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AS a general election looms in India in the next few months, with the strong likelihood of another BJP government coming to power at the centre, Indian Muslims are dreading the future. After all, the signs are dark.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s decade-long rule has hardly been a time of safety and prosperity for India`s Muslims, it is clear that matters are about to get much worse. Five people were killed during clashes with police in the northern state of Uttarakhand on Friday, after a madressah was bulldozed a day earlier. Authorities in the BJP-ruled state say the structure was `illegal`. According to some media reports all those killed were Muslim. Also last week, Uttarakhand passed the Uniform Civil Code, a controversial move that overrides religious laws pertaining to marriage, divorce and inheritance. And late in January, federal authorities in New Delhi demolished a centuries-old mosque in the historic Mehrauli area, again under the guise of an `anti-encroachment` operation. While Muslims have been targeted throughout the BJP`s rule, particularly in states governed by the party, harassment and violence have picked up in the aftermath of last month`s opening of the Ram temple built on the ruins of the Babri Masjid. Evidently, the BJP wants to fulfil the dream of the RSS, its ideological parent, and ensure that the Muslim history and culture of India is wiped out, and the Muslim community itself is given two choices: conversion to Hinduism, or perpetual serfdom in the Hindu rashtra.
The madness to `reclaim` mosques, demolish them and turn them into temples is tantamount to playing with fire. Mosques in Varanasi and Mathura are already in the sights of Hindu zealots.
If these actions are allowed to continue, communal frenzy may erupt in India. In addition, the plan to enforce a uniform legal code nationally is a bad one. The BJP is not doing it out of any sympathy for Muslims, especially the community`s women.
Rather, this devious move is meant to erase Muslim cultural and religious practices, and eventually one day expunge the Muslim identity from the `pure` land of Bharat. The Sangh Parivar`s programme for India is a dangerous one, as it combines ancient mythology with 20th-century fascism in a lethal cocktail. If allowed to proceed, it will prove devastating for India`s Muslims as well as other minority communities.