The recent wave of religious
violence in India and the resulting communal tensions present a worrying trend
not only for India, but for South Asia more broadly.
The recent wave of religious violence in India and the resulting communal
tensions present a worrying trend not only for India, but for South Asia more
broadly. In recent months, Indian Muslims and low caste Hindus in particular
have been the targets of multiple attacks by Hindu extremists for perceived
religious transgressions. The Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena has held
protests to shut down book launch events and music concerts, that posed a
challenge to their extremist ideology. Far from a fringe element, right-wing
Hindu nationalist groups like Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad appear to be gaining traction in mainstream Indian
politics. Left to continue, this trend not only threatens India’s plans for
economic growth and global influence, it poses a much more immediate threat to
regional peace as it reinforces dangerous Islamist narratives in Pakistan and
Bangladesh that posit an inherent conflict between Hindus and Muslims, and
sidelines progressive voices in those countries. Left unchecked, this new wave
of Hindu nationalism in India could spark a self-reinforcing cycle of
instability in the region.
Indian writers and intellectuals have recently been returning prestigious awards
in protest of what they are calling a “climate of intolerance.” Among the
incidents they cite is the killing of a 77 year old former vice chancellor of
Karnatak University, Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi, whose criticism of idol
worship and superstition angered right-wing Hindu groups such as the Bajrang Dal,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Sri Rama Sene. In September, a 50-year old Muslim man
in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was lynched by an angry mob suspected of
slaughtering a cow (considered sacred by Hindus) and consuming beef. His son was
also beaten and remains in critical condition.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been strongly criticized for remaining silent
in the face of this growing number of religiously motivated attacks. Last month,
Modi finally spoke out about this wave of intolerance, but his remarks were
tepid at best, calling the lynching of a Muslim man for eating beef
“unfortunate.” Modi’s lackluster response to terrorism cloaked in religious
terms, draws many parallels to his time as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, which
witnessed the 2005 Hindu-Muslim riots in the state, claiming the lives of over
1,000 people, mostly Muslims. Then, as now, Modi’s silence is troubling.
Some have tried to paint Modi’s governing party, BJP, losing in the most recent
elections in one of India’s most populous states, Bihar, as a popular
repudiation of religious extremism. However, there is reason to believe that
this is based more in wishful thinking than political reality.
Shortly before the BJP suffered defeat to a coalition challenge in Bihar, they
were also defeated at the Kalyan-Dombivali civic polls by Shiv Sena, the
far-right Hindu nationalist party that was behind the October attack against the
head of an Indian think tank which hosted a book event for former Pakistani
Foreign Minister Kasuri. Shiv Sena’s sensational “ink attack” was quickly seized
upon in Pakistan, where the foreign ministry claimed the group represented
“Indian ambitions” in the region. Shiv Sena responded with glee, saying that
“Pakistan’s appeal from the international community against Shiv Sena is a stamp
on our pure nationalism.” As each side hardens, hopes for regional peace begin
to fade.
>> By contrast, the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and Bangladesh have given much
more outspoken responses to extremist violence in their countries. Pakistan’s
Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, recently declared that he would defend any
religious minority, especially those victimized by his country’s Muslim
majority. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, recently gave similar
assurances to religious minorities in her country while attending an event for
Duga Puja, the largest Hindu festival in Bangladesh.
>> Shortly after being elected Pakistan’s prime minister in 2013, Nawaz Sharif
spoke hopefully about his desire to pursue better relations with India. Riding
high on strong public support, it briefly looked like Nawaz might be able to
pull off something that had eluded his predecessor: boosting bilateral trade by
extending the Most-Favored Nation status to India. Hopes were quickly dashed,
though, as nationalist elements on both sides worked behind the scenes to derail
any deal. Since then, Pakistan-India relations have fallen to dangerous lows,
exacerbated in part by Pakistan’s refusal to prosecute jihadi militants from
Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa that are believed to be involved in terrorist
attacks in India; but also by Hindu extremists in India whose actions have
fueled Pakistani fears about Indian designs on regional hegemony. In a candid
speech at the Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad think-tank, former Indian Foreign
Minister Salman Khurshid lamented that while it was far-sighted of Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Modi,
Modi’s BJP-led government failed to seize on these overtures and pursue a path
to peace. Khurshid alleged Modi was still learning to be a statesman, and these
challenges to India’s secular ethos were deeply concerning and require real
leadership.
Unlike Pakistan, Bangladesh has been more successful in building closer ties
with India, but it too finds itself under attack by Islamists whose attempts to
discredit the government regularly include accusations that Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party are Indian puppets. Opposition parties,
including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, have a
history of undermining governments through allegations of collusion with the
Indians. More concerning, however, is the use of anti-Indianism by terrorist
groups such as al-Qa’ida whose literature includes a lengthy call to action for
jihad against the government of Bangladesh, accusing Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina and her secular Awami League party of trying to “eliminate every trace of
Islam” and turning Bangladesh into “an Indian outpost,” thus further calling on
local Muslims to “organize ourselves for a popular and inclusive intifada” to
replace the secular democratic government with an Islamist theocracy. Similar
rhetoric has also been used by Jamaat-e-Islami, whose Pakistani leader recently
accused Shiekh Hasina of “victimizing all those resisting Indian influence in
Bangladesh.”
Modi’s failure to quickly and forcefully condemn Hindu extremism is creating an
atmosphere of fear and insecurity for the nation’s religious minorities. It is
also empowering Islamist extremists by reinforcing their anti-Indian rhetoric,
adding to regional instability. As India is poised to have the largest
population of Muslims of any country in the world by 2020, religious extremism
presents an imminent threat not only to India’s internal stability, but to that
of its neighbors. It’s time for Modi to take a bold stand for religious
tolerance and communal harmony. By doing so, he can demonstrate the leadership
so desperately needed for repudiating divisiveness within his own borders, and
working to stabilize the region.
(Special thanks to SANA & MR.OLDMIXON For helping related this Column)