“Your Silence Is Deafening”: Over 100 Ex-Bureaucrats Write Open Letter To Modi
Over 100 former civil servants wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, slamming him for his silence in the face of extreme anti-Muslim hatred in India.
“We are witnessing a frenzy of hate filled destruction in the country where at the sacrificial altar are not just Muslims and members of the other minority communities but the Constitution itself,” said the letter.
“As former civil servants, it is not normally our want to express ourselves in such extreme terms, but the relentless pace at which the [Constitution] is being destroyed compels us to speak out and express our anger and anguish,” the letter added.
“Your silence, in the face of this enormous societal threat, is deafening,” the letter said.
The letter was co-signed by prominent individuals, including former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, ex-foreign secretary Sujatha Singh, and former home secretary G K Pillai.
Indian Army Deletes Iftar Photo After Hindu Extremist Leader Calls Secularism A ‘Disease’
The Indian army’s public relations officer caved to Hindu extremist attacks on Muslim representation by deleting photos it had posted to its Twitter, which showed an iftar gathering as well as Indian officers offering prayers alongside Muslim residents.
In response to the tweet, Suresh Chavhanke, a vitriolic Hindu supremacist and Sudarshan News editor-in-chief, criticized secularism as being a “disease.”
“Has this sickness now spread to the Indian army too? Sad,” he tweeted.
Following Chavhanke’s harassment, the army’s public relations officer deleted the photos, demonstrating how even official government entities have caved to the hateful ideology of Hindu supremacists.
Hindu Extremist Group Makes Plan To Hold Hindu Ritual In Muslim Area Before Eid
A group of Hindu extremists in Uttar Pradesh state announced plans to hold an all-night Hindu ritual, known as a jagran, in a Muslim area of Meerut city on the night before the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of Ramadan. The group, led by a Hindu extremist priest, was recorded on video threatening to hold the jagran despite the fact that police explicitly told them they did not have permission to do so.
“No permission is given for you to hold the Jagran. However, you are free to do as you wish,” a police inspector can be heard saying as the priest threatens him.
“I will conduct the Jagran regardless of whether permission is granted or not,” the priest said.
The threat to disrupt Muslim holidays follows a wave of extreme anti-Muslim violence across India during a number of Hindu festivals, which saw mobs of armed Hindu extremists attacking Muslim properties and mosques, chanting genocidal slogans, and sparking violence.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani & Prominent Indians Call On Secular Forces To Take A Stance
Arfa Khanum Sherwani, senior editor of Indian media outlet ‘The Wire,’ called on India’s secular forces and the progressive Hindu community to take a strong stance against anti-Muslim hatred.
“It is the duty of the Hindu community now to condemn those who are committing atrocities against the minorities in the name of Hinduism,” Sherwani said. “Muslims alone cannot fight the communal forces… [Hindus must distance themselves from the narrative of hatred being peddled by the communal forces in the name of Hinduism.”
Apoorvanand, a political analyst and Hindi professor at the University of Delhi, also slammed the silence of supposedly progressive Hindu Indians.
“There are some people in the Hindu community who are helping the communal polarization by their stoic silence,” he said. “In order to fight the communal forces, the people must oppose these forces on every level even when somebody is expressing hatred in the confines of their drawing room, we must stop them.”
Calling the recent bulldozing of Muslim houses by the BJP “ a murder of constitution and law,” Atul Kumar Anjaan, a senior leader of the Congress Party of India, called on secular forces to work “against the evil of majority or minority communalism.”
Muslim Law Board Slams Uttarakhand’s Move To Implement Uniform Civil Code
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) released a statement slamming BJP-ruled Uttarakhand state’s move to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which mandates the formulation of a law that forces all religious communities to adhere to a common law in private matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance.
“The talk of adoption of Uniform Civil Code by the Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh governments or the Central government is just rhetoric and everyone knows that their purpose is to divert attention from issues such as rising inflation, falling economy, and growing unemployment,” said Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, AIMPLB General Secretary.
India’s current system gives communities the freedom to conduct their private matters according to their religious laws. Different faiths have different codified laws, including the Hindu Marriage Act, Indian Christian Marriages Act, and the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act. Muslim personal laws are based on religious texts and are not codified. Implementing the UCC would force minority communities to adhere to a common law dictated by a largely extremist majority.
“The Uniform Civil Code issue has been brought up to divert attention from real issues and promote an agenda of hatred and discrimination. This anti-constitutional move is not acceptable to Muslims at all. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board strongly condemns this and urges the government to refrain from such actions,” said Rahmani.
