As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand Hindu temple built on 27 acres donated by a Muslim-majority UAE on February 14, Muslims in India were being killed, and mosques, tombs, and mausoleums of Sufi saints and revered leaders were being demolished.
The Hindu nationalist premier’s open assault on Muslim Indians is met not only with indifference but, in some cases, with reward from Muslim nations. Modi, a man who governed Gujarat State during the 2002 genocide that claimed over 1,500 Muslim lives, has received the highest civilian awards from the UAE (the Order of Zayed), Saudi Arabia (the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud), Bahrain (the Order of the Renaissance), Afghanistan (the Amir Amanullah Khan Award), and even Palestine (the Grand Collar of the State Award).
Around 100 people were injured, and six Muslims lost their lives during a protest in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, over the demolition of the Abdul Razzaq Zakariya madrasa and Mariyam Mosque. In the capital, the 700-year-old Akhunji Mosque, its school, and its cemetery were razed in the dead of night, and its rubble hauled away before worshippers arrived for pre-dawn prayers.
The mosque demolitions come against a backdrop of increased religious polarisation and accusations that the ruling BJP is building a Hindu-first state in what is constitutionally a secular country.
The mosques’ destruction also follows the opening of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya, a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a 16th-century Babri mosque that was destroyed by hardline Hindus some 30 years ago. During the lavish consecration ceremony, Modi hailed the beginning of a “new divine India.” More Islamic schools and mosques are slated for demolition.
The demolition of Muslim monuments, renaming of streets and villages with overtly Hindu names, and archaeological digs to uncover Hindu roots at Muslim holy sites to justify demolitions were all part of the ruling BJP’s agenda to destroy everything associated with Islam and Muslims.
Our government has also been silent on the human rights abuses of over 210 million Muslims in India. The Foreign Minister, Lord Ahmed, is in India, where he will focus on trade relations. The rights of Muslims are of no concern to the UK.
Even the Taj Mahal, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and considered one of the Wonders of the World, was misrepresented as having been constructed initially as a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva.
Modi’s determination to marginalise India’s 210 million Muslims by eliminating every vestige of their heritage is unrelenting, and the extent to which their struggle for survival is waged will be contingent on how the Muslim world responds to him.
Photo: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) is received by UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) in an official ceremony at the Palace of the Nation in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on July 15, 2023. (Credit: UAE Presidential Court/Handout AA)Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) is received by UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) in an official ceremony at the Palace of the Nation in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on July 15, 2023. (Credit: UAE Presidential Court/Handout AA)
