Creeping communalism in Indian society turning into a full-blown pandemic: Wani

Renowned rights activist and chairman of Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR), Altaf Hussain Wani, has appreciated the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) statement in which the Muslim body voiced serious concerns over the rising tide of Islamophobia and continued attacks on Muslims in India.

The KIIR chief while hailing the OIC’s stance on the issue said that it was high time that the international community, including the United Nations, should take concrete steps to stop the hate crimes against the minority communities in India.

Altaf Wani said that minorities particularly the Muslims living in India have been the worst victims of political vendetta and hate politics of the right-wing Hindu supremacist party – the BJP – that was hell-bent upon turning India into a Hindu Rashtra where there was no place for Muslims.

He said that the brutal suppression of Muslims, Dalits, Christians, and other minorities in today’s India speaks volumes about the dangerous designs of the Hindutva regime led by RSS ideologue Narendra Modi. “This creeping communalism that is turning into a full-blown pandemic poses a serious existential threat to minority communities that have been living under constant fear since the BJP took the reins of power in New Delhi,” he added.

Altaf Wani said that calls for genocide of Muslims by the Hindutva proponents in Haridwar, Uttrakhand, rising incidents of harassment of Muslim women on social media, banning of Muslim students from wearing hijab and continued attacks targeting Muslims and their places of worship were the obvious manifestation of the growing trend of Islamophobia within the Indian society.

Urging the world community to take stock of the situation in the region, the KIIR chairman said over the past couple of years the anti-minority sentiments and hate speeches by the political leaders across the spectrum have fanned anti-Muslim rites, mob-lynching in various parts of India that have led to uncounted deaths of innocent civilians.