News Right Now: Caught in a Landslide

Assalamu Alaikum, Welcome to News Right Now: Caught in a Landslide

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently won another election, and his Hindu Nationalist BJP Party won more seats in Parliament than when it first took power in 2014. The elections took 6 weeks to accommodate the country’s 900 million voters. Despite his lofty ideals of treating all of India’s citizens equally, India’s massive Muslim population fears for their future as aggressive Hindu nationalists reassert their influence on the country.

India’s Muslims still remember Modi’s overseeing of the infamous Gujurat riots, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed, when he was governor of Gujurat province. In recent years, Muslims have been victim of mob attacks simply for selling beef. Last year, an 8-year old Muslim girl was kidnapped, repeatedly gang-raped, tortured, and then murdered. A police report later revealed that the attack was a plan to intimidate Muslims to leave the area.

Government officials have also referred to Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh and other places as termites, underscoring their hatred and bias for Muslims. In a testament to such bias and hatred against Muslims, hundreds took to the streets and marched. But many of the local protests were in support of the eight Hindu men charged with the gruesome attack, and not in solidarity with the victim and her family.

Two BJP ministers serving in the state government, Chaudhary Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, were among those who took to the streets to support the alleged perpetrators. According to media reports, this wasn't an isolated case. There have been several instances where members of the BJP party have openly supported the perpetrators of religious violence, fueling Muslims’ fear of the BJP and its elected officials.

The situation of the Muslims of India is a tragedy, and it mirrors that of the Muslims in Kashmir, and Myanmar, and Xinjiang in China - where Muslims are beaten and killed simply for showing outward signs of Islam. This all happens despite the Muslim world collectively possessing hundreds of millions of soldiers, nuclear weapons, strategic and logistical expertise, immense natural resources, and an unbreakable aqeedah. The only thing that’s stopping them from rushing to the aid of their brothers and sisters are the pathetic rulers that loom over them so they can answer the command:

(مِّنۡ شَىۡءٍ حَتّٰى يُهَاجِرُوۡا‌ۚ وَاِنِ اسۡتَـنۡصَرُوۡكُمۡ فِى الدِّيۡنِ فَعَلَيۡكُمُ النَّصۡرُ اِلَّا عَلٰى قَوۡمٍۢ بَيۡنَكُمۡ وَبَيۡنَهُمۡ مِّيۡثَاقٌ ؕ وَاللّٰهُ بِمَا تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ بَصِيۡرٌ)

“And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help, except against a people between yourselves and whom is a treaty. And Allah is Seeing of what you do.” [Anfal: 72]

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