[News] India house demolitions: Another Israeli-style war crime against Muslims

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/india-house-demolitions-Israeli-style-war-crime-against-Muslims>

*India house demolitions: Another Israeli-style war crime against Muslims*

Ladeeda Farzana - June 24, 2022
------------------------------
[image: image.png]
A bulldozer is used to demolish the residence of Javed Mohammad, a
political activist accused of inciting riots in Allahabad on 12 June, 2022
(AFP)


As a Muslim born into a political climate irreparably shaken by the illegal
demolition of the Babri mosque
<https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/india-inside-account-of-how-babri-mosque-was-demolished-on-december-6-1992-1.74240246>
in 1992, studying and observing these realities in India
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/india> and in other parts of the
world helped shape my generation's political consciousness.

India is quickly transforming into a totalitarian Hindu nationalist state

Images from Palestine <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> –
land colonisation, apartheid, and home demolitions – further deepened my
knowledge about a Muslim political subjectivity marked by structural
violence.

Today such images have become a part of everyday life for Indian Muslims
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/india-muslims-end-times-arrived>.
Recent developments in India should be analysed with the backdrop of a war
against Muslim minorities within a nation triggered by Islamophobia.

Taking a page out of Israel’s playbook, the right-wing Hindu nationalist
Indian government has been using bulldozers
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/12/indian-state-demolish-muslim-homes-riots-prophet-remarks?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter>
in recent years as a tool of repression and collective punishment. Deemed
legal, property demolition often targets critics and peaceful protesters
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220613-demolishing-muslim-protestors-homes-india-is-taking-a-leaf-out-of-israels-book/>
and is aggressively carried out without meaningful notice.

In Uttar Pradesh, the home of Javed Mohammad
<https://thewire.in/rights/javed-mohammad-missing-jail-afreen-fatima>, a
political activist with the Welfare Party of India, was razed following his
arrest
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/%3Cblockquote%20class=%22twitter-tweet%22%3E%3Cp%20lang=%22en%22%20dir=%22ltr%22%3EJail%20authorities%20and%20district%20administration%20have%20denied%20presence%20of%20my%20father,%20Janab%20Javed%20Muhammad,%20in%20the%20Naini%20Central%20Jail%20where%20he%20was%20kept%20following%20his%20arrest.%20We%20are%20concerned%20about%20his%20safety%20and%20health!%20%3Ca%20href=%22https:/t.co/C9bIfsRuQY%22%3Epic.twitter.com/C9bIfsRuQY%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E—%20Afreen%20Fatima%20(@AfreenFatima136)%20%3Ca%20href=%22https:/twitter.com/AfreenFatima136/status/1538878012367679489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22%3EJune%2020,%202022%3C/a%3E%3C/blockquote%3E%20%3Cscript%20async%20src=%22https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js%22%20charset=%22utf-8%22%3E%3C/script%3E>
in connection to protests that broke out in Allahabad. The demolition
notice came just one night before the home was bulldozed on 11 June. His
wife and daughter were briefly detained
<https://thewire.in/rights/javed-mohammad-missing-jail-afreen-fatima>, but
subsequently released.

*From citizens to refugees*

Recently, Hindu festivals and gatherings have become a stage to unleash
widespread violence <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGvqNkMaOJg> against
Muslims, especially in the states ruled by Hindutva.

Processions during the Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti religious
celebrations this year incited communal violence as Hindutva organisers
passed by mosques and Islamic shrines.

The resurgence of violence against Muslim minorities culminated in a
massive demolition campaign targeting their homes, mosques, and businesses.
In a short span of time, Muslims have turned into refugees in their own
villages due to this violent state-sponsored pogrom and institutional
repression.

Last month, Nupur Sharma, a national spokesperson for the ruling Bharathiya
Janatha Party (BJP), made statements on a television programme insulting
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/indias-ruling-party-suspends-official-over-comments-about-islam-after-gulf-outrage>the
Prophet Muhammad, leading to large-scale demonstrations across the country.

The BJP was forced to suspend
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/indias-ruling-party-suspends-official-over-comments-about-islam-after-gulf-outrage>
Sharma from the party due to the diplomatic discomfort
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/india-gulf-islam-row-modi-double-bind-why>
of
the heads of Arab states, and calls to boycott Indian products
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/india-gulf-row-islamophobia-economics-key-countering>
trending on social media. In retaliation for this move, Hindutva forces
waged violent attacks with the support of the state apparatus.

Demonstrations were met with police crackdowns and violent beatings, mass
arrests, the killing of students, and property demolitions, a tactic now
fully embedded in Hindutva’s genocidal strategy.

Criminal cases were also manufactured against peaceful protesters who were
denied legal and human rights.

*A Hindu 'holy land'*

Since Narendra Modi
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/narendra-modi-551566291>’s government
came to power in 2014, the Hindutva political project to racialise Muslims
has been gaining momentum in India.

India is quickly transforming into a totalitarian Hindu nationalist state
made possible through lynching, hate campaigns, and retaliatory measures
against the Muslim political and economic establishment. In striking
contrast to the established democratic process, the genocidal project is
gaining societal approval through majoritarian populism.

In short, all that remains is the declaration that India is officially a
Hindu nation. Hindutva forces and their adherents believe
<https://thewire.in/communalism/hindutva-and-the-question-of-who-owns-india>
that Muslims have no right to exist in India, a Hindu holy land. As part of
this Hindu nation-building process, Muslims are subjected to forced
deportation, or remain a disenfranchised community, as pledged by the early
Hindutva acharyas (spiritual teachers).

The Hindutva acharya, MS Golwalkar, argues
<https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/nationalism-golwalkars-head-of-rss-three-decades/31781/>that
"a territory was not a nation; a people constituted a nation. Who were this
people? In the Indian case, Hindus."

[image: Protesters express opposition to a new citizenship law and
solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia university in
Ahmedabad, India, on 17 December (Reuters)]

Protesters express opposition to a new citizenship law and solidarity with
the students of Jamia Millia Islamia university in Ahmedabad, India, on 17
December 2019 (Reuters)

And Veer Savarkar
<https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/veer-savarkar-hindutva-india/38073/>,
the man credited for creating Hindutva, argued that the rights that Hindus
deserve to enjoy as a majority under a democratic and legal framework can
never be denied, and are the primary impetus for the Hindu national
project. In forming a new nation-state that guarantees constitutionally
equal citizenship, Savarkar declared
<https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/veer-savarkar-hindutva-india/38073/>
that "minorities no longer need special rights".

In 2019, the Hindutva-led government proposed
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/india-sends-signal-muslims-you-are-no-longer-welcome>
the Citizenship Amendment Act as a practical step towards realising a Hindu
nation. When it comes to the "Hindu Nation", it is evident that one becomes
an Indian only when one becomes a Hindu.

*The Muslim status*

Gyanendra Pandey, a prominent Indian political and social thinker, enquires
<https://southasiaoutreach.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/757/2017/08/IndianMuslim_Pandey.pdf>
whether a Muslim can become an Indian. He points out: “All Hindus naturally
become nationalists by the mere fact of being Hindu, while Muslims also
become communalist by the very mere fact [of being Muslim]. To avoid this,
Muslims must constantly prove that they are nationalists.”

<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/nationalism-without-a-nation-in-india-9780195646535?facet_narrowbytype_facet=General%20Interest&lang=en&cc=gb>

<https://www.outlookindia.com/national/explained-ayodhya-ram-mandir-journey-the-babri-masjid-demolition-and-the-foundation-laying-of-temple-news-199800>
<https://thewire.in/communalism/babri-masjid-the-timeline-of-a-demolition>

<https://t.co/C9bIfsRuQY>

<https://twitter.com/AfreenFatima136/status/1538878012367679489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/india-karnataka-hijab-row-where-outrage-west>

<https://www.thepolisproject.com/read/combat-concepts-in-indian-politics-understanding-democracy-as-politics-of-enmity/>
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/25749185>

<https://www.trtworld.com/asia/india-probes-online-auction-of-muslim-women-in-sulli-deals-48209>

[image: Muslim women attend a protest after educational institutes in
Karnataka, India, denied entry to students for wearing hijabs, in Bangalore
on 7 February 2022 (AFP)]

<https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ASA2022692020ENGLISH.pdf>
<https://thewire.in/rights/uapa-sedition-psa-nsa-extraordinary-laws>
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