Muslims across India continue to fall victim to government-sanctioned harassment and hate crimes by extremist Hindu elements as well as discriminatory regulatory policies.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Since his rise to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi \u2013 a lifelong member of the hardline Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Hindu nationalist group \u2013 has emboldened extremist groups that view India as a Hindu nation and consider its 200-million-strong Muslim minority as a foreign threat.<\/p>\n
A recent string of lynchings of Muslims by Hindu mobs for the so-called cow protection as well as other hate crimes has cast fear and despair among the large community in India, according to local and international press reports.<\/p>\n
Several states across the country have proposed or enacted legislation criminalizing conversion to Islam and Christianity, including through marriage.<\/p>\n
A video emerged just this week from a recent gathering of right-wing Hindu groups in which some delegates purportedly called for Muslims to be killed.<\/p>\n
Reports further pointed to a gathering of Hindu \u201cprotesters\u201d in the suburban New Delhi city of Gurgaon during which they claimed that outdoor prayers held by Muslims pose a “security” risk, cause traffic problems and prevent children from playing cricket.<\/p>\n
Critics of Hindu extremist groups, however, insist that the real reason behind prayers outdoors is simply that Muslims have no place in Modi’s new intolerant India, where Hindu zealots are dictating government policy.<\/p>\n
Nearly 500,000 Muslims either live in Gurgaon or have migrated to the modern satellite city just outside of the capital New Delhi for work or labor during the day. The city has 15 mosques for the large Muslim community, but the local government has refused permission to build more — despite the growing number of Hindu temples there \u2013 forcing the Muslims to hold Friday prayers in open spaces.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Hindu groups have reportedly sprayed cow dung at Islamic prayer sites and labeled Muslim worshipers terrorists and Pakistanis — referencing India’s Muslim-majority neighbor.<\/p>\n
The local government, meanwhile, has steadily cut the number of approved sites to hold outdoor worship services.<\/p>\n
READ ALSO:\u00a0 Turkey arrested US diplomat for providing fake passport to a Syrian national<\/a><\/p>\n
Hate speech, call for violence<\/p>\n
“Forget swords\u2026 battle will be won by those with better weapons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n