BJP federal lawmaker calls for boycott of Muslims, state legislator for genocide
A state lawmaker in Delhi from India’s ruling Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday called for a genocide of Muslims and also appeared to confirm his involvement in mass violence against Muslims in Delhi in February 2020.
“We were accused of bringing 2,500 people to Delhi for that violence [in 2020]. We were there to teach them a lesson. We have killed jihadis and we always will kill them,” BJP member of Delhi’s legislative assembly, Nand Kishore Gujjar, said at a mass meeting organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu militant group.
“Those who spread terrorism in India and carry out violent acts will be dealt with. We must take an oath that such things will never happen again.”
Also speaking at the event, BJP’s member of Parliament Parvesh Verma called for a “total boycott” of Muslims.
“Wherever you see them [Muslims], if you want to set them straight there is only one solution — total boycott. Do you agree? Raise your hands if you agree,” Verma said.
“Say with me: We will boycott them. We will not buy anything from their shops, we will not employ them. Just do this, this is the solution.”
Instagram gives veto power to BJP leader to take down critical posts: The Wire
Instagram has given veto powers to a BJP leader to take down any content that is critical of the party or its governments, The Wire has reported.
Recently, Instagram took down a video of Uttar Pradesh resident Prabhakar Maurya worshipping a statue of state chief minister Yogi Adityanath, posted by the satirical anonymous account ‘Superhumans of Cringetopia’. Instagram said the post violated the platform’s ‘nudity and sexual content’ guidelines. But both the man and the idol in the video were fully clothed, and there was no visible sexual connotation whatsoever.
At the time, the administrators of the @cringearchivist handle – who refer to themselves as a group of academics and journalists – assumed that there was a mistake in the platform’s AI-run oversight mechanism, which had incorrectly flagged the post as portraying nudity.
Days after reporting on this confusing takedown, The Wire has learnt from a well-placed source at Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, that it was not, in fact, due to an algorithmic glitch. The post was taken down – and that too just minutes after it was posted – only because it was reported by Instagram user @amitmalviya. That’s the handle belonging to Amit Malviya, president of the BJP’s infamous IT Cell.
The internal Instagram report, which The Wire has accessed, makes clear that the reported post was taken down immediately without any of the company’s moderators looking at it, based simply on the identity of the reporter (Malviya). In fact, any post that Malviya reports is treated the same way – an immediate removal from the platform, no questions asked. Just in the month of September, the Meta source told The Wire, Malviya reported 705 posts on Instagram – all of which were taken down.
As The Wire has reported, @cringearchivist has seen seven of its posts removed by Instagram in the last few months. This, the administrators of the satirical account said, has forced them to go ‘private’ (only followers can see their posts), thereby limiting their growth and reach. Now, new followers have to fill a form before they are allowed to see the content posted on the page.
Delayed force deployment spiralled anti-Muslim violence in 2020: Independent probe
A civil society fact-finding committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur has concluded that the federal home ministry conspicuously delayed deploying additional forces in the violence-hit areas even as anti-Muslim violence raged during February 23-26, 2020.
The committee found that despite Delhi Police bosses receiving at least six internal alerts from the Special Branch and the Intelligence units on February 23 – the day when violence began – additional forces were deployed only on February 26. The alerts did warn that violence between the communities could escalate.
The alleged lackadaisical attitude shown by the home ministry indirectly helped the rioters go unchecked, organize better, and unleash targeted violence for three continuous days, the committee held.
After razing three Muslim homes, five more Muslim families served demolition notices
There seems to be no end to ‘bulldozer injustice’ in Madhya Pradesh state. A fresh set of demolition orders were issued to five houses belonging to Muslim families of Surjani village in the state’s Mandsaur district last week.
These orders came 48 hours after the homes of three other Muslim families of the village were razed over an allegation of stone pelting at a Hindu religious event.
The action came after the names of their family members surfaced amongst the 19 people who were named for allegedly instigating an attack on 32-year-old Shivlal Patidar and his friend outside the Hindu religious event. Their homes were demolished within 24 hours of serving notice.
