MACSA joins the international community in condemning the abhorrent Islamophobic practices in India. The latest episode where a senior official from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Nupur Sharma who disparaged Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is proof of the rapid growth of Islamophobia in India. Although the BJP had reiterated that it was “๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ” and “๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ”, Ms Sharma is no fringe element within the party. What is concerning is the fact that she is the official BJP spokesperson who was invited to TV debates to represent and defend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
This latest incident follows series of Islamophobic incidences that shook the South Asian country. In March, the Karnataka high court upheld the stateโs circular issuing banning on hijab worn by its students in class citing reason that wearing the hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam, a common misconception that discriminates many Muslim women. The court also dismissed a batch of petitions saying not being allowed to wear headscarves in class violates fundamental rights. It must be taken in mind that the ruling was passed in a BJP-ruled state, a ruling that could set a precedent for the rest of the country, home to 200 million Muslims. This is clearly a violation of the religious rights of Muslim women.
The consequences of the ruling has already taken effect when Mangaluru Uppinangady Government College management, suspended 23 female students who requested permission to wear Hijab inside classrooms in June this year. The college had earlier suspended seven female students for coming to the college with Hijab. Clearly this is not only a violation of religious rights, but also denying the basic rights for education.
MACSA is also concerns on the rise of Hindutva-pop, which in its core are the far-right anti-Muslim pop-songs, that are often played in rallies by Hindu supremacist groups. Lyrics such as โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด; ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ-๐๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ,โ and โ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด, ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏโ are mainly played and popularized in the countryโs โHindi beltโ northern states.
The rising support of Hindu nationalist organizations has sharply escalated tensions in the already divisive Indian communities. The government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw an unprecedented polarisation of Indian society, with hate speeches and attacks on Indiaโs minorities, mainly Muslims, occurring on a daily basis.
Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), all state members must respect Article 2 that specifically states โ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐น, ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ด,โ as well as Article 18 that enshrines rights to religious belief, โ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.โ Being a member of the United Nations, India must be made accountable to observe, respect and honour its obligation.
MACSA thus strongly condemns the increasing Islamophobia in India and urges its government to respect its international obligations. MACSA urges Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take appropriate actions before hatred towards Islam spreads further in India.
JOINT STATEMENT BY:
LUKMAN SHERIFF ALIAS
Chairperson, Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations (MACSA)
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. RAFIDAH HANIM MOKHTAR
Co-Chairperson, Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations (MACSA)
MACSAย is a coalition of civil society organisations with the specific aim and object to look into, as well as advocate, human rights issues in Malaysia for the UPR Process.
