EDITORIAL: What happened at a Gujarat university hostel on Sunday night is a poignant reminder of how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva policies have been encouraging far-right Hindu hoodlums to attack Muslims.
According to reports, about 75 foreign students from Africa, Afghanistan, Central Asian Republics and Sri Lanka were saying taraveeh prayers on the terrace of their hostel, when a mob shouting “Jai Shri Ram” slogans appeared and resorted to violence, raising objection to namaz being said on the hostel premises – in its foreign students’ wing.
An Afghan student told reporters, “They attacked us inside the rooms too, broke our laptops, phones and damaged bikes”. Confirming his version of the events are several videos on social media that show damaged bikes, broken laptops, and ravage rooms, and also people throwing stones and hurling abuses at the foreign students. Several of them were so seriously injured that they had to be admitted to hospitals.
How ironic it is that rather than condemning the attackers vice chancellor of the university Dr Neerja Gupta blamed the victims as she explained, since these students are from overseas, they need to be trained in “cultural sensitivity”, adding that “these are foreign students and when you go abroad, you must learn cultural sensitivity. These students need an orientation.”
The foreign students may not have fully grasped the extent of religious intolerance engendered by prime minister Modi and his Sangh Parivar, but the VC’s remarks reveal her own refusal to learn and show ‘cultural sensitivity’ towards Muslims, some 200 million of whom live in her own country.
What she clearly suggested was that since there is no mosque on the campus, the Muslim students shouldn’t have offered their taraveeh prayers in the holy month of Ramazan. This is but just one manifestation of Modi and his party, the BJP, pushing the divisive Hindutva agenda via their version of Indian culture.
Last January, Modi had proudly presided, amid much fanfare, over a consecration ceremony of Ram Temple installed where the ancient Babri Mosque stood for centuries calling it “the beginning of a new time cycle”. Hindutva zealots are also seeking to convert several other old mosques into Hindu temples.
In several instances Muslims have been attacked for offering prayers in open public spaces. All this is a part of the BJP and its ideological fountainhead, RSS, and their affiliate organisations’ religio-political agenda to turn India into a Hindu state. Communal tensions are likely to rise in the run-up to the general elections due next month through June.
Even as Modi has maintained his usual characteristic silence over the present incident, his government can ill-afford to ignore it. The countries whose citizens have been subjected to unprovoked violence are unlikely to let it pass.
Conscious of the repercussions, Indian External Affairs Ministry has issued a statement announcing that it had taken cognizance of the matter and was in touch with the state government. On his part, the Gujarat police commissioner has claimed that the suspects will be arrested soon.
Given the prevailing environment in that country, a few detentions will be made for appearances’ sake, but the real perpetrators can rest assured they won’t be untouched. Needless to say, Modi’s India is surely headed towards a civil war.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024