BJP’s biggest rabble-rouserSubramanian Swamy SaysMuslimsare not equals By Latheef Farook

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On Wednesday 13 October 2021, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa celebrated Navratri with senior Bharatiya Janta Party, BJP, leader Subramanian Swamy at his residence Temple Trees in Colombo. Swamy was in Sri Lanka on a two-day visit at the invitation of Rajapaksa.

Who is this SubramanianSwamy?

He is an Indian politician belonging to British created Hindu Rasthriya Swayam Sevak’s, RSS, deceptive front ruling Bharatiya Janatha Party- BJP. Advocating the RSS fascist ideology Swamy has been in the forefront in campaigning to turn India into a Hindu raj where Brahmins rule while others serve as sub humans.

He was silent to all BJP violence on innocent Indian Muslims from genocide of Muslims in Gujarat in February 2002 to his BJP government backed anti-Muslim carnage in New Deli in February 2020.

The ultimate target is to ensure that Indian Muslims area nonentity. However he had forgotten that it was Muslim Mughal Empire which unified princely states and created today’s India and made great contributions to its progress.

Born on September 15, 1939, Subramanian Swamy was nominated to the Rajya Sabha ,  the Upper House of Parliament, in April 2016.However he was left out recently of the80-member National Executive which includes prime minister.

India’s minorities find themselves in the firing-line of what was described as the BJP’s biggest rabble rouser.

Following the Mumbai bombings in July2011, Swamy wrote an article in the Indian newspaper Daily News entitled “Analysis: How to wipe out Islamic terror.”   In the article, he proposed a multi-step process to destroy what he described as Islamic terrorism that includes forcing all Muslims to “acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus” in order to vote.

Swamy has courted fresh controversy after he said that Indian Muslims did not have equal rights in India. The video making highly objectionable comments about Indian Muslims has prompted many to declare him a fascist.

Activists, both Muslims and non-Muslims alike, wasted no time in declaring Swamy a ‘fascist.’ Kavita Krishnan wrote on Twitter, “World: listen to an MP of India’s ruling party state, clearly, without any attempt to disguise bigotry, that Muslims are not equal citizens in India, & that substantial Muslim populations spell trouble for any country. This is fascism.”

Vinay Sreenivasa, of Bangalore stated that “It is extremely sad that you have allowed Swamy to write a hate speech in your paper. Such a piece has a place in some extreme right-wing publication one would have thought, not in a mainstream newspaper like yours.

Sure you might carry another article that counters Swamy’s article, and that might salvage the situation a bit, but it can’t undo the damage. The damage is that these kind of xenophobic views have now got respectability by getting carried in the DNA. I request you to issue an apology in your newspaper for carrying such an extremely offensive piece, so that people know such extreme views cannot be tolerated.

In a video snippet shared on Twitter   by VICE, Swamy when asked about India’s controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, said: “We know where the Muslim population is large there is always trouble — because the Islamic ideology says so.”

He demanded disenfranchisement of Muslims in India. “If Muslim [population] becomes more than 30 per cent [in any country], that country is in danger,” Swamy claimed, upon which journalist Isobel Yeung pointed out that his comments sounded like language of hatred. “When reminded that Article 14 of the Indian constitution ensures equal rights for everyone in India, he went on to say that this was a misinterpretation of the Article, saying: “The law ensures equal rights for equals.”

“Are all people not equal? Are Muslims not equal In India?” asked Yeung. “No, not all people are equal, Muslims do not fall into the equal category,” Swamy said’

Swamy had advocated disenfranchisement as a punishment for Muslims refusing to acknowledge their Hindu ancestry. Delhi Police registered a case of spreading enmity between communities against Subramanian Swamy for his remarks suggesting revoking of voting rights of Muslims.

Subramanian Swamy speaks during a meeting on ‘Shri Ram Janmbhumi’ organized by Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti, in New Delhi ( Courtesy- PTI Photo/Vijay Verma)

During a two day visit to Ayodhya   Swamy, said that the fundamental rights of Hindus were above the property rights of Muslims. In August 2019  Swamy said there is a clash of civilizations internationally and Zionists and Hindutva state of India must come together.

Societal tensions particularly exacerbated in India since the rise of the Hindu right wing BJP. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an Islamophobic environment had gradually taken root in the country, largely owing to fears around the new Citizenship Act.

It is not surprising therefore that Swamy, a serial provocateur, would add to the toxic anti-minority discourse at this critical time .He said if any Muslim citizen of India identifies with or glorifies Islamic rule in India he should be declared a defeated alien since Hindus braving gross brutality uprooted Islamic rule from India. Muslims of India should instead accept based on DNA, that they are descendants of Hindus.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, sharing the VICE video clip, said that “The RSS inspired BJP leadership in the 21st century openly speaking about the 200 million Muslims just as the Nazis spoke about the Jews.”

Condemning on Swamy’s remarks, PTI leader Ali Haider Zaidi said that his words are “perfectly fascist and racist”.

Pakistani actress Meh wish Hayat questioned the international community’s silence over the remarks made by Swamy. “Why is the world closing its eyes to what is happening in India? This is exactly what Nazi Germany did. So what’s next for Muslims…extermination camps?” she wrote on Twitter.

Swamy recommended demolishing hundreds of mosques  andpressed for quick construction of Ram Mandir in the premises of Babar Masjid in Ayodhya demolished by Hinduta fanatics. He also threatened Muslims leaders to give up their claims on the Babri-Masjid plot in Ayodhya or else none can stop the Union government from passing a law on the building of Ram Mandir at the spot. Swamy has made it clear that there was no question of any compromise on the Ram Mandir being built at the spot.

Swamy’s disputable op-ed in 2011, demonising” Islam, led to Harvard University dropping him from its visiting faculty list. Harvard University said Swamy’s views were “reprehensible and clearly crosses the line by demonising an entire religious community and calling for violence against their sacred places”. Harvard had a moral responsibility not to affiliate itself with anyone who express hatred towards a minority group. “There is a distinction between unpopular and unwelcome political views.”

He seeks to declare   ‘Ram Sethu’ as a national heritage monument. Ram Sethu, also known as Adam’s bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka .According to the epic Ramayana, the Ram Sethu bridge was built by the ‘Vanara army’ to rescue Sita, who was kidnapped by Ravana

However his, perhaps better enlightened,younger daughter, Suhasini Haidar, is a print and television journalist married to Nadeem Haidar, the son of former Indian Foreign Secretary Salman Haidar. Last year both husband wife with kids went to Mecca to perform Hajj.

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