India’s Ruling Party Lawmaker Says Hindus Should Boycott Muslims, Christians
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) condemns the open call for social boycott of India’s Muslims and Christians given by a legislator of the Hindu Rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh state.
Legislator Rameshwar Sharma told Hindu faithful at a religious gathering last week that they should keep away from “father and chador”.
Sharma’s reprehensible comments are part of the long-running campaign of hatred and exclusion practiced by the Rashtriya Swamaysevak Sangh (RSS), a self-styled social group that wants to convert India into a Hindu nation with second-class status for its minorities. BJP leader and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member of the RSS, as are his cabinet ministers.
Police Complicit In Hindu Extremist Assault On Pastors In Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
The IAMC condemns the continuing attacks by Hindu extremists on Christians. It has been disclosed this week that, five Christians, including three pastors, were attacked last month by Hindu militants, after being arrested by the police. Two were assaulted in Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by the BJP, and one in Chhattisgarh, which is ruled by the Congress Party.
It is absolutely unacceptable that the pastors were attacked by a Hindu mob inside a police station in Chhattisgarh, and yet the police stood by and did not protect the Christians. This has become a pattern in India, with Hindu extremists attacking Muslims and Christians at will while the police and the administration fail to protect the victims.
The Telegraph: India’s Human Rights Record Has Sharply Declined
The IAMC welcomes an editorial in The Telegraph, one of India’s leading and unbiased newspapers, saying that India’s human rights records has declined on Prime Minister Modi’s watch. Criticizing Modi’s claim that those who protest against human rights violations were doing so through a “political lens” in a “selective outrage,” the newspaper said the prime minister’s “conception of human rights is divided.”
The newspaper wrote that human rights cannot become “conditional” and “arbitrarily granted as concessions.” India’s human rights record has declined sharply in the world’s perception, the newspaper added.
