Attacks on Hindus and Hindu Dharma, both in Bharat and overseas, are frequent and unrelenting. In many regions of the world, this persecution is like a genocide slowly unfolding before our eyes. For decades, the world has ignored the actual depth and breadth of these attacks, driven by disturbing anti-Hindu bigotry. From murders, forced conversions, land grabs, assault on festivals, desecration of temples and murtis, hate speech, and sexual violence to institutionalized & legal discrimination, Hindus are facing an increasing assault on their very existence along with an unprecedented Hindu hatred.
In this weekly summary for the period from 2 April to 8 April 2023, we hope to provide a snapshot of such crimes and hopefully awaken more people around the world to this human rights crisis:
Bharat
1) Rajasthan Police have detained 11 Muslim youths for pelting stones at the Hindu Ranbheri bike rally which was being taken out in Jaipur Rural last Sunday, March 26.
2) A day after violence erupted during Ram Navami Shobha Yatra, some people were involved in looting shops in Bihar’s Nalanda, an official said. 27 people have been arrested in this connection.
3) A female domestic help was murdered by a labourer who worked at a power loom in the Gopalbagh colony under the Jaitpura police station in Varanasi. The incident came to light when the accused Rizwan reached Jaitpura police station and informed cops that he killed the woman, Sonam.
4) In a horrific incident, a vigraha of Bhagwan Ganesha was vandalized by unidentified miscreants in one of Andhra Pradesh’s ancient Ganapati temples in Firangipuram, Guntur. The miscreants broke the stomach part of the vigraha and fled from the spot. According to news reports, the incident is said to have happened on the night of April 3.
5) A murti of Shri Hanuman was vandalised in Sahibganj town of Jharkhand in the early hours of Monday and a person has been detained in connection with the incident, an official said. The one-and-half-foot tall murti is housed in a temple under a tree in the Sahibganj town police station area, 425 km from the capital Ranchi.
6) After the violence in Shibpur and Kazipara areas in Howrah district on March 30, a similar clash broke out on Sunday evening between two groups of people at Rishra in West Bengal’s Hooghly district over the Ram Navami procession in which BJP vice-president and Lok Sabha MP Dilip Ghosh along with other leaders had also participated.
7) Islamist violence on the occasion of Sri Ram Navami that began on the eve of the festival at several places has continued well into the weekend. Violence was reported from Bihar, WB, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand.
8) A Christian school in Telangana banned a Hindu student who had taken Anjaneya Deeksha from wearing saffron clothes. He was allowed to follow the customs associated with the Deeksha after Hindu outfits protested against the school’s decision. The school Principal, a nun, reportedly accepted her mistake and apologised.
9) Maheswari, daughter of Srinivasan a native of Chidambaram, worked in an ice cream parlour run by Bakim Aslam, son of Ashiq. Aslam trapped Maheswari in a relationship and sexually exploited her on the promise of marriage. But when she became pregnant, Aslam refused to marry her citing his father Ashiq’s objection.
10) Islamists raised the Sar Tan Se Juda (STSJ) slogan targeting Hindu activist Kajal Shingla on March 31 at Gir Somnath District’s Una town. They accused the activist of delivering an ‘anti-Muslim’ speech during the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra on March 30. Videos of the incident went viral on social media.
11) An FIR has been lodged against Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya with the Kotwali police of Rae Bareli in connection with a video that purportedly showed him making an “objectionable comment on Lord Ram”. In the video, Maurya can be heard saying — “Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram…” and pauses for the crowd to complete the sentence saying “…Hawa main ud gaye Jai Shri Ram” — a contentious political slogan that was coined in the early 1990s.
12) A Hindu SC family was attacked by Muslim youth in Karnataka’s Srirangapatna.
World
1) Bharatiya post-grad student Karan Kataria was targeted at the London School of Economics (LSE) because of his Hindu identity.
Most hate crimes are driven by anti-Hindu bigotry encoded in certain religious teachings and political ideologies. While the anti-Hindu hate in Islamic countries is evident, there is another subtler form of anti-Hindu sentiment within institutions and the public sphere of ostensibly secular states (like India) that provides an enabling environment for Hinduphobia and hate crimes. This subtle, everyday discrimination can be missed unless one studies prevailing laws and patterns. The gradual ban on firecrackers during Diwali is a good example – it might seem pollution-related on the surface. Still, the double standards at play become apparent when one looks at the larger picture of restrictions on Hindu festivals and the lack of sound reasoning behind the ban.
We request all readers to share other anti-Hindu hate crimes that we might have missed in this period in the comments below or by dropping an email to [email protected]. We also solicit support in maintaining the Hindu human rights tracker database.
