Delhi Preschool Cancels Students’ Field Trip To Mosque Over Hindu Supremacist Bajrang Dal’s Threat
A Delhi preschool was forced to cancel a field trip to a mosque after the Bajrang Dal, a violent Hindu supremacist group, threatened to stage a protest at the mosque during the field trip, putting the young children’s safety at risk.
Bajrang Dal member Ketan Trivedi claimed that the protest was threatened because “we don’t know the concept and agenda of school management to take students to the mosque.
“If the school management does not stick to its assurance of dropping visit, Bajrang Dal will do what it is known for, a protest at the visiting site, and if any untoward incident occurs, school management will be responsible and not Bajrang Dal,” he threatened, implying the possibility of the students or teachers being harmed.
Hindu supremacist groups have increasingly begun staging protests and filing complaints against the teaching and inclusion of non-Hindu traditions, particularly Muslim traditions, demanding Hindu-centric curriculums and activities for students.
Kashmiri Leader Says BJP Has “Criminalized” Having Faith In India’s Constitution
Former Jammu & Kashmir lawmaker Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying the central government had “criminalized” faith in the Indian Constitution.
“The Central government is walking on the path to destroy the Constitution… Today the government of India considers it a crime in Kashmir to believe in the Constitution,” he said, addressing Kashmiri youth before a student march.
He further slammed the BJP for its Hindu supremacist ideology, saying, “The Preamble of the Constitution of India says, ‘We, the people of India… but, they [BJP] use, ‘We, the Hindus of India’ as the new reference, which is unacceptable.”
Tarigami also called upon the central government to restore Kashmir’s special status as a semi-autonomous region of India, which was stripped in 2019 by the Modi regime.
Indian military presence remains heavily stationed throughout Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region. Indian security forces have been responsible for wanton killings and arrests of Kashmiri civilians for decades.
Uttar Pradesh High Court Postpones Verdict On Jailed Muslim Journalist’s Bail Plea
The High Court of Uttar Pradesh state has postponed its verdict on the bail plea of Muslim journalist Siddique Kappan, who has languished as a prisoner of conscience since 2020 and whose imprisonment has sparked global condemnation.
Kappan was arrested in October 2020 while travelling to the Hathras region of Uttar Pradesh to cover the rape and murder of a teenaged Dalit girl by caste-privileged Hindu men. Due to his Muslim identity, Kappan was charged under India’s draconian anti-terror laws and has remained in jail despite global outrage.
Kappan has faced inhumane treatment and conditions while imprisoned, including being beaten, mental torture, and failing to receive adequate healthcare. In 2021, he contracted Covid-19, causing his health to decline to the point where he was transferred to a Delhi hospital for treatment.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has listed Kappan on its Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List, along with over 30 other Indian victims of detention based on religious identity.
