Hindu extremism targeting Muslims, Christians and other religious believers has been growing in India, but does the Western elites care?
In a video on YouTube featuring a conference of right-wing Hindu activists and monks in India last month, Pooja Shakun Pandey, a leader of Hindu Mahasabha, a group that espouses militant Hindu nationalism, called on her supporters to kill Muslims and "protect" the country. "If 100 of us are ready to kill two million of them, then we will win and make India a Hindu nation. Be ready to kill and go to jail!" she said.
She was not the sole Hindu activist who called for "a genocide" against Muslims during that meeting. With enmity and violence toward Muslims rising, there have been signs of impending "genocide" of Muslims in India. Articles discussing whether India is headed for an anti-Muslim "genocide" are also increasingly appeared on media.
India's Muslim communities have faced decades of discrimination, which experts say has worsened under the Hindu nationalist BJP-led government. "The Modi administration took many measures including scrapping the autonomous status of the Indian-administered Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state, and passing the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was dubbed as an anti-Muslim law. These moves have catered to the demands of Hindu nationalists and fueled their arrogance," Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times.
Liu also warned that with less than a month to go before assembly elections in the five states, it's likely the BJP will further incite anti-Muslim sentiment to attract voters.
Amid rising Hindu extremism, the situation of Indian Muslims, Christians and other minority religious groups has become increasingly difficult. It is ridiculous that Western countries, especially the US, which have always claimed to care about human rights, don't care so much about status of minority religious groups in India. They even praise India as an example of good democracy. India was a guest during the so-called democracy summit held by the US in December 2021. In July 2021, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Indian democracy is "a force for good in defense of a free and open Indo-Pacific and a free and open world." Some US politicians who often talk about Muslims' rights, such as Marco Rubio and Chris Smith, have sealed their lips on the treatment of Muslim in India.
US politicians and elites are aware of what is happening in India. But considering India's important position in the world's geo-strategic landscape, especially its role in counterbalancing China, the Biden administration, although lauds itself as human rights defender, has selectively ignored these issues and chosen to strengthen military and political ties with India.
"The US and the West have not paid enough attention to the Muslim issue in India, because the US policy toward India is mainly to win over New Delhi in the Indo-Pacific Strategy and use India to contain China. To achieve this goal, everything else can be ignored," Liu said. He also stressed that the US will regard the Muslim issue as a bargaining chip in its further relations with India. If necessary, Washington will use the Muslim issue as a tool to pressure the Modi administration to coordinate with the US and serve the US' strategic needs, Liu emphasized.
As long as India can serve the US' strategic interests, the situation and sufferings of Muslims and other ethnic religious minorities in India won't be a big concern for Washington. On the Muslim issue, the US has blatantly adopted double standards. As the US is concocting lies about the so-called suppression of Muslims in countries it regards as "a thorn in the eye," it also deliberately ignores the real Muslim crisis happening in its "like-minded countries." At the upcoming US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, will the US raise the Muslim issue to the Indian guests?
In a video on YouTube featuring a conference of right-wing Hindu activists and monks in India last month, Pooja Shakun Pandey, a leader of Hindu Mahasabha, a group that espouses militant Hindu nationalism, called on her supporters to kill Muslims and "protect" the country. "If 100 of us are ready to kill two million of them, then we will win and make India a Hindu nation. Be ready to kill and go to jail!" she said.
She was not the sole Hindu activist who called for "a genocide" against Muslims during that meeting. With enmity and violence toward Muslims rising, there have been signs of impending "genocide" of Muslims in India. Articles discussing whether India is headed for an anti-Muslim "genocide" are also increasingly appeared on media.
India's Muslim communities have faced decades of discrimination, which experts say has worsened under the Hindu nationalist BJP-led government. "The Modi administration took many measures including scrapping the autonomous status of the Indian-administered Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state, and passing the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was dubbed as an anti-Muslim law. These moves have catered to the demands of Hindu nationalists and fueled their arrogance," Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times.
Liu also warned that with less than a month to go before assembly elections in the five states, it's likely the BJP will further incite anti-Muslim sentiment to attract voters.
Amid rising Hindu extremism, the situation of Indian Muslims, Christians and other minority religious groups has become increasingly difficult. It is ridiculous that Western countries, especially the US, which have always claimed to care about human rights, don't care so much about status of minority religious groups in India. They even praise India as an example of good democracy. India was a guest during the so-called democracy summit held by the US in December 2021. In July 2021, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Indian democracy is "a force for good in defense of a free and open Indo-Pacific and a free and open world." Some US politicians who often talk about Muslims' rights, such as Marco Rubio and Chris Smith, have sealed their lips on the treatment of Muslim in India.
US politicians and elites are aware of what is happening in India. But considering India's important position in the world's geo-strategic landscape, especially its role in counterbalancing China, the Biden administration, although lauds itself as human rights defender, has selectively ignored these issues and chosen to strengthen military and political ties with India.
"The US and the West have not paid enough attention to the Muslim issue in India, because the US policy toward India is mainly to win over New Delhi in the Indo-Pacific Strategy and use India to contain China. To achieve this goal, everything else can be ignored," Liu said. He also stressed that the US will regard the Muslim issue as a bargaining chip in its further relations with India. If necessary, Washington will use the Muslim issue as a tool to pressure the Modi administration to coordinate with the US and serve the US' strategic needs, Liu emphasized.
As long as India can serve the US' strategic interests, the situation and sufferings of Muslims and other ethnic religious minorities in India won't be a big concern for Washington. On the Muslim issue, the US has blatantly adopted double standards. As the US is concocting lies about the so-called suppression of Muslims in countries it regards as "a thorn in the eye," it also deliberately ignores the real Muslim crisis happening in its "like-minded countries." At the upcoming US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, will the US raise the Muslim issue to the Indian guests?
