Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Nupur Sharma: How Islamophobia is hurting India's foreign policy

Nupur Sharma: How Islamophobia is hurting India's foreign policy

In April 2020 allegations about a Muslim congregation sparking a cluster of Covid-19 cases in India quickly took an Islamophobic turn.

Thousands of preachers from home and abroad had attended the gathering in Delhi by the Tablighi Jamaat, a near-100 year-old Islamic missionary movement. Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government called it a "super-spreader event".

Islamophobic memes and hashtags blaming the group for spreading the virus trended on social media, and news networks broadcast incendiary headlines such as "Save the country from Corona jihad".

India charged nearly a thousand people who attended the congregation for flouting lockdown protocols. (Eight months later, courts had acquitted the last of the detained preachers, saying they had been "maliciously prosecuted" under directions from the government.)

Muslims have protested against controversial remarks made by BJP leaders


Most of the preachers came from Indonesia, a trading partner of India. Not surprisingly, Indonesia expressed its disquiet over the issue at regional summit meetings. The country's lawmakers alleged that the controversy was being used to taint Muslims in Hindu-majority India. A former Indian diplomat said this was an example of "externalisation" of domestic issues.

India's ongoing diplomatic firefighting over offensive comments made by two senior members of the BJP about the Prophet Muhammad is not the first time that Mr Modi's party or government has faced global censure for alleged Islamophobia.

Two years ago BJP MP Tejasvi Surya found himself in the centre of a storm when his 2015 tweet on Arab women went viral. Prominent businesspeople, lawyers and commentators in Dubai and Kuwait condemned his remarks. (Mr Surya deleted the tweet later.)

In a 2018 public meeting, India's interior minister Amit Shah said that Bangladeshi citizens who had entered India illegally were "infiltrators" who had "eaten our country like termites".

This whipped up a storm in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where a senior minister described the remark by India' second most powerful leader as "unwanted and uninformed". A Bangladeshi columnist wrote that Mr Shah "had a long history of making hateful, insulting remarks about Bangladesh".

Over the past year, India has been hit by a tsunami of hate speech by saffron-robed right-wing Hindu radical leaders against the country's 200 million-strong Muslim community. Some of them have openly exhorted Hindus to take up arms and spoken about genocide of Muslims.

In the past, the right-wing has raised the bogey of so called "love jihad", a baseless conspiracy theory accusing Muslim men of converting Hindu women by marriage. Vigilante Hindu mobs have lynched suspected Muslim cow smugglers and demanded a boycott of businesses owned by the community.

On social media, female Muslim journalists and social workers have been ferociously trolled. Muslim women have been put up for sale in fake online auctions. Partisan news networks have added fuel to the fire by provoking participants into taking up extreme positions during shrill talk shows.

Some Hindu leaders called for violence against Muslims in December


Mr Modi's government has either maintained a studied silence, been slow to respond or blamed "fringe elements" for such actions.

All this appears to have emboldened ordinary Hindus to go online and tarnish Muslims. There have been consequences. In 2018, a popular Indian-origin chef working in a Dubai hotel was fired for posting an anti-Islamic tweet. When Indians living in Dubai began posting anti-Tablighi Jamaat tweets in 2020, a local businesswoman with links to the ruling royal family tweeted that "anyone that is openly racist and discriminatory in the UAE will be fined and made to leave".

This time too, unsurprisingly, the blowback has been fierce - 15 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar, have lodged protests with India. Making derogatory remarks against the Prophet was clearly "crossing the red line", says Talmiz Ahmad, a former Indian diplomat.

Mr Modi's government has been forced to suspend its spokesperson for her remarks. It is a reminder that "targeting minorities with impunity, and hate speech with official sanction, will have repercussions for India's global reputation," notes Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a leading scholar.

In private, many BJP leaders believe that the outrage will soon die down, and it will be business as usual.

Prime Minister Modi has made relations with Gulf countries a priority


After all, India has an old and deep relationship with the Gulf countries. Some 8.5 million Indians work in the six Gulf countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), more than double the number of Pakistanis, the next highest expatriate workforce.

Indians also form the largest expat community in each of these countries. They send home some $35bn every year in remittances that support 40 million family members at home, many in some of India's poorest states such as BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Trade between India and GCC countries is about $87bn. Iraq is the largest exporter of oil to India, followed by Saudi Arabia. More than 40% of India's natural gas comes from Qatar.

Prime Minister Modi himself has made relations with Gulf countries a priority. "India has a significant relationship with West Asian countries in terms of energy security, employment of people as migrants and remittances that they send back," says Srinath Raghavan, a professor of history and international relations at the Ashoka University.

But India cannot be complacent and take things for granted. "It's a myopic way of looking at things," says Mr Ahmad, the former diplomat who is also author of a new book, West Asia at War. "Indians have built a reputation as an apolitical, law-abiding and technically proficient people in these countries. If such offensive talk continues, employers in the Gulf could quietly start moving away from hiring Indians. Why would they risk hiring a potential zealot?"

This time Mr Modi's government, experts believe, appears to have reacted late, but resolutely. "There seems to be an acknowledgement that if these things happen there can be consequences. Domestic and foreign politics are not insulated. The government has to make up its mind. Does it really want to get into rabble rousing?" Prof Raghavan says.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
×