Hindu Extremists Attack Muslim Meat Sellers In Karnataka, Non-Veg Food Banned In Pune
Five Hindu extremists were arrested for brutally attacking a Muslim meat shop owner and his employee in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district. Hindu extremists have been running hate campaigns against Muslim residents for months.
A group of extremists from the Hindu supremacist group Bajrang Dal went to a Muslim-owned shop and demanded non-halal chicken. “When [the shop owner] refused, they brutally assaulted and attacked the owner and laborer,” reported Twitter watchdog account Hate Watch Karnataka.
A video posted by the same account shows members of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad distributing leaflets that call for an economic boycott of Muslims and halal meat. The increased anti-Muslim hatred has been encouraged by senior members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who claim the sale of halal meat is “economic jihad.”
Similar bigoted policies have begun to spread across other parts of India, including in Pune city of Maharashtra state, where the Dehu Municipal Council unanimously passed a resolution banning the sale of fish and meat in the jurisdiction of Dehu town, “considering the sentiments of local residents.”
The Council further ordered that if any shops were selling meat, they should shut them down immediately or face police action. This bigoted policy directly targets Muslims, the primary sellers of meat in India.
Delhi High Court Refuses Interim Relief For Journalist Rana Ayyub
The Delhi High Court refused interim relief for acclaimed Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub after she filed a plea seeking permission to travel outside of the country. Earlier this week, Ayyub, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, was stopped at Indian immigration and blocked from boarding her flight to London due to a sudden summons issued against her by a federal probe agency.
Ayyub was scheduled to give a speech on the intimidation of journalists at an event organized by the International Center for Journalists (ICJ).
Justice Chandra Dhari Singh will hear the matter further on April 4. Justice Singh recently delivered a judgment in which he said that hate speech “while smiling” is no longer considered a criminal offense.
Karnataka Farmers Slams Communalism, Economic Boycott Against Muslims
As Hindu extremist groups and politicians grow increasingly bold in their hatred against Muslims in Karnataka, farmers in the state’s Belur district have slammed Hindu extremists for banning Muslims from doing business around Hindu temples.
“I condemn the weird entities which are trying to stop Muslims from doing business here. Muslims from ages have saved thousands of Hindus in Belur. They have [every right] to live along with us. They are our brothers. I am a farmer, without Muslims, I am nothing,” said one farmer in a viral video.
He added, “If you try to polarize here, then we will take serious action against it. Muslims, Hindus, Christians are living peacefully here.”
The condemnation comes just days after Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chief of India’s largest bio-pharmaceutical company, appealed to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to stop Karnataka from turning into a communal hub.
