For decades, India has been regarded as the biggest democracy of the world. With its population of almost 1.2 billion and consisting of large number of religious groups, maintaining a balance between these groups has always been an asking challenge for all the governments and parties of the country. There are two major political groups in the country; Indian National Congress and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).
If Hindus enjoy as being the majority group in the country, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and a number of other religious groups also co-exist with them. Contrary to the claims of Indian governments, the conditions for the religious minorities have always not been much favorable. Riots between Hindus and Muslims, attacks on places of worship and property of Muslims and Christians, and discriminatory laws against minorities have been a matter of concern for the minority groups right from the existence of this country in 1947.
Recent events are quite alarming. In the outskirts of Delhi, a mob of Hindus attacked on house of Muhammad Ikhlaq. As a result, Muhammad Ikhlaq was killed by the mob while all of his family members were injured. He was accused to eating the meat of cow. Three days before this, a man was tortured and killed by a group of Hindus calling him to be a Pakistani agent. However, the following investigations have not proved that the accusations were correct.
Due to intense media coverage, the case of killing of Muhammad Ikhlaq became a national issue. Opposition parties are using it as a strong point to criticize the government. On the other hand, Muslim groups and human right activists are not happy of silence of the vocal Prime Minister who has been very active on commenting on different issues through his Twitter account. It was followed by so many actions in this regard. Slaughtering of cow was banned in a number of provinces of the country, giving rise to so many other controversies. So many people went to the courts against this decision of provincial governments. It must be cleared here that millions of people are directly or indirectly linked with the business of cow meat as it is considerably cheaper than other meat types. Although Hindus regard cow as one of their gods and they don’t eat but according to actual statistics, members of all the minority groups, tribal groups and large numbers of Hindus also eat meat.
The statement of a BJP leader was like spilling oil on the already blazing fire when he said that all those who want to eat the meat of cow should leave India and go to Pakistan. Similarly, the statement of the Chief Minister of Haryana province was also of the same intensity, who was reported to say that if Muslims want to live in India, they should respect the values of Hinduism and avoid eating the meat of cow.
Transporting cows and other cattle has also become very dangerous. Hindu nationalist groups have many times attacked and injured those who have been transporting the cattle.
After the incident of the killing of Muhammad Ikhlaq, nation seems divided on the issue. If there are many who have criticized this brutal killing of a human being on mere case of eating meat, many others want that anyone trying to eat meat should be succumbed to the same destiny and there should not be any kind of leniency with them.
Before this, Two writers were shot down by unidentified men who had criticized government against the increasing activities of Hindu nationalist groups. Many more have been threatened and ordered to stop criticizing the extremist groups. Angry on the silence of central government on the killing of writers, a number of writers returned their prestigious Sahitya literature awards.
According to some analysts, it is the game of some right wing and Hindu nationalist political parties to win Hindu votes. On the other hand, it is also called the game of Hindu nationalist groups against Muslims to attack them so that they should be forced to leave India and their dream of making an absolute Hindu society should be achieved.
Whatever may be the hidden objectives of this wave of terror and discrimination against Indian Muslims, the actual causes are others. The first cause is illiteracy in which people are not actually aware of the true objectives of a religion. I am sure there would be no religion that should believe in spreading hatred and killing people of other beliefs on petty issues of eating this or that. Large numbers of Hindus have in fact condemned the incidents and called it against humanity. Second cause is the existence of extremist groups on the name of religion, nationalism and other differences. There are a number of Hindu nationalist groups in India that work to promote hatred, as their mere existence needs such controversial issues.
Such groups are in fact failing the state by promoting hatred, ceasing the successful practice of democracy, and violating human rights. Such groups are found in a number of third world countries as they feed on illiteracy and lack of knowledge of masses. Taliban, ISIS and other groups in our country and other countries are one of the worst cases of this problem.
It is the internal issue of India in which no one has any right to interfere but a true democracy protects the rights of individuals and allows them to make the choices of their own. It would be very disappointing if people were deprived of their basic rights on the name of religion or anything else.