Extremism

BJP incited a full-blown massacre against Muslims in the capital city of New Delhi: Owaisi at ISNA

Owaisi was speaking at the annual conference of ISNA, one of the largest and most influential Muslim groups in the United States

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), president and four-time member of parliament of India Asaduddin Owaisi has said that India’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is “part of a larger movement known as Hindutva” whose founders were “inspired by the ideas of fatherland and racial supremacy espoused by the Nazis and fascists in Europe at the time.”

According to a report by Sunday Guardian, Owaisi made these allegations at the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), one of the largest and most influential Muslim groups in the United States.

The AIMIM led by Owaisi is a regional Indian political party that seeks to protect the rights of Muslims and other minorities.

As mentioned by the report, Owaisi spoke at a session hosted by the Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC), “the stories of Muslims Lynched and Oppressed under the Hindutva Regime” at ISNA’s 57th Annual Convention held virtually on 5-6 September.

During his speech, Owaisi, according to the report, alleged that “since its founding, the BJP has run on a majoritarian Hindu nationalist plank that seeks to turn India from a secular constitutional republic to a Hindu rashtra or a Hindu state. Hindutva is rabidly anti-Muslim and the BJP has repeatedly mobilized public opinion against Muslim citizens.”

Earlier, when US President Donald Trump proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, Owaisi “saluted the brave mothers of Palestinians who have sacrificed not one but lakhs [thousands] of their children for the defence of Bait ul Muqaddas [Jerusalem].”

In another speech posted a month earlier, Owaisi declared that Muslims will “fly their flag on Masjid al-Aqsa (“Temple Mount”). He said that “Israel was not only vile towards Gaza, it was vile towards all Muslim countries.” Owaisi applauded the “brave mujahideen who are fighting today in Gaza and sacrificing everything.” He invoked the well-known hadith (“Islamic tradition”) that says the Day of Judgement “will not come unless the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them.”

On September 6, at the IMRC session, Owaisi said that Indian Muslims faced “systemic and structural discrimination” and “are the poorest religious group and their poverty has only increased with each generation.”

According to the report, Owaisi criticized the government’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying that it “explicitly excludes Muslims from becoming citizens.”

“The ruling party incited a full-blown massacre against Muslims in the capital city of New Delhi,” Owaisi said about the Delhi pogrom earlier this year that followed country-wide protests against the CAA. “The message was to teach Muslims a lesson,” the report quoted Owaisi as having said.

Owaisi claimed that a majority of those killed in the riots were Muslim, many Hindus also perished in the communal clashes, including civilians, a police officer and an Intelligence Bureau staffer. Investigations have also revealed the involvement of the radical Islamist Popular Front of India (PFI) in the Delhi riots. PFI has also been suspected of instigating the Bengaluru riots last month, the report mentioned.

He also censored the government for “the largest troop presence in erstwhile state JK [Jammu & Kashmir]” and the “severe restrictions” faced by the Kashmiri people since decades.

 

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