With the ongoing protests ‘#BlackLivesMatter’ in America, Indian leftists and Islamists are back in business with their propaganda and victim card respectively. They do not realise that their foolishness will dilute the very reason behind the protest which is totally for justice.
While they compare the Indian Muslim Community and the American Black Community, They forget the context of the protests in these two nations and also they miss out on the history of these two nations concerning the two communities mentioned. So let’s explore a little and find out if there is any connection at all.
Legal and Systematic Discrimination:-
Black Community has always been subjected to racism even by the Arabs who took them as slaves. The Muslim community has not been any less cruel to them in the past. America had legalised segregation of public places and facilities based on colour with the help of Jim Crow Laws and Jim crow State constitutional provisions after the Civil War (1861-65). Whereas in India, Muslims have been the ruling class discriminating against its native people based on religion and the acceptance of Mughal supremacy over them. High positions in Mughal Courts were occupied mostly by Muslims or those Hindus who supported them against the Hindu kings and their struggle for freedom. ‘Jizya’ was collected from Hindus by Sultans even to visit their sacred places. After Independence, Muslims were given full freedom of belief like any other citizen. Under article 29 and article 30, they are protected and allowed to run educational institutions in order to protect their linguistic, religious and cultural identity. Everyone except Muslims of India is subjected to the social obligation under Right to Education Act. So who is really discriminated against?
The Mob Lynchings:-
While journalists like Rana Ayyub, Arfa Khanum Sherwani count the unfortunate lynchings of Muslims like rubies of their treasure, they forget that when this crime was reaching a seriously high number in India, Hindu victims like Kamlesh Tiwari, Ramalingam, Dhruv Tyagi, Bharat Yadav, Bhavesh Kohli, Chandan Gupta, Sawan Rathore, Vidhu Jain did not get enough media attention or sympathy for they did not suit the political agenda. Not to mention, the sadhus killed in Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh recently saw no outrage from the Indian film Industry or the leftist parties as if Hindus deserve it right from the time of invasion to be killed or their lives do not matter.
The same intellectuals who are tweeting 'black lives matter' will see the atrocities in Kashmir and the lynching and carnage of Muslims in India through the prism of patriotism. They will ask you to 'speak like an Indian first' and not defame the nation.
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 31, 2020
Autonomy over Religious Affairs:-
So far we have never heard that American Black community had any kind of special treatment. They may be treated less or equal but never more. In India, Muslims have their own Muslim Personal law to govern themselves as per Islam. Despite being the ‘Secular Nation’ our constitution identifies religious minorities and protects them. The Hindu temples are interfered with and its funds are used for all kinds of ‘secular’ purposes by the government including corruption and theft of temple art and architecture which is in complete violation of the constitutional rights supposed to be given to the Hindus. Any such control or interference is not allowed in Mosques or churches in India. So again who is legally discriminated against?
https://twitter.com/governorswaraj/status/1267875260294184961?s=20
The Protests Across The Nation:-
Protests in America broke out because of a white cop using disproportionate force on a black man named George Floyd, who was accused of petty crime. George seemed to be cooperating with the police throughout the video released over the Internet. The anger and resistance against police brutality are justified and the black community has the pain that is historically imprinted on them and their many generations yet to come. Whereas, in India, the Anti-CAA protests were based on misinformation, an invisible NRC draft that only some could see and draw conclusions from, and a white lie that all the Muslims will be sent into detention camps. Looking at the population itself one cannot imagine putting the millions of Indians into detention camps across the country. It is not practical and never was this the intention of the ruling party. If one is acting on his or her prejudice and creating fear for political gains and attention of international media, that is to be left alone and not paid heed to.
Police Brutality:-
Agreeing to the fact that the police department needs to go under a lot of reformation, one should still see the difference in the operations of Indian Police and American Police. The American Police is trained to shoot within three seconds if things go south, but what we have seen during the Delhi Riots 2020, is a police officer going with just a stick towards a gun-wielding protestor, named Shahrukh, to control him and a stone-pelting mob driving out an entire team of police officers from the area which further escalated the situation. Also, the murder of IB officer, Ankit Sharma, during the riots by Tahir Hussain has not been mourned by any of these so-called Human Rights Activists. One will really wonder if this is the similarity between American and Indian Police and surely would laugh at the condition of India against a violent, mad mob. Before comparing the authorities here and there, we need to compare the citizens, history and rules of the two nations.
The context of the protests and lynchings in India is different than that in America. We cannot keep on drawing false equivalences between the Black African-Americans who have really been victims of slavery and racism and Indian Muslims who were the rulers of this land for 800 years just to trend #MuslimLivesMatter on twitter diluting the whole cause.