Communal tensions in the country have shaken the confidence of religious minorities, a group of prominent citizens said in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
“It is abundantly clear that over the last decade relations between communities, particularly Hindus and Muslims, and to an extent Christians are extremely strained leaving these latter two communities in extreme anxiety and insecurity,” read the letter.
The citizens’ group said that while the country had faced riots in the past, the incidents of the last 10 years were “markedly different” as they show the “clearly partisan role” of several state governments and their administrative machinery.
“This, we believe, is unprecedented,” the group said. “What started as incidents of bullying or beating up Muslim youth on charges of carrying beef, grew into lynchings of innocent people within their homes, followed by Islamophobic hate speeches with clearly genocidal intent.”
The group said that there have been calls in the recent past for the boycott of Muslim businesses, eateries, non-renting of premises to members of the community and “unrestrained bulldozing of Muslim homes at the behest of chief ministers themselves led by a ruthless local administration”.
Such activities are “truly unprecedented and has shaken the confidence not just of these minorities but indeed of all secular Indians here and abroad”, the prominent citizens said.
The latest provocation, the group said, was that of “unknown fringe groups, claiming to represent Hindu interests demanding archaeological surveys on medieval mosques and dargahs to prove the existence of ancient Hindu temples on the sites where these have been built”.
The courts had also seemingly responded to the demands with “undue alacrity and haste” despite the provisions of the Places of Worship Act, they said.
The 1991 Places of Worship Act specifically prohibits any changes to the religious character of a place of worship in independent India.
The group was referring to a Rajasthan court on Wednesday admitting a petition claiming that the shrine of 13th century Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer was built over a Shiva temple.
The suit filed by Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta seeks directions that the Ajmer Sharif Dargah be declared as Bhagwan Shri Sankatmochan Mahadev Virajman temple. The plea seeks the removal of the dargah committee from the premises and asks for a survey of the site by the Archaeological Survey of India.
“In fact, successive prime ministers, including yourself, have sent ‘chadars’ on the occasion of the annual Urs of the Saint as a homage to his message of peace and harmony,” they added. “An ideological assault on this uniquely syncretic site is an assault on our civilisational heritage and perverts the very idea of an inclusive India that you yourself seek to reinvigorate.”
The court order came days after a trial court in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal on November 19 allowed an application asking for Hindus to be given access to and survey the town’s Shahi Jama Masjid.
The petitioners claim that the mosque was built in 1526 by Mughal ruler Babar on the site of the “centuries old Shri Hari Har Temple dedicated to Lord Kalki”.
On November 24, five persons were killed in violence during protests against the survey of the mosque.
The letter to the prime minister further said that society cannot progress “nor your dream of a developed Bharat come to fruition in the face of such disturbances”.
The citizens called on Modi to ensure that chief ministers and their administrations adhere to the letter of the law and the Constitution.
“…time is of the essence and we urge you to reassure all Indians, especially the minority communities that your government will be firm in its resolve to maintain communal amity, harmony and integration,” they added.
The signatories of the letter include former Delhi Lieutenant General Najeeb Jung, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and several former diplomats.