"If we want to reduce [their] population, then slaughter them, we should kill 2 million Muslims, then we will win, protect India, and make it a Hindu country..."
This "appalling" "genocidal rhetoric" took place on January 15 of this year at a politician-gathered Hindu rally in the Hindu holy land of Haldwar, sparking controversy.
The New York Times reported on Feb. 9 that since Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power, Indian police and leadership have acquiesced to Hindu right-wingers' extreme rhetoric that are stoking Hindu hatred of Muslims and inciting civil society groups to inflict violence against Muslim communities.
The New York Times commented that with the acquiescence of Indian officials, Hindu right-wingers are trying to reshape India from a secular republic to a predominantly religious state, and that the intensification of violence is "on the verge of danger" and may even evolve into a "genocide" in the style of the "Rwandan genocide".
Screenshot of the New York Times report
At a protest rally of Hindus, many people took out cold weapons demonstrations Source: social media
Extreme rhetoric
On Jan. 15 of this year, at a politician-packed Hindu rally in halderval, the Hindu holy site, a group of Hindu monks dressed in Hindu saffron loudly called out in front of a crowded audience and tens of thousands of online viewers to commit violence against the country's minority Muslims. Shakhun Pan Tak Yik-kung, secretary general of India's right-wing Hindu Chatsai Society, has proposed to reduce "their population." "Kill at least 2 million Muslims". The campaign sparked outrage among Muslims across India and attracted the attention of the Indian police.
But when police came to the Hindu temple to warn the monks not to make extreme remarks, the organizer of the opportunity, Yati Narsinghanand, told the monks at the temple that the police were "their own people." A video shows both monks and police bursting out laughing when Nashhnend said, "They're going to be on our side."
Adi Nassinghanand in a speech Image source: Social media
Nassingkhanand was arrested by police on Jan. 15, and the Bharatiya Janata Party did not respond to a New York Times reporter's request for comment on his arrest. Vinold Bansal, spokesman for the party's World Hindu Council, told The New York Times: "The defendant (Nashkhanand) has been arrested. Secular groups will always emphasize such incidents, but will not come out to help defend Hindus and Hindu gods when they are attacked. ”
In response to these extreme remarks, Nassingkhanand's lawyer said he was responding to attacks on Hinduism, but Nassinkhanand himself has repeatedly told believers that Muslims, who make up 15 percent of India's population, will turn the country into a Muslim country within a decade. To prevent such an outcome, he told followers that they must be "willing to die" and declared that the Taliban and the extremist group ISIS were their "role models."
The New York Times said Hindu extremists, once seen as marginal forces, are increasingly spreading their radical message, stirring up hatred of Muslims in India and trying to reshape India from a constitutionally protected secular republic into a Hindu state.
Government "acquiescence"
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his top leaders remained silent after the monks' extreme rhetoric went viral on the Internet, with only one vice president coming forward to warn that inciting people to attack each other was a crime against the state. At the January 15 religious rally, a large number of members of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attended the event.
The rhetoric of Hindu right-wingers has resonated with indian civil right-wing groups and sparked violence. Some Indian civil society groups beat up people accused of disrespecting cattle; they dragged couples out of trains, cafes and homes because they suspected that Hindu women might be "seduced" by Muslim men; and violent elements broke into rallies of other religions, suspecting that people were forcing Indians to convert.
Nashhanand served as chief priest at the Dasnadwi Temple in Uttar Pradesh, where slogans calling for preparation for "wars of religion" were everywhere. There have been calls for "Hindus, my lions" to cherish their weapons "as faithful wives cherish their husbands".
The New York Times quoted activists and analysts as saying that India's leaders and law enforcement officials have failed to address these extreme rhetoric issues, even acquiescing to the extremists' agenda or further allowing them to normalize. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party condone these violent extremist groups because Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party sees right-wing groups as the foundation of its political ideology and relies on its vast network of volunteers to mobilize voters to ensure electoral victory. In 2017, Modi appointed Adia Nat as governor of Uttar Pradesh, and Adia Nat founded a youth organization accused of violence.
"Extremists dominate the way Indian politics"In recent weeks, a number of international organizations and local activists, as well as India's retired security chiefs, have warned that violent rhetoric in India has reached dangerous new heights, the New York Times said. These people fear that the rapid spread of right-wing news through social media, combined with the inaction of the Modi government, could quickly deflect a wave of violence in any single event, such as a dispute on the ground, an attack by an international terrorist organization or a conflict between India and the Islamic State, which could lead to very serious large-scale violence.
Gregory Stein, founder of the nonprofit Genocide Watch, said at a briefing in the U.S. Congress that the "process" that led to genocide, demonization of other ethnic groups, has been ongoing in India. He made a similar warning ahead of the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s.
Direndra K. Jaha, a writer who studies the rise of Hindu nationalism, said he worries about the way extremists now dominate Indian politics, which has given refuge to those who call for violence. Jaha said: "Unless this problem is solved, what kind of consequences may occur, I can't even imagine, nor dare I imagine." ”
Rohinton Fari Nariman, a recently retired Supreme Court justice in India, said in a public speech that "there are people who are making hate speech that are actually calling for genocide against entire groups, and we find that the authorities are reluctant to register these people." Unfortunately, other top brass in the ruling party are not only silent about hate speech, but even almost support it. ”
In the face of outside accusations, Swami Amritanand, the organizer of haldwald's Hindu activities, explained: "Nashhanand is not wrong, we are doing what the United States is doing, we are doing what the British are doing." ”
Amritanan said the call for the use of force was justified because "in the next 10 to 12 years, a terrible war will be staged in India." ”
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.