Indian Muslims in America condemn failure to control religious violence

Washington DC: Responding to news reports in the Indian media reporting the lynching of an old Muslim man in Dadri – a village near New Delhi, the nation’s capital – the Washington DC based Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) has condemned in “very strong terms” the recent upsurge of organized violence by a segment of extremist Hindu groups, exploiting the reverence that a segment of Hindus hold for the cow.

AIM is an NGO of a large number of Indian Muslims who live in North America.

Kaleem Kawaja, the Executive Director of the Association expressed shock that in a modern and industrially advanced country like India, the ruling Hindu Nationalist BJP party is exploiting the politics of the cow to polarize the nation along religious lines. After winning election in the western state of Maharashtra in November 2014, the BJP party government in that state made the possession and sale of beef a criminal offense.

Since then BJP is busy inciting the religious sentiments of Hindus related to the cow, in several populous north Indian states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, they may be having election in the near future. It should be noted though that in 10 of the 28 states in the eastern and southern regions of India, slaughter of cows and sale of beef is legal.

The recent organized lynching of an old Muslim man in Dadri village was conducted by a group of extremist Hindus who were riled up by the organizers of the crime circulating a false rumour from a Hindu temple naming him as having killed a cow and eaten its meat.

At the same time in a contradictory action India’s BJP government is putting extensive efforts to increase export of beef from India. India is already the nation that exports the highest amount of beef, over 2,000 tons annually, to other countries.

Kawaja demanded that the Indian government and Prime Minister Modi make transparent efforts to apprehend and punish those responsible for organizing and committing this dastardly crime in Dadri village. The government must also apprehend those who are exploiting the religious sentiments of Hindus on the issue of cows and are creating Hindu-Muslim tension in various states in India for their selfish political gains.