French Cartoons Row: India Backs Macron, Ignores Friends in Muslim World

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French President Emmanuel Macron gestures next to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a joint statement at the Chateau of Chantilly, near Paris, France August 22, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/Pool

‘We are very sorry to say that the government of our country has supported the position of France… This shows the intention of the government,’ says Maulana Arshad Madani

Shaheen Nazar | Clarion India

NEW DELHI – INDIA has cordial relations with France as well as various Muslim countries who have taken exception to President Emmanuel Macron’s highly objectionable statements against Islam while defending cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in the name of free speech.

Yet our government has decided to side with France.

In an official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday that India “strongly” deplores “the personal attacks in unacceptable language” on Macron. According to the statement, the language is “in violation of the most basic standards of international discourse”.

MEA’s statement is an obvious reference to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who said Macron needed a “mental health check” and accused him of running an anti-Islamic agenda. Erdogan also accused the entire West of attempts to “re-launch the Crusades” while Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned the world that insulting Prophet Muhammed might encourage “violence and bloodshed”.

Apparently, India’s decision is guided by the fact that Erdogan is leading the campaign against France and he is being backed by Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan – the two international leaders who have repeatedly attacked India over Jammu and Kashmir and alleged human rights violations. Currently, they are most hated in the corridors of power in Delhi.

But international relations are not unidirectional. Those in the North Block should also remember that most countries condemning the French leader and calling for boycott of French goods are India’s friends. Starting from Bangladesh to Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia all are our strong trade partners and our backers at international forums.

When a controversy is raging between two groups of India’s friends, it was advisable not to take sides. France may be an open society where making fun of religious figures is acceptable. But India is not. Ours is a multi-cultural and multi-religious society where Muslims constitute 14 percent of India’s total population.

Indian Muslims are equally outraged by the cartoons published again and again by Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine. As if to rub salt to the wounds, last week, the offending cartoons were projected onto government buildings in France.

The Modi government should have taken into consideration the sentiments of a large population within the country. Expressing solidarity with a foreign leader who is provoking Muslims may cause unrest within the country.

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind has already expressed displeasure at the government. “We are very sorry to say that the government of our country has supported the position of France, which means that it is supporting the law which hurts the religious sentiments of Muslims all over the world. This shows the intention of the government … and its view on 200 million Muslims? We think it would be better to remain silent than to support France’s position,” said Jamiat President Maulana Arshad Madani in a statement issued on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Maulana Mahmood Madani, General Secretary of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, condemned Macron. “The attitude of the French President is an act of terrorism. The entire international community accepts the fact that freedom of speech has its limitations; no one is allowed to exceed that limit,” he said.

Similarly, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind President Syed Sadatullah Hussaini said that Macron’s “emotional outbursts, baseless anti-Islamic allegations and Islamophobic statements had hurt Muslims and justice-loving people, all over the world”.

Statements by two of India’s leading Islamic organisations are reflective of the thinking in the community. If the Modi government does not properly handle this highly emotive issue, it may have its own domestic implications. Past governments, including the one led by Vajpayee, have been treading carefully in such matters.

The MEA statement has also condemned the beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty by an 18-year-old Chechen extremist. “We also condemn the brutal terrorist attack that took the life of a French teacher in a gruesome manner that has shocked the world. We offer our condolences to his family and the people of France. There is no justification for terrorism for any reason or under any circumstance.”

Fair enough. No one is justifying it. But is this act of brutality different from the one we in India have experienced post-2014? Series of lynching incidents in the name of cow protection has never been condemned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He rather remained consistent in not addressing the menace and his ministers met the lynching accused in jail and hosted and garlanded those convicted of the ghastly crime.

There are instances when MLAs and MPs of his party and leaders of VHP and Bajrang Dal defended and supported the lynching accused. In many cases, Hindutva activists led the lynch mobs.

theclarionindia
theclarionindiahttps://clarionindia.net
Clarion India - News, Views and Insights about Indian Muslims, Dalits, Minorities, Women and Other Marginalised and Dispossessed Communities.

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