By: IBRAHIM Jaafar
A leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila Morcha, Sunita Singh Gaur, in Uttar Pradesh’s Ramkola, has reportedly been removed from her position after she posted on Facebook “There is only one solution for them (Muslims). Hindu brothers should make a group of 10 and gang rape their (Muslims) mothers and sisters openly on the streets and then hang them in the middle of the bazaar for others to see,” Gaur’s post in Hindi says.
She goes on to say that Muslim mothers and sisters should have their “honour looted” as there is “no other way” to “protect India”.
The comment has since been deleted and The Wire was unable to ascertain the exact date of the comment. Screenshots of the post have since gone viral on social media.
According to the press release Rahatkar tweeted, Gaur was removed from her post on June 27.
While this would not be the first time BJP leaders have been accused of propagating hate online or offline, the fact that a Mahila Morcha leader was instigating rape and gruesome sexual violence shocked many on social media.
This wasn't an isolated case. There have been several instances where members of the BJP party have openly supported religious violence and/or its perpetrators, showing a blatant disregard for those who have suffered. The party espouses a Hindu nationalist ideology and some of its senior figures call for a Hindu state.
A group of men accused of beating 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq to death with bricks in 2015 because they suspected him of killing a cow, were spotted at an election rally held by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The controversial BJP politician, who was ordered by India's election commission to suspend campaigning for a few days last 2 months over his anti-Islam rhetoric, often shares the stage with Mr Modi.
Most recently, Jayant Sinha, the civil aviation minister who sits in Mr Modi's cabinet, told the BBC that he had funded the legal fees for a group of men who were given the death penalty for killing a Muslim cattle trader in 2017.
A February 2019 report from Human Rights Watch found that between May 2015 and December 2018, at least 44 people - 36 of them Muslims - were killed across 12 Indian states. Around 280 people were injured in more than 100 incidents across 20 states over the same period.
In her annual report, United Nations Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet raised concerns over "increasing harassment and targeting of minorities - in particular, Muslims and people from historically disadvantaged and marginalized groups."
It is worthy to note that those who wield power in today's India are embracing a culture of impunity.
One of the most chilling examples was what happened in the aftermath of one of the most gruesome gang rapes in India in recent years.
In January last year, an eight-year-old Muslim girl was taking the family's horses to graze, when she was kidnapped in Kathua district in Indian-administered Kashmir. Held captive for a week in a Hindu temple, she was drugged and repeatedly gang raped and tortured before she was murdered.
In the aftermath of the eight-year-old girl's death, hundreds took to the streets and marched. But many of the local protests were in support of the eight Hindu men charged with the gruesome attack, and not in solidarity with the victim and her family.
Two BJP ministers serving in the state government, Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, were among those who took to the streets to support the alleged perpetrators.
A Muslim youth, Sanaullah Sheikh, who was beaten up by a mob in Malda district in WestBengal on Friday 31st of July this year, died of his injuries later. Locals alleged that Bappa Ghosh a BJP guy led the mob.
These attacks and others, numerous to mention are indications that the hindu mobs are only acting on the teachings and directions by their leaders to lynch and maim Muslims.
Thus, with an increase in hate crimes against Muslims in India in recent years, the country is becoming dangerously intolerant under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)...and, for how long would this go on?
A law that segregates and protects the majority over her minority is an unjust law. Action needs to be taken to curb these barbaric actions.
The Muslims may just be a fraction but their safety of life and religion must be ascertained by the state or otherwise the Muslims.