Opposition MPs defy ban on BBC documentary exposing Modi’s role in Muslim pogrom
Two members of Indian parliament from the opposition Trinamool Congress party, Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brien, shared the link to a BBC documentary that exposed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in a pogrom of Muslims in Gujarat state in 2002.
Their move came shortly after Modi’s government blocked the airing of the BBC documentary, titled “India: The Modi Question,” and directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to it. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has criticized the documentary as a “propaganda piece” claiming it lacked objectivity and reflected a colonial mindset.
Twitter removed the tweet from O’Brien.
The documentary claimed that a team sent by the UK government to inquire into the 2002 massacre, in which nearly 2,000 Muslims were killed, found that Modi, who was then the state’s chief minister, had prevented the police from stopping violence targeted at Muslims and was “directly responsible for a climate of impunity” that led to the violence.
The government has issued orders to Twitter to block over 50 tweets linking to the video of the documentary and YouTube has been instructed to block any uploads of the video.
Modi was named the candidate for the prime minister by the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2013 and led it to power in elections in 2014 and then in 2019.
The second part of the documentary, which examines the Modi government’s track record following his re-election in 2019, will be released on January 24.
Hindu mob assaults Muslim men at Hindu woman’s birthday party; police arrest victims
A violent mob of over 100 Hindu supremacists barged into the home of a Hindu woman while she was celebrating her birthday and assaulted five of her Muslim friends on frivolous allegations of “love jihad.”
The video of the incident from BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh state that is viral on social media shows the Hindu extremists attacking the Muslim men while sloganeering “Jai Shri Ram,” a Hindu religious slogan-turned-war cry by Hindu extremists.
The violent mob tried to force the Hindu woman to file a complaint against the Muslim men but she refused. She told the police that she was only celebrating her birthday with friends.
Following the assault, the Hindu mob took the Muslim men to the police station where the police jailed them without any evidence.
The assault is the latest in a series of violent crimes committed against Muslim men for having relationships, real or perceived, with Hindu women. Hindu supremacists often accuse these men of “love jihad,” a conspiracy theory that claims Muslim men have an agenda to seduce Hindu women and forcibly convert them to Islam. Muslim men accused of Love Jihad have been publicly beaten, verbally abused, and arrested, sometimes for as little as being in the presence of a Hindu woman.
Hindu supremacist calls for converting 30,000 mosques into temples
Spewing anti-Muslim hate during a public rally in Rajasthan state, a Hindu supremacist called for converting 30,000 mosques in India into temples.
The Hindu supremacist, Mantri Ishwar Lal, is a member of notorious Hindu paramilitary outfits Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
He made calls for the boycott of Halal products saying that it would economically impact the Muslim community. “Never buy Halal products. Who gets the money? Muslims,” said Lal.
He further added that Hindu supremacist organizations are striving to make India a “Hindu Nation.”
Tridents were also distributed among the hundreds of Hindu supremacists who attended the rally, to further encourage violence against Muslims.
Hindu supremacist organizations have been offering violent training sessions across the nation as calls for the genocide of Muslims grow increasingly common. Oath-taking events, during which Hindu extremists swear to fight for a Hindu state, have also grown commonplace.
