Fringe Organizations Responsible for Hinduphobia
By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New
Age Islam
7 June 2023
Since the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), a
right-wing political party has come to power in India, the Hindu fringe
elements and groups have become quite empowered to carryout lynchings and mob
attacks against Muslims with much ferocity and impunity. However, it is a fact
that no major communal riot except, the Delhi riots of 2020 have taken place
during a near decade long rule of BJP. Earlier, in the Congress rule, the
Communal riots and anti-Muslim programs were a norm, but the Congress managed
the aftermath in such a manner, that they never got the tag of being an
anti-Muslim regime. It was because they believed in appeasing a section of
Muslim Ashrafs and Ulema, who helped them mitigate the crisis and
manage the anger of Muslims. These two sections of Ashrafs and Ulema,
particularly of Jamiat e Ulema e Hind and All India Muslim Personal Law Board
(AIMPLB) were enough for them to keep Muslims under clutch and not to worry
about them.
In the new political dispensation, the
Muslims have been turned into an unwanted entity. Being a minority, the BJP has
made it clear that they do not want Muslim votes, so they do not need to
appease their Ashrafs or Ulema. Although, some Muslims do try to
become face in the party, but they are unwanted both among Muslims and BJP.
Time and again, BJP has been accused of Islamophobia, driving Muslims to
periphery and empowering the fringe groups among Hindus to perpetuate violence
against Muslims. The revenge of past Muslim rule (it was rule by few Muslim
families) is being taken from the current Muslims, who are the most
disempowered and marginalized communities of India.
Who are these groups, what is their
ideology, how do they operate and execute their programs, is detailed in a new
book written by Dhirendra K Jha, a senior political journalist. The book titled
Shadow Armies: Fringe Organizations and Foor Soldiers of Hindutva is study of
eight Hindu fringe organizations. Four among them belong to Sangh Parivar and
four operate independently. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), also known as
Sangh is the biggest network of right wing Hindu organizations. Sangh
constitutes scores of small organizations that believe in the supremacy of
Hinduism and intend to create a Hindu state in India, using the tool of
Hindutva. Its other organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), like RSS does
everything like a political party except for fighting elections. They
orchestrate the attacks against Muslims, as it helps in polarization of masses,
thus reaping electoral dividends for BJP, as it is the political wing of Sangh.
The fringe groups studied in this work,
some of them are involved in planning and executing bomb blasts, but once they
are caught their organizations disown them. Then they involve a strong battery
of lawyers to get them released. Also, these lawyers are wielded against
critical journalists, rationalists as they file defamation lawsuits against
them. Then we have Gau Raksha Manch (cow protection groups), that targets
Muslims who are transporting cows and cattle. Many times, the Muslim cattle
traders are lynched by these Hindutva mobs. Hindu Yuva Vahini, like RSS calls
itself as a cultural organization, but in reality, it is political in its
nature and contours. The current chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi
Adityanath, who was a leader of this Hindu Yuva Vahini, had hate speech cases
registered against him, but he never faced persecution.
Bajrang Dal, another fringe group uses
youth for hooliganism, vandalism and terrifying shopkeepers, mall owners forcing
them to take their cadres for security, thus providing jobs to their members.
This pattern is repeated for Muslim business owners too, and they are forced to
hire Dal members as security, while they also act as foot soldiers for carrying
out the agenda for their parent organizations. It was Bajrang Dal that kept the
Babri masjid issue alive through various skirmishes. These groups also do not
let Muslims buy properties in Hindu dominated areas. Further they also target
artists, poets, writers who do not fit their definition of Hindu culture and
tradition. So, they act as self-appointed vanguard for Hindu religion. One of
their favourite activities is carrying out attacks against Valentine Day
Celebrations, while stopping young couples to express their love for each
other. These groups are quite afraid of love as they have been fed on a staple
diet of bigotry and hatred. Love, has the power of decimating the edifice of
hate, so they feel threatened by it.
Then these groups are involved in carrying
out forcible religious conversions and proselytization processes, while
continuing with violence against those who eat beef. They have also added the
project of Love Jihad to their bogey of activities. There are internal
bickering and antagonistic politics within these groups, although to an
outsider they appear to be homogenous and monolith. But this is far from
reality. When, questioned intriguingly about the reasons for their communal and
polarizing speeches, they describe them as awakening calls for the Hindus. They
are working in the Deep South state of Kerala, as Hindutva groups have spread
their tentacles in this part of India too.
Sangh is exploiting the landless low caste
peasants, to carry out its agenda of violence. Then there are groups like
Abhinav Bharat that believes in using violence as a tool to achieve its ends.
Hence, we have Bhonsala Military School where only Hindu students are being
trained in the use of arms and ammunition. Now these groups are trying to make
inroads among Sikhs too, because they consider them to be a part of Hinduism.
However, this politics of amalgamation and assimilation of Sikhs is being
resisted by them, leading to skirmishes.
The journalist Dhirendra Jha, has
meticulously used field interviews, ethnography and personal experience to
weave a story about these Hindutva groups. Although, he considers them fringe
because majority of Hindus are not their members, but they certainly have been
able to make inroads in the mainstream Hindu body, because they do wield a
strong clout when it comes to opinion formation of masses. These groups are
quite instrumental in making BJP come to power, so to label many of them are
fringe is not a correct assessment. However, Jha needs to be appreciated for
his efforts to understand these diverse groups of Hindutva fringe, that are
responsible for orchestrating Islamophobia and executing Hinduphobia among
Muslims, not only in India but in the whole world. They are responsible for
damaging the pluralistic and syncretic culture in India, and granting
opportunities to outsiders to criticize India as being intolerant, unjust and
biased against its Muslim minority.
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M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir
URL:
https://newageislam.com/books-documents/fringe-organizations-hinduphobia/d/129936
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