Despite the Need to ‘Improve Its Image’ Before the G20 Summit, Why Is India Escalating Its Stance Against Muslims?

Despite New Delhi’s need to improve its image ahead of hosting the G20 summit, which includes three Islamic countries (Indonesia, Turkiye, and Saudi Arabia) on September 9–10, 2023, Indian authorities and Hindu extremists are launching a major suppressive campaign against Muslims.

There are Indian courts seeking to seize historical Muslim mosques and aiming to prevent prayers under the pretext of suspecting them to be former Hindu temples, over which mosques were built, based on claims made by extremist Hindus.

It has become known within Muslim circles that India has transformed into “Asia’s Israel” since the extremist Hindu party took power in 2014, and that its extremist behavior resembles the crimes of Israeli Occupation settlers.

These hostile practices against Muslims have escalated following previous acts of violence against Christians in the state of Manipur, which reached the point of forcing Christian women to walk naked in front of Hindus.

Muslim Indian journalists and activists have started campaigns to expose the escalating persecution and hysteria-driven killings at the hands of extremists aligned with the government of the extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

They are uncovering these practices ahead of the September 2023 G20 summit to be held in India.

This raises questions about why the West doesn’t condemn these barbaric acts by Hindus, as they do with other countries, and why Islamic nations don’t withdraw from this summit?

 

What Happened?

Two recent incidents have exposed the distressing state of affairs in that country since the extremist Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party took control in 2014, launching its armed groups from the RSS organization to kill Muslims and minorities, burn their homes and shops, claiming “India for Hindus.”

Hindus constitute about 80 percent of the country’s population of 1.4 billion, compared to 14 percent Muslims, who are the largest minority in India, according to The New York Times as of early August 2023.

During a train journey in Nuh, Haryana, a railway protection officer pulled out his gun and killed three Muslims, choosing them based on their appearance, as reported by the Indian Wire on August 10, 2023.

In a video that emerged after the incident and quickly spread, the officer can be seen standing over a lifeless body, holding the rifle he used for the crime.

While standing on a Muslim’s body, he threatened the remaining Muslim passengers, saying, “If you want to live in Hindustan (India), you have no choice but to vote in the elections for Narendra Modi (Prime Minister) and Yogi Adityanath.”

The latter, a Hindu priest and a bigoted extremist, became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh state in 2017 with the support of Prime Minister Modi.

He is known for his animosity toward Muslims in the state, which has around 45 million Muslims, often referred to as a “potential successor to Modi” for leading Hindu extremists.

The incident was not a coincidence or an individual act, as authorities tried to justify it. They claimed that the policeman might be mentally disturbed, amidst the rise of the extremist ideology of the current ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party, and its call for a “pure Hindu nation.”

The country has witnessed multiple instances of police firing on Muslims and threatening them, as well as overseeing the burning and destruction of their properties.

The Indian Wire confirms this by stating, “Hindutva groups no longer need to train or arm people to commit violence against Muslims. They are now in the state apparatus, and they will do it voluntarily or habitually.”

When Muslims protested the killing of three individuals on the train, they clashed with Hindus, and the police intervened not to separate them but to immediately punish one side (the Muslims). Their houses and businesses were demolished by bulldozers.

Hundreds of members of the extremist right-wing Hindu organization “Bajrang Dal” took to the streets and killed four Muslims, including an imam who recently spoke about peace between the two communities. They also set fire to mosques in the Nuh area and the Gurugram neighborhood, forcing Muslims to flee their homes.

This was followed by a retaliatory action by Prime Minister Modi’s government, demolishing Muslim homes and businesses.

Social media in India was flooded with videos of demolition under the Hindu bulldozer policy, which demolished the homes of 250 Muslim families in Haryana, India.

Hundreds of Muslim families were left homeless after authorities suddenly and without warning demolished their homes, shops, and other buildings, attributing to them the acts of violence that took place, even though they were the victims.

Hindus didn’t stop there; they looted shops in plain sight of the police, who contented themselves with arresting 150 of them and demolishing Muslim homes and properties in a manner reminiscent of the Zionist approach, as documented by the Indian human rights website Article 14 on August 7, 2023.

 

Silence on the Crimes

Muslims in India lament the world’s lack of concern for their persecution and the lack of response from Arab and Islamic nations despite the rising incidents of killings, burnings, and destruction of their properties.

A study conducted by economist Deepankar Basu at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Political Economy Research Institute on August 26, 2019, indicates a 786 percent increase in hate crimes against all minorities between 2014 and 2018 following the victory of the extremist Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections.

Asim Ali, a political researcher based in New Delhi, said that official silence over sectarian assaults and rhetoric is encouraging for the radical groups, and such attacks have become more brazen since BJP ascended to power nearly a decade ago, according to CNN.

“When you don’t take action against these elements, the message that gets sent is that it’s okay,” he told CNN. “If the government spoke (against it), it would help.”

Ethnic violence has been raging in the northeastern state of Manipur for the last two months, a topic that has received little public comment from Modi.

Ali fears sectarian tensions may only worsen next year as India heads into a bitterly fought election, with Modi seeking a third term and an opposition building a coalition to unseat him.

Several countries have previously decided not to send their delegations to attend the G20 summit in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir, including Indonesia and China, in protest of India’s policies in Kashmir.

This raised questions and sparked a global debate about the legitimacy of India’s actions, the threat it poses to the summit’s agenda, and greater questions about the silence of the G20 countries regarding the escalating fierce Hindu violence against Muslims and Christians leading to their displacement.

Can the three Islamic countries that are members of the G20 withdraw from the summit in protest against intentional violence against Muslims and convey a message of protest to India? Or will economic and political interests override that?

Another lawmaker and member of India’s main opposition Congress party, Jairam Ramesh, said it was a “cold-blooded murder” that was the result of a polarized media and political landscape.

The vision that Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aim to portray for India is that of a self-assured, dynamic, and advanced superpower. This desired image is set to be showcased in India during the upcoming G20 summit in New Delhi.

However, experts suggest that these instances of violence highlight a disconcerting truth as the BJP’s Hindu nationalist agenda gathers momentum in the world’s largest democratic nation following almost a decade under Modi’s leadership.

 

Incitement to Violence

Rahul Gandhi, former leader of the ruling Indian National Congress party and grandson of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of betrayal, as he believes Modi is undermining the concept of “Mother India,” which encompasses all its diverse children.

Commenting on the acts of violence against Muslims and Christians sponsored by the ruling party’s hooligans before the G20 summit, he stated that Modi and his party are inciting this religious and ethnic violence.

These allegations from Gandhi, Modi’s prominent rival in the upcoming elections, came in a speech he delivered upon his return to parliament after the suspension of his defamation conviction.

This occurred amidst an alliance of Indian opposition parties against Modi in preparation for the upcoming elections.

Gandhi called for a vote of no confidence in the government due to its handling of the violence, including the Hindu hooligans’ attacks on Christians in the remote northeastern state of Manipur, which led to the deaths of around 152 people and witnessed instances of gang rape of Christian women.

He accused Modi of being a traitor and not nationalist, claiming that he ignited the flames of discord in Manipur. He reminded Indians of Modi’s crimes in 2002 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, during which Muslims in the state endured a massacre when at least a thousand people were killed.

Analysts and Western newspapers interpreted the warm reception of Modi during his visit to Washington in June 2023 as a desire for the United States and Europe to encourage India to align with them and stand together against China in Southeast Asia in an effort to contain its influence.

While Western and Indian critics have criticized the lack of strong opposition by Western nations, particularly the United States, against the Prime Minister of India’s racist practices targeting Muslims and Christians, others have attributed this to “interests.”

They emphasized that America and the West need India’s support to counter China’s plans in the Asian region, hence the “soft stance toward Modi and overlooking his crimes.

They clarified that Modi, in return, wants the price to be the White House’s overlooking of Hindu suppression of not only Muslims but also Christians, including the burning of their mosques and churches. He expects the U.S. State Department to refrain from labeling India as a country suppressing freedoms and democracy.

The Economist criticized the relationship between Modi and Biden on June 15, 2023, despite India’s support for Russia against Ukraine.

Additionally, in light of Modi’s violation of democracy and human rights and his persecution of Muslims and Christians, it was affirmed that the relationship between the two countries is based on interests rather than principles.

The magazine stated that Modi’s attacks on Western liberal standards and his increasingly hostile stance toward over 200 million Muslims in his country, his seizure of their properties, press suppression, and manipulation of the judiciary don’t concern Washington. It is focused solely on having New Delhi align against Beijing.

Politico criticized the warm reception of Modi in America on June 20, 2023, and accused the Biden administration of prioritizing traditional geopolitical concerns over human rights.

The newspaper reminded the Biden administration that Modi, leading the world’s largest democracy, governs India as a Hindu nationalist with authoritarian inclinations.

His government carries out a suppression campaign targeting everyone, from journalists to political opposition leaders, and it disproportionately targets Indian Muslims.