HATE, THREAT & VIOLENCE: Modi Victory Emboldens Right-wing Goons
Soon after the Narendra Modi-led BJP secured an emphatic victory in the parliamentary election, reports about targeting of Muslims and dalits started trickling in from various parts of the country. The second consecutive win for the BJP, riding on a narrative built around communal nationalist jingoism, has emboldened right-wing goons and vigilantes.
Mohammed Barkat Alam experienced it first-hand in Gurgaon. On May 25, two days after the Lok Sabha election results were declared, a group of men accosted Alam when he was returning from a mosque after evening prayers. He was assaulted and asked to remove his skull cap and chant Jai Shri Ram. Hailing from Begusarai in Bihar, Alam worked as a tailor in Gurgaon.
Narrating the incident to the media, Alam said, “Four men on a motorcycle and two pedestrians intercepted me. One of the pedestrians hit me with a stick and told me that I was not allowed to wear a skullcap in the area. He told me to take it off. I told him that I was returning from the mosque. When I refused, he hit me and forcibly took the cap off. He said that if I resisted too much, he would make me chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’.”…
SEE ALSO:
- Facebook in India Is Drowning in Anti-Muslim Hate Speech (Jun 12, 2019, Vice News)
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/mb8xxb/facebook-in-india-is-drowning-in-anti-muslim-hate-speech - Poverty, Unemployment Behind Rising Communal Violence in MP: Civil Society Organisations (Jun 10, 2019, News Click)
https://www.newsclick.in/poverty-unemployment-rising-communal-violence-MP-civil-society-organisations - What Girish Karnad Told Gauri Lankesh As the Saffron Army Laid Siege to Bababudangiri (Jun 11, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/culture/girish-karnad-gauri-lankesh - 86% of Internet users being duped by fake news, says survey (Jun 12, 2019, The Hindu)
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/86-of-internet-users-being-duped-by-fake-news-says-survey/article27891006.ece
