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, 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 8 May to 14 May 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) Sharda University in Greater Noida has issued a detailed show-cause notice to professor Waqas Farooq Kuttay for including a Hinduphobic question in the first-year BA political science paper. He has reportedly been suspended by the University.
2) Vadodara’s Maharaja Sayajirao University has been caught in a controversy over its Fine Arts exhibition. As per reports, some students put up objectionable pictures of Hindu deities using paper cuttings that contained news of rapes. Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) raised objections and demanded the University dean’s resignation.
3) A pastor who molested a college girl was caught by her classmates while trying to escape, but police let him off after warning the students. In an intoxicated state, the pastor made obscene gestures toward the girl and molested her. He was booked after the victim filed a complaint.
4) The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has arrested one more person in the case of violence at Jahangirpuri on April 16, an official said on Thursday. The latest arrestee, identified as Abdul alias Raja, was found involved in allegedly orchestrating violence and also provoking the crowd to resort to stone-pelting during the Hanuman Jayanti procession.
5) Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit, has been mercilessly killed in a horrendous act of terror in the Budgam district in Jammu & Kashmir. Terrorists fired bullets at Rahul, who was employed as a government clerk, from a close range while he was on duty at the Tehsildar’s office in Chadoora. The Kashmir police’s official Twitter handle put out the news.
6) In a show of pettiness, Kerala police personnel destroyed balloons with images of freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. The incident happened at Thrissur a couple of days before the famous Thrissur Pooram festival. The administration also arrested Hindu Mahasabha state president Kishan CJ and held him in preventive custody. Netizens mocked that the Marxist revolutionaries are now afraid of even balloons.
Bangladesh
Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are relentless and designed to gradually cleanse the religious minority from the country. As per a study by Prof. Abul Barakat of Dhaka University, there will be no Hindus left in Bangladesh by 2050 due to systemic and institutionalized persecution. Temple desecration, land grabbing, mob attacks after false blasphemy charges, rape/forced conversion of women, and hate speech are some of the tools used to intimidate and drive Hindus out.
1) A well-sketched template they use to evoke violence against the minorities is to place a copy of the Quran in a Hindu temple and accuse the Hindus of blasphemy. Two such incidents were reported in Bangladesh in April 2022. The Hindus, however, who have become warier and stay vigilant of such acts, were able to avert two possible attacks by Islamists this month.
2) Ankita Biswas was murdered by Mohammad Shakil on May 9 (Tweet archived)
3) Mohammad Anower and his wife attacked a Hindu family in Madaripur’s Kalkini in front of the police on May 11 (Tweet archived)
4) Mohammad Salam murdered Sree Madan Rabi Das (Tweet archived)
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.
