Erring Indian right calls Taliban actions wrong

By Vinay Sharma

The Taliban takeover marks the end of a four-decade-long war in Afghanistan, but it comes with the strict imposition of Islamic laws. Those who are privileged enough to seek a more liberal life, have fled the country. The rest are stuck.

The situation is chaotic and sensitive at Kabul International Airport as the influx of those trying to leave the country keeps increasing.

The Indian right-wing or the mainstream media is concerned about the exodus of those stuck at Kabul International Airport. The media is busy discussing the Taliban and the plight of Afghan citizens, forgetting that they live in India.

Let us not forget that the same media remained silent during the exodus of millions of migrant workers across the country in 2020, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown on March 24 that year. Rather than facing the media, Modi announced his decision through a broadcast to the nation, as is his habit.

The country of over a billion people went into chaos. While the privileged was busy indulging in panic buying, the migrant workers and labourers walked to their home over many nights, with their families. Among the worst affected because of the erratic decision to lockdown the country, were daily wage labourers, who were stuck with no money and food.

Hunger gripped the families of workers who weren’t able to go home, even in the metropolitan cities of India. A woman daily wage labourer in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi district pushed five of her children in Ganga, due to shortage of food in the absence of any income due to the lockdown. However, the union government remained in denial of the same and made false claims to have helped in preventing the ‘reverse migration.’ The exodus of millions of workers was the biggest since partition.

Heart-breaking videos emerged on social media reporting on migrant workers walking for thousands of kilometres to reach home. Many died on the way but there was no reaction from the Indian state. The Union government said in parliament that it has kept no record of the deaths during the migrant exodus. No dignity was rewarded to the migrant workers even after their death.

Instead of demanding accountability and justice for those who suffered, journalists close to power chose to defend the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over its failure to manage the COVID-19 and migrant exodus crisis.

Countries like Germany, Canada and a few states in the United States of America have offered to accept the Afghan refugees. However, the Indian government will only welcome Hindus and Sikhs refugees from Afghanistan in line with the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.

Meanwhile, supporters of the BJP government are concerned about the safety of Afghan women. In the garb of criticising the Taliban, the right-wing is cornering the Indian Muslims to prove their nationalism. Let us never forget that the same people spread propaganda against women protestors in Shaheen Bagh. The mainstream media hosted prime time debates falsely claiming that women sitting in protest take money.

The right-wing wants people to believe that it is worried about women’s rights violations under the Taliban. It is ironic because when violence against women is reported in India, the supporters of ‘Sangh Parivar carry out rallies in favour of the rape accused and deny the same.

In 2018, a rally was organised by Hindu Ekta Manch which protested against the arrests in the Kathua rape case where an 8-year-old Muslim girl was raped and killed. Two BJP ministers were also part of the rally and criticised the arrests. Meanwhile, no one from the BJP government or Sangh Parivar has spoken or even condemned the rape of a 9-year-old Valmiki girl in Delhi which happened in August. Instead, Twitter censored the accounts of opposition leaders who were demanding justice for the victim.

Karni Sena, a Rajput organisation of devoted Ram Bhakts, carried out protests in 2018 vandalising the sets of film Padmavat and destroyed public property in various cities. There are many more instances where intolerance is evident in India. Deepa Mehta, a filmmaker, was targeted for her film 'Water' which was nominated for Oscars. Congress leaders in Varanasi staged protests and burned Mehta’s effigy while demanding a ban on the film for making derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi.

In Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath, police teams were formed to probe the ‘love jihad’ cases. It is a conspiracy invented by the Hindu right-wing, which discourages marriages between Hindus and Muslims.

Those concerned about the rights of Afghan women must remember the obnoxious remarks made by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, a chief priest of a temple in Ghaziabad who said that “all Hindu women are call girls and prostitutes”. In a video, he claimed that Muslims come as electricians, plumbers, delivery boys and seduce Hindu women. He has a history of hateful remarks against Muslims. Narsinghanand earlier claimed that Muslims should not have the right to life.

Supporters of the pro-Hindu government in India who are extremely concerned about Muslims in Afghanistan celebrated the Israeli attack on innocent Palestinian children and women, just a few months ago.

When it comes to harassing Muslims, the right-wing and the liberal ‘intelligentsia’ in India form a Venn diagram. They both guilt the Muslims into proving their loyalty for India. There’s no difference between the discourses of the two schools of thought which claim to oppose each other. Many of them have naively presumed that all Indian Muslims are sympathetic towards the Taliban and are attacking them in the name of ‘criticism’. If the liberals and right-wing are to be believed, the Indian Muslims will not spare a second to impose Islamic rule in India if given a chance.

The real threat to this country is not the supposed imposition of Islamic rule but the genocidal demands of right-wing groups against Muslims. On August 8, thousands of people gathered at Jantar Mantar and raised slogans calling for the genocide of Muslims. The organisers of the event were released on bail a day after being arrested by Delhi Police.

The right-wing ecosystem on social media is in panic mode right now trying to defend the caste and gender based atrocities committed by the government. Every day, since Monday, Hindutva followers are busy defending the hardliner Narendra Modi-led BJP government claiming that the situation in India is better than in Afghanistan.

Right-wing wants people to believe in many false things, one of the worst lies of all being that India is a tolerant country. Many activists, journalists, scholars and lawyers have been jailed and killed for speaking up against the atrocities committed by the Hindutva regime.

Taliban must be criticised for the harsh implementation of conservative laws and its treatment of women. However, the hypocrisy of those who are on the other side of the same coin must also be exposed.

 

Also so see: Afghan Taliban, you have huge competition from India