Court orders demolition of 4000 houses in Muslim-majority area
In a shocking mass violation of human rights, the High Court of Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttarakhand state has ordered the demolition of 4,365 buildings in a Muslim-dominated area in a militarized eviction drive, which will force 4,500 families out of the homes they’ve lived in for nearly 8 decades. Hindu supremacist authorities have announced that bulldozers will “pounce on encroachers” while overseen by 7,000 police officers and 15 paramilitary groups.
The court attempted to justify this mass eviction drive under the blatantly false claim that the families were “unauthorized occupants” living on “encroached” land belonging to the Indian Railways. However, the residents have electricity connections, house taxes, and other residential credentials, exposing this drive as an attack on vulnerable Muslim families.
Amid outrage from opposition parties and civil rights groups, thousands of Muslims have taken to the streets to protest the BJP’s latest move to inflict suffering on Muslim families.
In recent years, bulldozers have become a weapon in the hands of Hindu supremacist governments across India to destroy the homes and livelihoods of the Muslim community.
Opposition urges Vatican to take note of state-sponsored persecution of Christians
A prominent opposition party, the Trinamool Congress, has urged the Vatican to raise the issue of attacks on churches in BJP-ruled Assam state and the state-sponsored persecution of Christians during its diplomatic fora with the Indian government.
The party’s statement comes after an invasive order by the Assam government seeking information on the number of churches in the region, along with details of people involved in religious conversions. Such information can be used to mass incarcerate Christians under false allegations of converting Hindus to Christianity.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale warned of India’s heightened persecution of Christians in a letter to Reverend Leopoldo Girelli, Apostolic Nuncio to India, Embassy of the Holy See of Vatican.
In the letter, Gokhale stated that the BJP government in the state has institutionalized the persecution and targeting of Christians and churches using state machinery and intelligence agencies to deny Christians the right to practice their faith and target those who wish to embrace Christianity.
Anti-Christian attacks have surged in the past month, with Hindu supremacists forcibly converting Christians, beating them, and destroying places of worship in an ongoing crisis in Chhattisgarh state.
Hindu extremist paramilitary organization to expand women’s wing
Members of the notorious Hindu extremist paramilitary organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have announced plans to expand their women’s wing and further spread their fascist ideology.
The RSS claimed that the outreach of the Hindu supremacist group is growing, with 3,500 women attending regular sessions in the city of Delhi alone. 2,700 such sessions are regularly held across the country and they see a regular attendance of at least 6000 members.
Recently, the chief of the RSS, Mohan Bhagwat, said that every village in India should have a branch of the organization.
RSS has been criticized by international human rights organizations as an extremist and fascist organization whose members have participated in anti-Muslim violence. The RSS, along with other Hindu supremacist organizations, has been involved in mob lynchings, mosque and church demolitions, riots, and other attacks on Christians and Muslims.
