It is now clear that if you are Muslim in Narendra Modi’s new India, you could be arrested for selling shoes, taking part in a protest, tal...
It is now clear that if you are Muslim in Narendra Modi’s new India, you could be arrested for selling shoes, taking part in a protest, talking to or walking with a Hindu girl, driving a cattle truck, cracking a joke – or not. If you are a Muslim in the wrong place at the wrong time, the Constitution means little and the law can be twisted in any manner to imprison you.
Criminality is irrelevant. It does even not matter that you may be a victim, not the perpetrator. Such is the ever-growing reality for Indian Muslims.
Consider Munawar Faruqui, the standup comic, now in jail for more than 20 days without bail for no crime. His show in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, was disrupted by vigilantes from the Hindu Rakshan Sangathan (Hindu Protection Union), who claimed he was “going to” joke about Hindu gods. Instead of arresting the goons, the superintendent of police commended them for being “alert and vigilant” and arrested Faruqui instead.
Consider Nasir, the poor shoe vendor who was menaced by Bajrang Dal goons in the town of Gulaothi, Uttar Pradesh for selling shoes branded “Thakur”, the caste name of the chief minister and a word that affected their upper-caste Hindu sensibilities....
