Home Minister Amit Shah orders all states to detain, deport “illegal migrants”
The Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) home minister Amit Shah has ordered top intelligence officials to detect, detain and deport “illegal migrants” in each state, and continue with the targeted crackdown even if the neighboring countries do not accept them.
In a meeting on November 9, Shah tasked the officials to identify around 100 “infiltrators” in each state, check their documents, and arrest them.
The draconian crackdown is a direct attack on the vulnerable Muslim community, who are not protected by fast-tracked citizenship privileges offered by the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Shah has continually flagged an influx of “illegal migrants”, or “infiltrators”, in the country, in keeping with the Hindu supremacist agenda of denying citizenship rights to Muslims. Hindu supremacists in states like Assam have been agitating for decades to deport Bengali-origin Muslims, refusing to recognize millions of Bengali-origin communities as Indian citizens.
Leading watchdog organization Genocide Watch has categorized attempts to dehumanize minorities and attack them based on their citizenship status as one of the early stages of genocide.
Over 8000 classrooms in Karnataka to be painted saffron to symbolize Hinduism
The Hindu supremacist BJP-ruled Karnataka state has announced that 8,100 classrooms in the state will be painted saffron, a color that is holy in Hinduism but has been co-opted by extremists as a symbol of support for Hindu supremacism. The move is a direct blow to secularism in the school system, prioritizing the expression of Hinduism while criminalizing the hijab and other Muslim practices.
Opposition leaders have slammed the move, pointing out that schools lack basic infrastructures like toilets and hygienic drinking water. Members of the Congress party have demanded that the BJP focus on improving teaching methods instead of spending money on repainting classrooms in a way that will further marginalize Muslim, Christian, and Sikh students.
Recently, the Karnataka government instructed schools and pre-university colleges in the state to ensure mandatory 10-minute meditation sessions, known as ‘dhyan’ in Hinduism, for all students regardless of their faith.
The openly Hindu supremacist moves by the BJP come as a blow to the Muslim community, which has faced harassment and threats of violence over hijabi students demanding their right to wear their religious dress in schools.
BJP lawmaker threatens to bulldoze “dome-shaped” structures in public places
A BJP leader in Karnataka, Pratap Simha, has threatened to raze down “dome-shaped” structures in bus shelters in Mysuru city because they look like mosques.
“If there is a big dome structure with two small domes on either side, it is considered a mosque. I have given three to four days’ deadline to the concerned engineers to demolish the structures,” Simha said at a public event.
“If they don’t demolish them, I will take a [bulldozer] myself and bring them down,” he added.
He went on to say that all public structures should symbolize devotion towards a Hindu deity, indicating the hypocrisy and double standards shown by the BJP towards displays of Hinduism versus Islam.
Leader of now-banned Muslim outfit to be shifted to hospital from prison
A Delhi court on Monday directed jail authorities to admit prominent Muslim leader and founder chairman of now-banned Muslim outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) E Abubacker to the hospital over his deteriorating health.
The 70-year-old Muslim leader is currently in Delhi’s Tihar jail, booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which allows the Indian government to label individuals as terrorists.
In his petition, the former PFI leader said that he is suffering from serious medical ailments, including a rare form of cancer – gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma – and Parkinson’s disease.
Abubacker has been in judicial custody since October 6. This is the first time he has been arrested in three decades of his political leadership.
Modi’s Hindu supremacist government on September 27 banned the PFI, a prominent Muslim organization. Over 350 people have been arrested in dozens of raids since then.
Human rights activists and Muslim groups called the ban “arbitrary.”
Supreme Court refuses to stay proceedings against Muslim politician
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging a lower court’s order, which refused to stay criminal proceedings against Muslim politician Tahir Hussain in a case of Delhi’s anti-Muslim violence.
Hussain was arrested after Hindu extremist mobs carried out days of mass violence against Muslims in February 2020, killing at least 35 Muslims, wounding hundreds, and rendering thousands homeless after burning down their properties.
A civil society-led fact-finding team, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, concluded that the police and Hindu mobs had collaborated to carry out that violence. Nonetheless, the Delhi court has decided that Hussain and other Muslims were responsible for violence against Muslims.
Human rights bodies across the globe including UN Rights and Opposition parties in India condemned the arrests and demanded a fair probe into the violence.
