Finally, BJP Spokesperson Nupur Sharma, an enemy of Islam, used despicable expressions in the television program he participated in on June 3, which attempted to insult the religion of Islam and our Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), which increased the tension in the country. The fact that the ruling racist party also refrained from reacting effectively to the incident and reacted harshly to the protests that started, further complicated the situation.
All over the country, Muslims flocked to the streets to protest against the words of our Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). In some states, racist police resorted to violence against protesters. More importantly, Muslim activists leading the protests in the state of Uttar Pradesh, for example, were detained and their homes were demolished for alleged illegality.
While 2 Muslims have been killed during the protests, dozens of them have been detained. It is stated that the attitude of the Indian administration, which is hostile to Islam, was an important factor in the growth of the events, although the dishonorable and ostensible apology that insulted our Prophet was made. Racist Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also the target of increased backlash both in India and elsewhere. Modi, who came to power in India in 2014, has been criticized for "keeping quiet about such attacks" against the Muslim minority, especially in recent years.
RACISM IS THE REGIME OF INDIA
After the partition of India in 1947, most of the Muslims in the country continued to live in India instead of immigrating to Pakistan. In the 80s, when Hindu racism was on the rise, the number of faith-based conflicts between Muslims and Hindus and the extent of violence in the events increased. In the Babri Mosque in December 1992 and in Gujarat in 2002, thousands of people, mostly Muslims, lost their lives.
Basing its ideology on Hindu racism, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consolidated its power from the 90s and won more seats than the INC in the 98th elections. The BJP came to power alone under the leadership of Narendra Modi in the 2014 elections and further increased the number of deputies in the 2019 general elections. Since 2019, the steps taken by the racist BJP government have raised concerns about their future among Muslims.
MUSLIMS ARE LEFT 'STATELESS'
With the amendment made to the Indian Citizenship Law, 6 different religious groups coming to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan can obtain citizenship. However, Muslim immigrants were excluded from this change. The anti-Islamic Indian government argued that Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christians are religious minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which have state religions, and therefore, citizenship is given to minority groups fleeing religious oppression in these three countries.
PRISON CAMPS FOR MUSLIMS
After the Indian government came to power more strongly in 2019, it took a series of steps that made Muslims in the country worry about their existence. Of the 33 million people living in the state of Assam, 1.9 million, mostly Muslims, were excluded from the National Register of Citizenship. Ten prison camps are being built in Assam for those who are unable to prove their citizenship, out of the nearly 2 million delisted, predominantly Muslim people. The racist Interior Minister of India, Amit Shah, announced that the regulation in Assam would be implemented in the rest of the country, putting Muslims at risk of being "stateless".
HIJAB BAN
Lastly, in recent months, the Indian state of Karnataka has begun to prevent Muslim students from entering schools with a headscarf. The long-standing ban on the headscarf across the state sparked controversy on January 1 when Muslim students at the state-owned Udupi Women's College wore a headscarf to classes. When Muslim female students wore headscarves in other schools in Karnataka, Hindu students reacted and started to wear saffron shawls.
HINDUS DESTROYED THE BABRI MOSQUE AND CLAIMED THE LAND!
The Babri Mosque case, which has caused controversy between Hindus and Muslims for 10 years, was decided in favor of Hindus by the Supreme Court of India. Described as the "Hagia Sophia of South Asia", the mosque was destroyed by Hindu militants on December 6, 1992, and over two thousand people, mostly Muslims, lost their lives in the events that followed. Another disappointment for Muslims was that the court decided the Babri Mosque dispute in favor of the Hindus.
In addition to all these events, the government's excluding Muslims in the change in the citizenship law led to an explosion of anger within the country.