French authorities have closed down over 150 closed associations linked to the proliferation of radical Islamist political ideology across fifteen districts throughout France.

The government has so far shut down 129 drinking establishments, 12 mosques, four schools, and nine other associations with links to “political Islam and communitarianism,” France’s Secretary of State for the Interior Laurent Nuñez announced.

“We fight against political Islamism that suggests that the law of God is superior to that of the Republic,” Nuñez warned as he spoke to members of the French press.

“‘Political Islamism’ should never be confused with religious Islam,” he added.

The Interior Ministry told AFP that these closures are part of “a comprehensive plan to fight against political Islamism.The Interior Ministry noted that the closures had started in February 2018 and were a part of the government’s official National Plan for the Prevention of Radicalization (PNPR),” Le Figaro reports.

Last spring, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to tackle the France’s spiraling problem of political Islam and communitarianism during the second half of his time in office.

“Secularism is the possibility of believing in God or not believing in Him… of never imposing on society a religion or detracting from rules of the Republic to do this,” Macron said.

“When we talk about secularism, we do not really speak of secularism, we talk about the communitarianism that has settled in some quarters, of a political Islam that wants to secede from our Republic.”

Radicalization has become so prevalent in France that protocol has been put into place so that public employees can properly alert their superiors to potentially radicalized colleagues. In October, the French government announced that 27 police officers from the Paris prefecture and dozen public school teachers from across the country were reported for Islamic radicalization this year. Last year, fellow EU state Austria introduced similar new laws.

Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ordered the closing of seven mosques and the deportation of “radical” imams back to their homelands due to violations of a recent law in Austria that bans “political Islam”.

“Parallel societies, politicized Islam or radical tendencies have no place in our country,” Mr. Kurz said at a press conference announcing the measures in Vienna, while railing against the disastrous results of multiculturalism in Western Europe.

Kurz believes Muslims must be loyal to Austria and willing to integrate into society if they are to stay in the country.

The new laws state that Muslims must not form a “parallel society” and start preaching “political Islam,” identity politics and divisiveness, otherwise they will be expelled.

(This article was published on neonnettle.com on November 20, 2019 and has been reproduced here in full.)

HinduPost Note

European countries have realized the dangers of radical Islam even though Muslims form hardly 5-9% of population. These Western countries, all of whom are modern liberal democracies, are moving to curb centres of Islamic radicalisation like mosques, madrassas (Islamic religious schools) and are pushing for full integration of Muslim citizens and immigrants into the host society. But in Bharat, where Muslim population is officially at 14.2% and where Muslim radicalism is deep-rooted due to bloody Islamic rule for centuries and a partition along religious lines, there is no serious discussion on radicalisation prevention measures.

At most, the debate in Bharat veers around need for imparting ‘modern education’ in madrassas, i.e. introducing subjects like maths, science etc for which Govt. is pumping in huge money. There is absolutely no discussion on controlling the religious education imparted at madrassas, even in those funded by the state, or shutting down the more radical among them. And the numbers are staggering – it is estimated that there are half a million (5 lakh) madrassas in Bharat. Faced with questions over radicalisation of young minds in madrasas, Islamist organisations like Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind have only recently started making noise about introducing ‘modern education’.

It is ironical that while Western countries are moving ahead with determination to curb the menace of Islamic radicalisation, our liberal intelligentsia which takes its cues from Western thought and trends, would be the first to outrage if such measures were introduced in Bharat.

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