Hindutva Nationalists have found a New Enemy in Vocal Muslim Women

  • Inder Dev Singh

While online sexual harassment of women in general and Muslim women in particular- through trolling, graphic abuse, rape threats etc. - is not uncommon, the ‘Sulli Deals’ incident- an auctioning app hosted by Git Hub- hit a new low.

This, when viewed in light of Muslim women being targeted by the current regime for their alleged roles in fomenting Delhi-riots, shows the animus Hindutva nationalists have developed towards them. Since the target of these are students, activists and journalists, who in particular have spoken against BJP government policies and are active political participants, it is evident that Hindutva nationalists have found a new enemy in them.

Of course, these are aimed at insulting, harming and intimidating them, for displaying agency, which is feared by the Hindutva-Majoritarianism Ideology, as it is unfathomable for them for their own women. It aggravates their fear further, because their bogey of undertaking ‘Islamophobic-Projects’ in the name of emancipating Muslim women will be challenged by them if not restrained.

While the impunity of the vigilante groups perpetrating such acts is burgeoning because of prejudiced police and courts alike, what shocks me is the silence among other citizens. Why are we so quiet? Didn’t we appreciate the visuals of empowerment displayed by these women at the height of Anti-CAA protests? Was not that what we have been so vociferously wanting for decades when we cheered policies against archaic Muslim practices? Or is our intent as deceptive as that of regimes pursuing Islamophobia in the name of liberating Muslim women?

Whether we do it in the name of acceptance, an essential principle of religion, or as citizens upholding the principles of constitution, we as Indians have to have a vocal voice against such oppression, because moral decadence leading to more sinister acts will not be limited to ‘others’ forever. Pity for Muslim women, is not what they expect from citizens of a constitutional democracy, rather they expect us to stand in solidarity with them as fellow citizens, to protect their basic rights and reclaim rule of law as the abiding principle of this nation. Fail we must not.