That the BJP government has stepped up not only its anti-Muslim rhetoric but also its machinations against the largest minority in the country is a fact that has found its best expression from the tearing down of a centuries-old mosque in the Indian capital.
According to media reports, bulldozers knocked down a centuries-old mosque in New Delhi where a member of the building’s managing committee was in tears, saying that the committee did not receive any prior notice before demolition of the place of worship for Muslims was carried out in the dark of the night.
In addition to the demolition of the mosque, many graves inside its compound were also desecrated and no one was allowed to even take out the copies of the holy Quran and other religious materials from inside the mosque before it was completely razed.
No doubt, the BJP government has now certainly gone too far. It seems to have completely ignored the fact that not only has it violated its own law of the land, it has also side-stepped all the universal declarations and conventions in relation to the sanctity of holy books and places of worship.
India under Indira Gandhi had paid a very heavy price by storming the major Sikh place of worship in 1984. But the sin committed by Narendra Modi is far graver than Indira’s because the mosque, unlike the Golden Temple, was not hosting any real or perceived militants or terrorists inside it to challenge the writ of the state.
I would urge the entire Islamic world to take India to task for its government’s sacrilegious act. No doubt, this time Modi has gone too far. His growing belligerence against the minorities, particularly the Muslims, constitutes a huge challenge to India’s civil society itself.
Hashmat Lodhi (Lahore)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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