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 true depth and breadth of these attacks, driven by disturbing anti-Hindu bigotry, have been ignored by the world. From murders, forced conversions, land grabs, assault on festivals, desecration of temples and murtis, hate speech, 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 20 March to 26 March 2022, we hope to provide a snapshot of such crimes and hopefully awaken more people around the world to this human rights crisis:
Bharat
1) A temple was desecrated and vandalised in Noida, UP – murtis were broken and blood spilt near the Shivling. The police are probing the matter. The Shiv mandir located in Bahlolpur village, Sector-63 Kotwali area was desecrated late on Sunday night. The murti of Bhagwan Shiv was found broken the next morning and the pujari informed villagers who gathered in large numbers.
2) Three Hindus – two brothers Krishna and Sahul Jaiswal, and Sachin Gond – were stabbed by a Muslim group as they were exiting a theatre after watching The Kashmir Files on March 18.
3) Hindu homes and shops were attacked by a 100-strong Muslim mob on March 18 in Rajaura village, Begusarai district, Bihar. At least 5 people were injured, 2 of them critically, in this attack and at least 5 shops were vandalised and looted as per sources.
4) A Dravidian ideologue has compared the Muslim girls protesting for allowing hijab inside classrooms with Draupadi. He has drawn parallels between educational institutions not allowing hijab with Draupadi being disrobed by Dushasana. He has also used Bharathiyar’s poem on Draupadi’s vow to depict Brahmins as evil.
5) In an offensive Hindumisic tweet Swagata Yadavar, a former journalist of The Print, said she was scared of the Jai Shri Ram chant while adding that Holi was the ‘scariest time to be a woman’.
6) Radical Islamist elements associated with the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by the Owaisi brothers and the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) pelted stones at BJP and Shiv Sena workers who tried to install the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at Bodhan in Nizamabad, Telangana.
7) While Tamil media reported that Muslims formed a human chain to allow Hindu devotees to pass peacefully on Panguni Uthiram, Hindu organisations have refuted the claim. Hindu Munnani which went to the spot revealed that only after their intervention devotees were allowed to pass through the protesting crowd.
8) A Dhaba owner in UP’s Bareilly district was killed following a verbal spat with 3 customers who were asked to pay a mere Rs 4 extra for tea as per revised rates. The accused – Munawwar Khan, 42, Mozim Khan, 30 and Musharraf Khan, 31 – were nabbed while they were trying to escape on Wednesday. According to the police, the victim, Sewaram Gangwar (45), is a resident of Fatehganj West. He ran a Dhaba on Delhi-Lucknow national highway.
9) A temple priest has been falsely implicated in an idol theft case due to the personal enmity of an ex-cop. The 75-year-old pujari Suryamoorthi was arrested by the idol wing officials on the allegations that he had hidden 2 murtis and tried to sell them for Rs. 2 crores. Residents of the village protested against his arrest accusing the police of not investigating properly and locking up an innocent man.
Pakistan
1) A Hindu girl Pooja Oadh (18) has been shot dead when she resisted an abduction attempt in Rohri, Sukkur district, Sindh province of Pakistan. Pooja was reportedly alone in her house at the time.
2) Just days after the shocking murder of Pooja Kumari Oad (18) for resisting an armed abduction attempt, another Hindu girl Satran Oad (13) has been abducted by three armed men from Pithoro, Sindh province, Pakistan, reports the Voice of Pakistan Minority to handle (archive link).
3) During a Dunya TV news program “On The Front” on March 17, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Shahbaz Gill launched a disgusting tirade at PTI Member National Assembly (MNA) Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani. The utter malice and contempt for minorities were visible.
Bangladesh
1) Just as Hindus of Bangladesh were reeling from the attack on an ISKCON temple in Dhaka, yet another attack by Islamic extremists on a temple in the capital city has been reported. The Tilpapara Deb temple in Khilgaon locality was attacked on Monday and murtis demolished.
2) On March 22, school teacher Hridoy Kumar Mondal was taken into police custody after being falsely accused of blasphemy.
3) Religious fanatics attacked a temple at Tilpara and destroyed the murtis on March 21.
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 obvious, 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, but the double standards at play become clear 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 the maintenance of the Hindu human rights tracker database started by us.
