Anti-Muslim Hysteria Fast Peaking To A Crescendo As A Railway Policeman Kills Three Men On A Train

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 5 August 2023 The Attack Was Clearly A Lone Wolf Attack By A Terrorist Main Points: 1. The attacker killed a scheduled caste Hindu and three Muslims. 2. The attacks were apparently his reaction to a political debate with his senior. 3. Chetan Singh was radicalised by Hindutva hate campaign. 4. He mentioned media channels as his inspiration. 5. Passengers may avoid travelling in trains after this incident. ------ Citizens hold placards during a silent protest " Not in My Name " against the targeted lynching, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Credit: PTI/Shahbaz Khan ------ For the last few years Islamophobia in India has seen a fast and dangerous rise. Mob lynching, violence during Shobha Yatras (religious processions by Hindus), a new trend among Hindus as a reaction to the rise of Juloos-e-Mohammadi by Muslims have become more recurrent. Every religious procession (Shobha Yatra) more or less results in a communal clash. Since Yatras comprise participants from outside, the resident Muslims bear the brunt of the police and the administration. They are arrested for taking part in the violence and booked under various section of the law. Nowadays, they are not only booked by rioting but also their houses are demolished by with the help of bulldozers. Since the participants in the Shobha Yatra are outsiders, they are not identified and go scot free. This has also been the pattern of government action against the rioters in Haryana. But apart from this organised violence against Muslims in India, there is a new trend of communal violence against India. The slaughter of three Muslim by an armed railway policeman on a train near Mumbai is indicative of a new trend of hate and violence against unarmed, innocent and unsuspecting Muslims. The policeman named Chetan Singh openly announced his ideological affiliation to the Hindutva ideology which preaches hate and violence against Muslims, Christians and other minorities. He also.mentions the Indian media channels as his inspiration and the source of information about how Indian Muslims operate or from where they get instructions. The scene of Hindu passengers chanting Hanuman Chalisa to disturb the Namaz of a co-passenger on a train by general Hindus demonstrates how the Hindu society has been radicalised. They are filled with hate of Muslims thanks to the round the clock hate campaign run by the media channels. It was not very long ago that a procession with the national flag was taken out in support of the rapists of 8 year old Kathua girl and the Hindu lawyer had got gang rape threats for fighting the victim's case. This shows what degree of moral degradation the majority Indian society has sunk in. Now a crime, no matter how heinous it may be, is not considered a crime against Muslims, Dalits and Christians. Apart from violence, immoral acts by Indians on airplanes like urinating on women passengers have become normal. To what degree this malady of Hindutva ideology has affected and influenced the thought process of even the highly educated class of India can be gauged from the fact that a few days ago, a judge of Kolkata High Court, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, while hearing a petition filed by a woman against illegal construction by the local goons, said to the authorities of Kolkata Municipal Corporation that the Mamata government should hire a bulldozer from the government of Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh. Though he made this remark in jest, it raises an alarm over the rising criminal mentality among the Indian intelligentsia. The bulldozer has been used to illegally demolish the houses of accused in crimes not related to property disputes. In Madhya Pradesh, the house of a Muslim was reportedly demolished with bulldozer for allegedly spitting on a Hindu procession, though there was no evidence of the reported crime. In Khargone, the houses of Muslims, including the house of a widow was demolished for allegedly pelting stones at a Shobha Yatra. If a judge of a High court glorifies this illegal practice of bulldozed justice, what hope is left for minorities in India. A few years ago, a radicalised Muslim youth of Bangladesh had admitted that he was influenced and inspired by Zakir Naik 's ideology on his Television channel. His channel was banned and cases were registered against Zakir Naik. Here Chetan Singh announces in a loud voice that he is inspired by the Indian media channels and two political leaders, he is presented as unstable. Shouldn't the media channels be banned for radicalising Hindu youth? Two years ago, the youth belonging to a particular Hindutva brigade surrounded a Muslim girl Muskan Khan and chanted 'Jai Shri Ram' to which she chanted Allah o Akbar. This has turned the Indian society into a virtual battleground of communal ideologies which, if allowed to continue, may well turn into a civil war. Apoorvanand, in his article, has expressed same apprehensions over the growing Islamophobia in India. He is more worried over the fact that now the general Hindus nurture hatred of Muslims and do not hesitate to demonstrate their hate in public. If a Muslim arranges Namaz for the Muslims of his neighbourhood in his private land, the neighbourhood Hindus object to it. Now this hatred has not remained limited to the members of religious organisations. Now even children of Hindu families talk of shooting Muslims on trains. This has compelled many Muslims to avoid jour ey by train. But how long will they take other means of transport. If the hate keeps rising, someday some one may shoot Muslims on board a bus. The most unfortunate part of this development, Apoorvanand laments, is that neither the government apparatus nor the middle class intelligentsia has shown any concern. The reason is that they think that this is all happening against them; it's all happening against Muslims and Christians of the country. But they forget that when moral degradation becomes a psychological disease, it does not differentiate among people, It turns backwards. The example of Pakistan is before us. Muslim women are raped by Muslims; Muslim protesters are molested and raped in jails; Muslims are slaughtered by Muslims on political, sectarian and ethnic grounds. In India, Dalit women are raped and paraded naked by upper caste Hindus. Dalit boys are killed by upper caste Hindu teachers for drinking water from pitchers meant only for upper caste teachers. Examples galore. Therefore, if this campaign of hate and violence is not halted, it will not only harm minorities, but also damage the Hindu society and culture in the long run. ----- Muslim Life in India Has Become Dangerously Uncertain By Apoorvanand 03/AUG/2023 The news of a police constable shooting his senior, a Hindu from the ST community and then proceeding to shoot three others, all visibly Muslims in a moving train is scarier than the news of a mob attack. We do not yet know what was the trigger for this police officer to go on a shooting spree. Is it a coincidence that all three murdered by him after he killed his senior, a Hindu, happen to be Muslims and could be identified as Muslims from their ‘clothes’? Did their appearance betray them and trigger the policeman? How do we explain his angry and cold sermon to those whom he had killed to vote for Modi and Yogi? Can we see a connection between the identity of his targets and his apparent loyalty to Modi and Yogi? In normal times, such questions will be asked and we would expect those who have the skill and resources to investigate such crimes to find the motives behind them. In normal times and normal societies too, such murders take place. Or, we can even say that there is in fact no normal. Abnormalities abound in overtly normal situations. But we can hope to get the right answer to the questions after such horror in those societies. Can we say the same about India, our land? We know the answer. Were such a crime to happen in a country like the USA, which is the desired destination of many Indians, or in any other country in the West, the head of the state would appear on TV and make a public statement. Especially when the murderer invokes his name as a cover for his crime. The head of state would have denounced it and distanced herself from the murderer. But here in India, neither the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh nor the Prime Minister of India have stirred. What should we conclude from their silence? That the rulers do not feel responsible for the action of one of their people or do not feel accountable to those whom they are supposed to protect? No remorse even for that? They do not deserve even a word of condolence? Should not the railway minister apologise to those killed by his man? What should be the response from the chief of the Railway Protection Force, whose man has committed four murders? His act has now created a feeling of insecurity among all railway passengers. Would not the sight of a policeman with a firearm make travellers uneasy and fearful? Would they not lose their sleep when they see armed police personnel sitting in their coach? After all, the seniors of the constable accepted that he was a man of unstable nature. Despite that, they entrusted him with the job of looking after the security of the passengers. How responsible have they been? Do they have no sense of repentance? Why do we see no expression of it? A sleeper coach of the Indian Railways. Photo: Draconian Rain/Flickr CC BY NC 2.0 ------ Should not the state have shown that it feels accountable by announcing extraordinary compensation for the lives lost due to its carelessness, if we accept the claims of the officials that the murderer was mentally unstable? Should not the railway officials have the courtesy, at the minimum, to accompany the dead to their families? The absence of remorse, shame, or repentance in the state apparatus should worry us. For the murdered passengers, the police officer was the State. He was not a private citizen. He had the power of violence. Which was used against unarmed, non-violent, unsuspecting citizens he was supposed to protect. The State has to take responsibility. Respected news platforms have censured his words of allegiance to the BJP leaders. They are digging into his past to establish that a psychiatric disorder and not politics should be held responsible for the murders. Why did they edit out the uncomfortable part of the story, which exposes the political ideology behind the slaughter? Can we say that the constable tried to cover up the murder of his senior by killing three Muslims? Because now, murdering Muslims is seen as normal in India. It is perfectly normal for Hindus to get offended by a Muslim’s very appearance. How do we explain that persons with no criminal history get provoked by visible Muslim-ness? Just before the circulation of the video of these murders, we watched another video in which a Muslim man is surrounded by Hindus. We are informed that he was silently offering Namaz. The sight of a Muslim performing Namaz provoked the Hindus so much that they opened their mobiles and read aloud Hanuman Chalisa from their devices, in responding to his Namaz! One can say that these two incidents are not related. But we know they are. The Namaz, a Muslim act, or the beard or cap or burqa, can now trigger perfectly normal Hindus of a loving nature. It must be the fault of the Muslims who provoke non-violent, ever tolerant Hindus to resort to what they would never do normally: hate and violence. It was again a coincidence that the news of these murders came with more news of violence from the Mewat region of Haryana. A VHP procession was stopped by a group of Muslims and pelted with stones. The procession was not religious. It was taken out after violent anti-Muslim announcements by the organisers. It was also announced that Monu Manesar, who is the main accused in the murders of two Muslim youths Nasir and Junaid a couple of months ago, would be part of the procession. It was meant to anger Muslims. A man who openly announces his desire to eliminate Muslims, who is a murder accused, who is wanted by the Rajasthan police, was to participate, which is nothing but open humiliation of Muslims. Why was this procession allowed? Why is a person accused of the murder of two Muslims allowed to hide in the open by the Haryana government? Why has it not handed him over to the Rajasthan police? Would people committing violence against Muslims not be considered criminals anymore? All these incidents are related. The murder of Muslims in the train would not have been possible if Monu Manesar was apprehended and brought to justice. It would not have happened if the Prime Minister had not asked Hindus to identify those who oppose the government by their clothes. It would not have happened if the killers of Mohsin Sheikh were not let off by the courts with the explanation that it was his appearance which invited the attack on him. What does this attack do to us? Who is affected by it? Definitely Muslims who have already been feeling that public spaces are not safe for them. Now, even in crowded spaces like a moving train, they would feel more vulnerable. They have to keep guessing who among the co-passengers would get provoked by what. What caution do they have to exercise to remain safe? I recall a note written by a Muslim woman three to four years ago. Travelling on a train, a child asked her husband if he was a Muslim. When he said, yes, the child said that he should be shot. The Muslim woman wrote that after that they almost gave up travelling by train. It was costly for them but they changed their mode of travel. This incident has shown two things: Muslim life in India has become dangerously uncertain and Hindus have been radicalised to such an extent that now you do not need organised violence. Violence against Muslims and Christians has become part of Hindu life. People would object to the generalisation but is it not a fact now? Hindu society will have to reverse this trend to save itself. It is the most urgent task it cannot ignore or delay. ----- Source: Muslim Life in India Has Become Dangerously Uncertain URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/anti-muslim-hysteria-railway-policeman/d/130389 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism