said Karnataka has "always pursued comprehensive economic development", adding that if the information and biotech city becomes a theater of strife among the people, its global leadership will be wiped out.

Her fears are well founded. Karnataka's economic success stems from Bangalore, as 60 percent of the state's revenue comes from this vibrant city of nearly 10 million people. It is home to more than 13,000 tech startups.

 

Racist ‘Love’ Attacks

Hamza el-Guenouni expert in sociology and researcher at Kent University in Turkey told Al-Estiklal: “Electoral coalitions, whether parliamentary or in many Indian states, are formulated mainly according to caste loyalties or religious and ethnic fanaticism. Prime Minister Bharatiya Janata Party is working to win the elections by betting on consolidating the ideology of Hindu nationalism in the absence of any real achievements. Which explains why minorities are persecuted in India, including the Muslim minority in the country of 22 million people.”

On October 2021, Hindu groups have attempted to enforce morality by attacking young men and women in bars, and campaigning against what they describe as "love jihad", a term used by Hindu extremist groups to accuse Muslim men of influencing Hindu women and converting their faith through marriage.

The BBC stated that: “Mosques, homes and shops of Muslims in the Indian state of Tripura were attacked and vandalized by Hindu extremist gangs. Tensions escalated in the northeastern region of India, after Hindutva extremist gangs burned mosques, homes and shops of Muslims.”

The Indian police moved to impose their control and prevent the renewal of violence, and they banned gatherings of more than 5 people.

A statement published by the local Association for the Protection of Civil Rights APCR revealed that at least 16 mosques had been damaged by Hindutva extremist gangs, and that many homes and shops belonging to Muslims had been burned.

The Indian authorities have arrested dozens of people, most of whom belong to far-right groups, after they obstructed Muslims from performing Friday prayers, according to local media.

Hindu groups have been pressing authorities for weeks in the northern city of Gurgaon outside New Delhi to prevent Muslims from performing Friday prayers in open spaces.

“On Friday, the police reinforced their presence in the city and arrested at least 30 people as crowds of local residents and Hindu groups chanted anti-Muslim slogans,” the statement said.