What the Sangh Parivar is targeting during Ramadan
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The holy month of Ramadan is a month that the Muslim community worldwide eagerly awaits with hope every year. It is a time of fasting, seeking forgiveness for sorrows and mistakes, and immersing in prayers for a peaceful and blessed future life. The spirit and service-oriented nature of these days are not confined to any particular community. In India, a prominent nation with a significant Muslim population, Ramadan has also been a month of equality, friendship, and peace. Not long ago, it was common for people of other faiths to enthusiastically join their Muslim brothers in breaking their fasts, preparing meals for them, and helping the poor. The distribution of Zakat funds by local Zakat-Relief committees is based on human conditions, not religion, and is used to provide housing, livelihoods, and medical services to beneficiaries. From the areas near Delhi's Jama Masjid to Mumbai's Bindi Bazaar, Muhammad Ali Road, Lucknow's gates, Hyderabad's Charminar surroundings, Chennai's Triplicane, and Kerala's Mattancherry and Kozhikode, among other places, the unity, sharing, and vibrant diversity of flavours seen during these thirty days create a unique Ramadan vibe. This is not achieved by the community alone. In crowded trains where there is no space to stand, fellow passengers remind fasting travellers of the time to break their fast by offering water bottles, snack containers, and dates. The sweetness of this love and camaraderie cannot be matched, not even by the finest dates in the market.
For several years, a systematic conspiracy has been underway to alienate the Muslim community and push them into suffering, making these sights seem like mere tales. Provocation during festive processions, followed by violence, arson, and bulldozer demolitions, has been tested for the past two to three years. It seems as though India is borrowing tactics from the Zionist regime's persecution of Palestinians and their places of worship during Ramadan. Even this year, as Ramadan reaches its midpoint, numerous attempts to instil fear and insecurity in the Muslim community and sow discord in society have already occurred across various parts of the country.
Despite strong warnings from the country's highest court against bulldozer rule, the residents of Gomtipur, Gujarat, witnessed the crescent moon through teary eyes amidst the rubble of two mosques, homes, and shops demolished by the Ahmedabad municipality in the name of road development, without any prior notice.
In Raghunathgarh, Alwar, Rajasthan, police who stormed into a labourer's hut for a search without any notice, killed a one-month-old baby sleeping beside its mother by kicking it with their boots. In Vadwa, Gujarat, children and youth returning from night prayers were pelted with stones, while in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, attackers took the life of 22-year-old Adnan Khan as he returned from prayers.
There is not enough space to detail the daily Muslim hate speeches made by Sangh Parivar ministers under the guise of cow protection and love jihad, nor the atrocities committed by their violent mobs. Not satisfied with imprisoning Muslim youths for years under the false narrative of love jihad, fabricated to create suspicion and animosity between communities, and the unjust laws built upon it, the Hindutva government in Madhya Pradesh is now seeking the possibility of hanging them in such cases. While all religious and local festivals and customs, including Holi, are celebrated on campuses, communalists disrupted an Ayurvedic college in Uttarakhand simply because classmates held Iftar. As if this were not enough, a BJP legislator has demanded that Muslims be denied entry to the medical college building in Ballia, UP and that a separate building be constructed for Muslim students and staff.
As the world observes Anti-Islamophobia Day today, to counter the trend of spreading hatred and racial animosity against Muslims, the atrocities committed with government support send a message to the Muslim community that they are aliens, unworthy of the rights granted by the constitution to the country's citizens. While discussions intensify on what to call the attackers in front of the victimized people, Sangh Parivar fascists are unabashedly fueling racial hatred, leaving no doubt about their ideology.