An impartial review of the year 2024 makes it clear that hate has become an essential component of the ruling party’s campaign to vilify and malign the religious minorities in the country
Asad Mirza
LIKE all the previous years, 2024 was no different for the country’s minorities, particularly the religious minorities like Christians and Muslims. As 2024 was an election year, it was erroneously thought by the saner elements in the country that hopefully this year the targeted victims of alleged state-sponsored violence against minorities might get a respite. But they were proven wrong.
In the months leading to the general elections, a completely vicious and one-sided campaign against religious minorities was orchestrated by the right-wing elements with the tacit support of the local bureaucracy and the police.
In 2024, five states in particular, i.e. Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, were virtually turned into state-run laboratories to harass religious minorities. It seemed as if the script to target them was written by the top honchos and the task to deliver was given over to lesser-known right-wing outfits.
A cacophonic storm was started in Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla against a local mosque claiming it to be an encroachment and built illegally, even though the mosque committee had all the relevant documents to prove the ownership and sanctions by the concerned authorities to add additional floors to it. But when goons usurp state power, who cares about the evidence and sane advice? This concerted action against the Muslims in the state led to their further ostracisation where Muslims were asked to leave different localities in several towns and cities of the state.
On the same lines, a doctor couple was urged by the right-wing elements to cancel the sale of their house to a Muslim couple, in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, as the locals claimed that this sale would vitiate the atmosphere of the colony. A parallel effect of this thinking has been noticed across several metros in the country where small and big builders have started constructing gated communities for a particular religious community adorned with a temple and where buyers from other religious communities are not entertained.
The same script was played yet again in New Delhi when several old mosques and graveyards were served notices alleging illegal encroachment, and despite clear judicial orders, the bulldozer justice was exercised by the local authorities. And the people who shed crocodile tears on issues close to their hearts were not ready to either condemn and stop the local administration’s activities when such activities were taking place right there in the national capital. As in such cases their lips, eyes and ears seemed to be closed, as if they were in a trance and engaged in a meditational exercise. Since they had claimed themselves to be non-biological, they could indeed adopt a non-worldly attitude.
As if the replay of the old scripts was not enough, the central government brought in a constitutional amendment bill to manage the Waqf properties of the Muslim community. This was done although these properties were donated by Muslims for the welfare of the community and over the years no government had interfered in their day-to-day management. But to counter the anti-bill narrative, a false account was woven utilising WhatsApp and other social media platforms to spread canards against the Muslim community and Waqf properties.
Another face of right-wing politics taking firm roots in the political landscape of the country was evident when different political parties announced their candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Though, the BJP’s allergy to Muslim candidates is self-explanatory even the so-called secular parties were not ready to give tickets to Muslim candidates proportionate to their population.
The result was all glaring when the 18th Lok Sabha was constituted with the lowest share of Muslim MPs in the last six decades. Less than 5% of its members currently are Muslims despite people from the community forming over 15% of the country’s population. In total, there are currently 24 Muslim MPs (4.4%) in the Lok Sabha.
The party with the most elected members in 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has no representatives from the Muslim community currently. The decline in the share of Muslim MPs in the Lok Sabha, in the 1990s, coincided with the rise of the BJP, whose total MP tally crossed the 100-mark for the first time in the 10th Lok Sabha (1991-96).
Moreover, during the election campaign the country’s prime minister instead of talking about the success of his so-called development programmes, reflected in his jumlas, propelled by his government’s social and economic boost, chose to speak on completely fabricated charges against the Muslim community and the opposition, viz, that if the Congress party came to power, it would distribute the country’s wealth among Muslims; he also warned people that the Congress would take away their possessions – such as the bridal necklace, or mangalsutra – of Hindu women and give it to its “vote bank” i.e. the Muslims; he further claimed that the opposition Congress party was planning to take away job reservations from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and give them to Muslims; additionally, he said that the opposition alliance is asking Muslims to do ‘vote Jihad’.
It was wishfully or rather erroneously expected that after BJP’s return to power, the hate speeches and hate campaign against the religious minorities would be forsaken by the right-wing elements, but again the hopes were belied. In just two months i.e. August and September 2024, there were 135 violent attacks on religious minorities and close to 68 hate speeches were delivered against them.
In the second half of the year, the right-wing elements found another ploy to harass the Muslim community. They initiated a campaign alleging that hundreds of mosques across the country including the ones at Varanasi, Mathura and even Delhi’s Jama Masjid have been built on demolished temples and urged the courts to order their excavation. The worst result of this canard was evident in Sambhal, where the police action against Muslims protesting the excavation of the Shahi Jama Masjid resulted in the death of five Muslims.
An end to this insane campaign was laid when the Supreme Court in its order of 12 December directed courts across the country not to entertain or pass orders in any new suits or pleas seeking surveys of mosques to determine whether temples exist beneath them. The court further restrained lower courts from passing any orders in existing suits concerning such disputes, effectively freezing surveys pending further directions.
But it remains to be seen how long this restrain may continue, as the Supreme Court itself in April 2023 and earlier in October 2022 had urged the relevant authorities to take Suo Motu action against the culprits who indulge in hate speeches and file FIRs against the culprits. Yet, despite those orders hate speeches continued to dominate the election campaign and at a conservative estimate around 200 hate speeches were delivered by the right-wing leaders in 2024 alone.
It was not as if this treatment was reserved just for Muslims; according to a report by the United Christian Forum, 745 cases of hate and violence were committed against the country’s Christian community by right-wing Hindu activists across India.
At the fag-end of the year, on the occasion of Christmas, the old story was repeated and several incidents of Santa Claus being targeted by the right-wing elements were reported from several states of the country.
Overall, it seems that hate has been able to entrench itself in the Indian political ecosystem and until and unless a cohesive action plan is not put in motion by the government and its efforts augmented to rein in the right-wing elements, nothing better could be expected even in 2025. It seems that hate has become the fait accompli of the country’s religious minorities to further a polarising and divisive political agenda.
—–
Asad Mirza is a New Delhi-based senior journalist and a media consultant. The views expressed here are the author’s personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them. He can be contacted at asad.mirza.nd@gmail.com
