Calls to kill minorities, weak mainstream media and negligent officials – India sees a rising tide of communalism. Plus, Russia’s ever-growing media blacklist.
Amid a spike in anti-minority hate speech, independent journalists in India uncover Hindu extremist gatherings and the truth behind a bizarre mobile app claiming to “sell” prominent Muslim women.
A petition by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hindalleges that there has been an increase in alleged hate speeches against Prophet Mohammad and calls for violence against Muslims in the country in recent years, and includes some instances of such alleged hate speeches from 2012.
The cause célèbre was a “Dharam Sansad” organised by Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand from December 17 to 19. If Narsinghanand allegedly instigated Hindus to take up arms against Indian Muslims, Sadhvi Annapurna, the general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha, reportedly wanted them killed. She claimed that India was steadily moving towards becoming an Islamic state, and for it to be converted into a “Sanatan Vedic Hindu Rashtra” Hindu youth must throw away books and start wielding weapons. Another Hindutva leader, Swami Anand Swaroop, narrated how he had been extorting money from the Muslims of his locality for years. He also warned that resolutions passed against Muslims (which include decrees to socio-economically boycott them) at the Sansad had the authority of a holy writ (“dharam aadesh”).
Therefore, governments will have to accept and implement them, failing which a war more gruesome than the 1857 uprising in India against the British would be waged.
