PERSECUTION DEVICED WITH INTENTION OF RELIGIOUS DEGRADATION (BY-RITIK SINHA, RISHABH RAJ & KUMAR SAURAV)
Persecution deviced
with intention of religious degradation
Authored By- 1.Ritik Sinha
2. Rishabh Raj
3.Kumar
Saurav
Introduction
Persecution
is treating a group or a certain community in a way that they are deprived of
the right to life and liberty. There can be various reasons for persecution.
For example, a certain religion or caste may be persecuted because they are a
minority. It is systematic mistreatment.In the quest for superiority or
dominance, the inferior has always been persecuted. The Jews were the first to
be persecuted by the Egyptians. In the 1st century A.D., as Christianity
expanded, conflict rose to occupy the Holy Land of Jerusalem. The Roman Empire
started religious genocide at
its outset in the 1st century AD and stopped in the 4th century AD. A term
coined in 1944 by philosopher (polish) Raphael Lemkin is neither new
nor has it ever been.[1]
In
the medieval period, the migration began and a small group of Islamic
believers, i.e., Turkish, Afghani, and other subgroups, migrated to India for
the purpose to widespread Islam in the Indian subcontinent. Much more
persecution took place in the 16th century. Christians were persecuted based on
caste, religion, and other differences. Slavery started in the United States
and slowly became popular around the globe. One of them is "The Holocaust of Europe" by Hitler, where more than 2 million citizens,
mainly Jews, were persecuted by the Nazis of Germany.
Persecution
is one of the most heinous crimes against humanity because it is based on
religion, social, caste, and race.
Hindutva
Affected By Invaders
Invaders
have had an impact on Hindutva: During the ancient era, the Muslim community
migrated for safety.However, gradually, they began to occupy the areas and,
hence, started to rule. The Indian subcontinent was ruled by the Slave dynasty
for 84 years. This was the first Muslim dynasty that reigned in India.
Qutub-ud-din Aibak was the founder of this dynasty. Many temples and colleges
were demolished. A "Sanskrit college of Visaladeva" was demolished in
Ajmer and a mosque foundation was laid. According to the Nizami records, more
than 50,000 people were made slaves. And during the Khijli dynasty, one of the
most famous and ancient universities, Nalanda University, was destroyed by an
invasion.The Mughal dynasty lasted approximately for 200 years and was composed
primarily of Turk and Mongols warriors.
During
this regime, many temples were destroyed, and to promote Islam, other
communities were made to pay taxes (jizya). According to some famous
historians, like Md. Qasim Hindu Shah described how Indians had to go through
violence and destruction during Muslim rule. More than 400 million Hindus were
slaughtered, and those who survived were oppressed. A book written by K.S. Lal
titled "Theory and Practice of Muslim States in India" claims that
the population of the Indian subcontinent went from 200 million in 1000 A.D. to
170 million in 1500 A.D. mostly because of killing, violence, dissemination,
and war.[2]
At
Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Krishna, a temple was being demolished and an
Eidgah mosque was constructed back then in 1670 by Aurangzeb. And later, in
1958, Birla and Dalmia companies constructed a new temple adjacent to the
mosque.
Gyanvapi
mosque, located in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh, was constructed by Aurangzeb in 1669
upon the demolition of an older Shiva temple.[3]
Based on further reports, Shiva linga was being used as a stone fountain, which
was found in the wazu Khanna (ablution tank) of the mosque. Following such an
incident, the local court ordered that a portion of the Gyanvapi mosque
premises be sealed.
After
Aurangzeb’s death, it is said that the fall of Muslim hegemony started and the
British, who had just came for trade, started to get involved in politics. It
is said that it all started when the Portuguese came to India. during the
16th–19th centuries to popularise Christianity in India. The Hindus, Muslims,
and other communities were persecuted by the rulers of the Portuguese
government. Most of them were forced to convert.
When
the East Indian Company came to India, probably in 1600 AD, and started to rule
and colonise India by defeating the Portuguese, The colonial officers started
the destruction of culture, language, education, and social reforms. Due to
colonization, people had to pay taxes, which caused an unbridgeable gap between
the two communities. Many riots occurred, one of them being the partition of
Bengal, where many people died in the name of religion, caste, and community.
According to data, almost 3,000 Hindus were killed post-independence. During
independence, 14.5 million people crossed the border,in which roughly 50,000
people lost their lives because of riots and violence.However, it didn’t
end here. Even after independence, many riots took place. Many saints are still
lynched. The Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (1990), the Akshardham Temple Attack
(2002), and the Godhra Train Burning (2002) are some of the notable incidents.
Exodus
of Kashmiri pandits was one of the horrifying incidents in 1990, but its roots
go back to the time of independence when Hari Singh, king of Jammu and Kashmir,
signed an instrument of accession with the Indian government despite the
majority of Kashmir's belonging to the Muslim community.
Everything
was stable until the 1980s when Sheikh Abdullah’s communal speech gave rise to
Kashmir. He called Kashmir Hindu "Sukhbir", an informer of the Indian
government and also the state government changed the names of about 2500
villages from their original names to new Islamic names, i.e., Anantnag was to
be known as Islamabad.
Faith
conflict has now been started with minority community confronted and threatened
by the majority. At that time, if the Indian cricket team beat Pakistan in
cricket, its consequences stood up against Kashmiri Hindus.In the first
communal violence in south Kashmir in 1986, many Hindu families were killed and
robbed. Women were raped, gang-raped, and then killed brutally by the majority
community. After this phenomenon, Hindus made it clear they were a minority in
Kashmir.
In1987
state election held and after that, the national conference was won by Farooq
Abdullah’s takeover of the throne of Kashmir politics. However, this election
was seen as a medium through which the
Indian government was trying to impede Muslim community rights.
Kashmiri
Hindus had no role in this political turmoil, yet they faced worsened consequences
of the riot. Their shops were looted, women were raped, children were killed,
and many Hindus were burned alive.
Few
such cases are:
Girija,
who by professiona teacher, was brutally raped and killed by a carpenter
machine.
Sarala
Bhatt, who was a nurse, was gang-raped until her death by some jihadists.
Young
militants called themselves ‘Allah tiger’, published a hit list of Kashmiri
Hindus, resulting some prominent figures got killed on the street by jihadists.
Pandit
Neelkanth Manjoo, a retired judge, was assassinated. Same happened with Tikka
laal taploo, a BJP politician.
On
Jan 19, 1990, five lakh people gathered on the road in Jammu and Kashmir to
shout a slogan "Kashmir Banega Pakistan Hindu aurto ke saathHindu mard ke
Bina". All Kashmiri Hindus escaped from Kashmir. Many Hindus were brutally
killed and raped by mobs. No government or international organisation
intervened in this circumstance.[4]
The
Hindusthought it as a matterof few days, but the sad reality is that in 30
years of this event, not even a single arrest or apprehension was made, not a
single person was held responsible for this brutal, inhumane exodus of an
indigenous community from their homeland.[5]
Recently,
director Vivek Agnihotri released the film ‘Kashmir Files’, which was a
commercial and social success, but it was too late for Kashmiri pandit. Because
“justice is denied if it is delayed, but justice is elusive because it took 31
years to reveal the true truth to society.”
Even
now, Hindu persecution is nothing new in the modern era. Last year it was
reported that the desecrated images of Goddess Durga and pandals were destroyed
in Bangladesh. In Pakistan, Hindu families were forced to abandon their houses
and take refugee in mosques. Mostly women were targeted and forcefully married
to convert to their religion. In common words, known as ‘Jihad’. Rinkle Kumari,
a village girl abducted from her home was forced to marry and convert to Islam,
was one of the victims of this jihad, which caused many families to flee Pakistan.
According
to the database, nearly 1,301,185 Hindu lives were lost in 2020. 48% in India,
23% in Pakistan, 24% in Bangladesh, and 5% in Afghanistan. Most of them are in
Meghalaya, India. According to data collected by Christian evangelical groups,
about 1,237,863 illegal conversions took place, 95% in India and 5% in Nepal.
Laws-Related
To Religious Persecution
In India, there was no law related to
prosecution based on religion, but after the utter Pradesh
Government’s initiative
regarding love jihad (Hindu girl religion conversion by marrying her) Uttar
Pradesh Odisha and Madhya Pradesh followed the Vidhi Virudh Dharma
Samparivartan Pratishh Adhyadhesh, 2020 ordinance, but it was not new as it
existed prior to independence.[6]
Before
Independence
Raigarh
State Conversion Act, 1936
Surguja
State Apostasy Act, 1942
Udaipur
State Anti-Conversion Act, 1946
After
independence,
The
Freedom of Religion Act 2006 was unanimously passed by Himachal legislation.
The
bill was intended to prevent forcible conversions.[7]
These
conversion bills, acts, and ordinances are effective against unlawful
conversion, unlawful inter-faith marriages, allurement, convincing for
conversion, force, fraudulent, coercion, undue influence, minors, religion,
mass conversion, and religion convertors.Article 25 (b)
uses the term "Hindus" for all classes and sections of Hindus, Jains,
Buddhists, and Sikhs. Many Sikhs and Buddhists objected to this wording because
it makes many Hindu personal laws applicable to them.[8]
Now
let's discuss about our neighbourMuslim nations, i.e. Bangladesh, Afghanistan,
and Pakistan.
Bangladesh
came into existence in 1971 after its independence from Pakistan. Later, after
1971, approximately 4 lakh women were raped in refugee camps due to west
Pakistan. Hindu women who were raped forcefullygot converted into
Muslims.
War
victims' children, who were war children, were not accepted after independence,
neither in Pakistan nor in Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman honoured war
victims women as Birangonas (war heroines) but didn’t accepted at all.
In
2013, ten temples were destroyed. From 1971 till today, approx 800 temples have
been demolished. The Hindu community in Pakistan that is in the minority is
being forced to get converted and is facing atrocities. Pakistan declared
itself an Islamic country, whereas India remained a secular country rather than
a Hindu country. In Afghanistan, minorities are being treated as refugees,
whereas the truth is that they are natives.
Conclusion
India
is a secular country and is considered supreme because of the diversity in its
nature, culture, ethics, linguistics, and religion. When there is a secular
country, it is treated as supreme. But that wasn’t how it started. Many great
people have played with blood and also lost their lives to preserve the glory
of this country. They didn’t look for Hindus, Muslims, or Sikhs. They looked
for only a religion known as "India".
Then
why today? Why so many atrocities against Hindus? Why are there so many
differences among religions? And why only Hindus? They have been facing issues
worldwide. Isn’t it against the natural justice?
We
have experienced riots between Hindus and Muslims. The Ayodhya dispute, where
in 1992, the Babri masjid was destroyed on the basis of claim that the same was built after
demolishing the Lord Ram temple. “M Siddiq v. Suresh Das & Ors, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, is the birthplace of Lord Ram. According to Hindu
mythology, an ancient Ram temple was also said to be located near the
birthplace.[9] However,
in 1528, the first Mughal Emperor, Babur, demolished the Lord Ram temple and
erected the Babri Masjid mosque on the site. It was afterwards demolished by
the kar savaks in the year 1992. The construction and dismantling of religious
structures has resulted in a dispute between Hindus and Muslims, with each
community claiming ownership of the contested location. The final judgement in
2019 of the five judge supreme court bench headed by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi
announced that the land would be handed over to build the Hindu temple. In addition,
the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board will be given an additional five
acres of land on which to build the mosque.[10]
“For
the creation to run smoothly, there is a need to adopt a society and
understanding based on brotherhood rather than religion”.