Thousands of Muslims evicted in ongoing militarized demolitions in Assam state
Thousands of families, the majority of them Muslim, were forcibly evicted from their homes in a militarized eviction drive ordered by the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Assam state government.
Around 12,000 people were evicted from nearly 1,900 hectares of land, in a clear, bigoted attempt to target Assam’s vulnerable Muslim villagers. The demolitions took place in the presence of over 1,700 paramilitary and police personnel with around 100 bulldozers and excavators.
Residents say the officials had stated that the eviction would begin on February 20, but started it earlier without any warning.
Assam has a disturbing track record of targeting Muslim-majority areas where families are already living in poverty, bulldozing their homes, and denying them their rights as Indian citizens simply because they do not have the means to obtain identification cards or paperwork.
In September 2021, a violent eviction drive aimed at driving mainly Bengali-speaking Muslims out of their homes left 800 families homeless and 4 religious structures destroyed. Two people were killed by police in the raid, one of them a 12-year-old boy.
Hindu extremist leader calls for mass violence against Muslims in Chattisgarh state
As part of a growing trend of genocidal hate speech across India, a Hindu supremacist leader made open calls for mass violence against Muslims during a public rally in Chattisgarh state.
In a video of the event, which has been widely shared on social media, Deepak Tarachand Sahu, leader of the Hindu supremacist group Sahu Samaj, claimed that Muslims do not belong in India and that Hindus should wage war against them.
“This country does not belong to Mullas and Qazis [Muslims]…This is Hanuman’s [Hindu deity] country. There is no space for mullahs and Qazis [Muslims] here. This is the land of our gods and goddesses. Here we will worship our gods and goddesses,” he said.
“I appeal to you that this speech should not just be limited to this stage. The war has now begun and this should not be stopped,” he added.
After BBC expose on Modi, government raids continue for 2nd day at BBC offices
Despite outrage from human and civil rights groups, Indian tax officials’ raids at BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai continued for a second day in an ongoing attempt to punish the media outlet for broadcasting a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Authorities stormed the BBC offices while over 100 employees were present, seizing accounts, financial documents, and phones.
As global outrage increases, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated that Washington supports “the importance of free press around the world” with regards to the raids.
The Modi regime has repeatedly weaponized tax authorities against critics of the government and Hindu supremacism. In 2020, Amnesty International was forced to shut its India offices after similar raids, while the Editor’s Guild of India and Oxfam have also been subjected to searches.
