Activists at California event ask for united efforts to prevent impending genocide of Indian Muslims

The leading activists and academics have, once again, raised concerns over the threat of mass killing of Indian Muslims by Hindutva forces, during an event titled “The Impending Indian Muslim Genocide and Global Islamophobia” held in California, the United States.

The event was hosted in San Diego, California by the San Diego Coalition for Human Rights comprising the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) – San Diego Chapter, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Jewish Voice for Peace, Pillars of the Community San Diego, Muslim American Society–PACE, and the Muslim Leadership Council of San Diego.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Angana Chatterji, co-founder of the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir, lamented that “India is subsumed in a momentous political crisis, the most daunting since 1950. The practice of illiberal democracy today is accompanied by the call to fascism and the extermination of Muslims…”

She said the BJP manifests caste oppression in the violent relationship of dominant caste privileged Hindus with Adivasis and Dalits, supports forcible conversions of Christians to Hinduism… and prohibits Muslim women’s right to wear the head scarf/ hijab. “The amplification of the reach of state power over minority lives has propelled an unabated emergency wherein the Indian government has exceeded its authority, extreme xenophobia in India today organises Islamophobia as ostracisation and racialism denigrates Indian Muslims as the enemy of Hindus,” she added.

Dr. Hatem Bazian, Professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College said, “Many of us need to understand the replacement theory, which has been developed in France, but the Hindu nationalists are using the same type of argument.” “[They say] that the minorities who are coming to Europe, or the Mexicans who are coming to the United States, are attempting to replace the white race. In a similar way, Hindu nationalists [say] that the Muslims are attempting to replace Hinduism.”

Pieter Friedrich, a freelance journalist specialising in analysis of affairs in South Asia said, “I [have written] about American political candidates and elected officials and their links or ties, their interactions with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), especially with their RSS and BJP affiliates here in the US. Thanks to my relentless efforts to expose the RSS-BJP agenda in India and abroad, I was named in a press conference by the Delhi Police a year ago, and I am now presumably and sadly banned from India.”

Prof. Rohit Chopra, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Santa Clara University called upon Hindus everywhere to stand up and speak up against this poisonous variant of Hindu nationalism that threatens to destroy not just the wonderful civilization and ethos that is India, but really a lot of communities everywhere in the world..

“How can I represent an India where Muslim girls and Muslim women are stripped of their head covering, which is part of their clothing, in the middle of the streets before they step into their schools and colleges, asks Dr. Samina Salim, Associate Professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Houston. “How can I represent an India where Muslim women are sold on an app on online platforms? I do not represent this India where Muslim women are raped, killed, and burned alive. I am not proud of that India. This is an India I did not grow up in; this is an India that I do not identify with.”

The organisers of the event also stressed the importance of international solidarity with Indian Muslims.

Malcolme Morgan, Public Relations Director of Muslim Leadership Council of San Diego, acknowledging that Muslims in India have contributed immensely to India’s civilization are being threatened and assaulted by Hindu extremists, said. “We must unite together, whether we are Muslim or not, to hold the oppressive Indian government accountable for spreading Islamophobia and inciting violence against Muslims minorities. Our rich heritage as Muslims can be seen from West Africa to East Asia.”

Khalid Alexandre, President of Pillars of the Community, San Diego, said “Our event… was an important reminder that we must all be vocal and insistent on the need to bring attention to the dire situation of Muslims in India.”

The San Diego Coalition For Human Rights has reaffirmed its commitment to upholding India’s constitutional values of tolerance, pluralism, and secularism, where the human rights of all communities are upheld.

The event was coincided with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is observed worldwide, today.