Who promotes hatred, revenge, rape, and anger against Muslims in India?

While the mob under the leadership of Hindus belonging to RSS and BJP were moving towards the house of young nine-year-old Azra, the entire family of 10 was trying to locate a safe place in their own home to save it from those who were also its neighbors.  They found kitchen a safe place to hide, but the mob broke open the door and killed members of the family between the ages of 7 and 70. Azra was attacked. Her stomach was slashed with a sickle and her hand chopped. Those who attacked here were all Hindus.

Now she is in Delhi’s prestigious All India Medical Institute and the doctors are keen that she stays in the hospital until she fully recovers. The Majority of the doctors who are dedicated to saving her are Hindus.

This incident took place in September in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. But incidents like these fill the pages of human history. In every community, there are people who are the saviors and there are those who are killers. We are neither born as saviors nor as killers. What makes us what we are and how we behave? Who whispers in our consciousness that we must kill or we must save a human life? Why those who are generally perceived as decent people in society, all of a sudden, act in a manner that betrays their humanity and why others act in a manner totally different than theirs.

One can blame whoever one wants to blame, but someone has to take the responsibility of creating a climate where these brutal acts are played out. We have to admit that there are people and groups who thrive on hatred, anger, and revenge. They attack everyone who is not like them and give a message to their followers that the life of the other is not worth respecting. Thus, at any opportunity they get, they do the unthinkable because they are convinced in their mind that the other has no right to live.

In India, the Rashtriya Swayam Sangh (RSS), the Hindu Vishwa Parishad (HVP), the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena (SS), the Bajrang Dal (BD) and other outfits associated with these organizations have created a climate of hate on the basis of their biased and distorted narratives of history and society. Contrary to historical facts, they have convinced their followers that the past Muslim rulers of India were brutal to their Hindu community, who encouraged forcible conversion, destruction of temples, raping of women, and the humiliation of non-Muslims in general. They have propagated a false narrative of history that tells the zealots that a Muslim emperor by the name of Aurangzeb used to kill hundreds of Brahmin a day to please his God or Muslim rulers turned most Hindu places of worship into mosques. They have falsely relayed the message that Muslims were responsible for the division of the country and that Muslims desecrate Hindu traditions by slaughtering cows, a symbol of their faith. In fact, cow slaughtering is banned in India except in West Bengal and Kerala. Thus, they have erroneously concluded that the Muslim community in India is an enemy and deserves the same that was done to Hindus by Muslim rulers in the past. They have created hatred and anger against Muslims and they have prepared their followers to commit the most brutal unthinkable acts against people who are projected an enemy". It is this false propaganda the forces of hatred use against Muslims to rally their supporters."

Many of India’s textbooks taught at private and public schools contain these messages. In places of worship, the message is repeated and in political rallies, the sentiments against Muslims are provoked. Obviously, anger and hatred explode at the smallest possible opportunity. 

Not a single day passes without Muslims being told by these groups that they are anti-national and anti-Hindu and they deserve to be uprooted. It’s this climate of hatred that prepares mobs to commit mass rape and mass murder and other brutal unthinkable crimes. It is this climate that created Gujarat massacres and Muzaffarabad killings.

Unfortunately, this brutality and savagery is on the rise. The information that is being circulated by the RSS sponsored or inspired group is all over and not only the Muslim community but the faith of Islam has been demonized. That explains the reason behind the nomination of Narendra Modi for the post of prime minister by the RSS political front BJP, a man who presided the state that witnessed the worst acts of violence against Muslims in independent India. His candidacy is a slap on the face of the nation and an effort to legitimize hatred, anger, and revenge.

But then there are Hindus who do not identify with this philosophy of hatred. They have raised their voices but they lack mass appeal to their message. RSS has penetrated India’s rural areas and its members occupy important positions in India’s army, police, national guards, bureaucracy, educational academy, financial institutions, and relief agencies. It wants to consolidate its power in Delhi and it is willing to do anything about that, even if it means instigating mobs to chop as many heads and hands as it can. The danger is real and not imaginary. Indians, including Muslims, must be prepared to face this danger. What should the Muslim strategy stop the onslaught of RSS is the topic of another article that I intend to pen next?