Confronted by a flood of condemnations by a wide range of nations, of a piece of Islamophobic hate speech about Prophet Mohammed by a prominent spokesperson of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party, the Modi Government went into defensive mode. It sought to distance itself from the offender Nupur Sharma by declaring that she was a mere “fringe element” - not someone these foreign governments should take seriously. The BJP then went on to suspend Ms Sharma and expel its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal who had also tweeted the same offensive material about Prophet Mohammed.
The episode raises several issues. In the first place, why does the Modi regime (and the BJP) respond to protests by countries on both sides of the Persian Gulf, but refuse to act in response to protests by Indians against the same brand of hate speech by BJP leaders? Is it the prospect of harm to the markets and economic interests of its two closest crony capitalists Adani and Ambani, that draws a response from the Modi regime?
It is indeed ironic that the BJP wishes to prevent Arab nations from boycotting Indian businesses in protest against hate speech; but in India, BJP leaders advance their political careers by calling for the boycott of Muslim businesses, street vendors, and even halal meat.
The fact is that the Modi Government’s damage control actions are far from sufficient. Not only Noopur Sharma and Naveen Jindal but the anchors of TV shows (such as Navika Kumar of Times Now) who invited and encouraged Ms Sharma to indulge in hate speech, should face criminal prosecution for seeking to incite violence against India’s minority Muslim community. Also, BJP leaders like the notorious Kapil Sharma who had tweeted their vocal support for Ms Sharma must also face criminal prosecution.
But will the Modi regime actually take such action? Its past record indicates the opposite: the Delhi Police as well as police in BJP-ruled states for instance have refused to prosecute Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and other BJP leaders, as well as several Hindu supremacist hatemongers for calling for the murder, massacre and rape of Muslims. They have instead arrested Muslims for the communal crimes of which they were victims.
The barefaced dishonesty of the Modi regime stands exposed by its claim that the national spokesperson and former Delhi University Students Union President Nupur Sharma and the Delhi media head of the party Naveen Jindal are “fringe” elements! Such strategic distance from its most loyal leaders and foot soldiers is actually an old RSS tactic when faced with the heat of investigation, criminal prosecution, or even embarrassment. The RSS had declared Gandhi’s assassin Godse to be a fringe element - a claim Godse’s brother and family have always vehemently denied. When RSS founder Golwalkar’s fulsome praise for Hitler’s purge of Jews, in the pages of his We and Our Nationhood Defined became proof positive of the RSS’ fascist character, it began to claim that We was a fringe book by some fringe author, rather than the RSS Bible it had been till then.
The fact is that the abusive language used by Ms Sharma is far from “fringe” - it is very much mainstream across the entire BJP and RSS ecosystem. Modi himself, and his deputy Shah, have both repeatedly referred to the Muslim community in dehumanising and genocidal language.
The international outrage over hate speech is a chance for India to look in the mirror, and see how its image and stature stand diminished thanks to the BJP’s mainstreaming of anti-Muslim hate.
