Worrying Rise In Anti-Muslim Racist Discourse In India

It was reflected in the international press that upon the humiliating statements made by two senior officials of the ruling party in India about Islam's Prophet Muhammad, some member countries of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) made statements and condemned their remarks. In this context, it is noted that some of the countries in question also protested these statements by inviting the Indian Ambassadors. Additionally, it is reported that the OIC and the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) also condemned derogatory remarks. Per the reports, at the center of this debate are the offensive statements made by the spokesperson of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nupur Sharma, in a televised debate last month and the provocative tweets of Naveen Jindal, the media head of the BJP's Delhi unit. Besides, as per press reports, BJP has suspended the membership of spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled Delhi Unit media head, Naveen Jindal from the party. However, as stated in a BBC report on the subject, the comments of Ms. Sharma and Mr. Jindal reflect the deep religious polarization that India has been witnessing in the last few years. It is an objective fact that there has been an increase in media reports, observations, and assessments that there has been a sharp increase in hate speech and attacks against Muslims in India since the BJP came to power in 2014. We think that measuring this widespread anti-Islamic hate speech in India only by the damage it has done to India's foreign relations reflects an incomplete assessment.