Normally one does not associate riots with the city of Bengaluru. The peaceful metropolitan has been the hub of Bharat’s software industry as much due to its climate and talent pool, as due to the lack of violence and unrest that sometimes affects many other places in Bharat. But last night’s Bengaluru riots have changed this image. It reflects a growing trend of increasing radicalization among Muslims.
In recent years, the peace in Bengaluru has been disturbed twice. In 2012, in response to the Bodo-Muslim riots in Assam, many Muslims threatened people from North East of dire consequences. As a result, thousands of people of Assam and other northeastern states had to return to their homes in fear and there was a massive exodus out of Bengaluru.
Events of the Bengaluru riots
In the current case, a relative of Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy had allegedly posted something derogatory to the prophet of Muslims, Muhammad. According to unconfirmed sources, this post quoted from Hadiths and Quran to stress certain facts about Muhammad, specially his marriage to Aisha when she was 6 and he was 51. It must be noted that according to authoritative Islamic sources, the marriage was consummated when Aisha was 9 years old, while Muhammad was 54. The point that could have riled Islamists is that the post allegedly also had a cartoon showing Muhammad with a child Aisha – Islamists consider it forbidden to represent Muhammad in any image.
As a result, many Muslims appealed to people to gather at the DJ Halli and KG Halli police station and at the MLA’s house. It is alleged that Muslims in large number appeared at these places and started vandalism. Many vehicles were set on fire and MLA’s house was also set on fire. In the ensuing violence 60 policemen including a ACP rank officer were injured, while two rioters were killed and 6 others received bullet injuries. The police ultimately managed to control the situation. There are unconfirmed reports of Islamist political party Social Democratic Party of India or SDPI orchestrating the riots with one Muzammil Pasha as being its mastermind.
Some twitter users posted the videos of the violence, you can see the same below.
So called peaceful , their main problem is Pujan SE Sujan ! !#BangaloreRiots pic.twitter.com/ATPxZyn7wK
— Priyanka Ranjan (@priyanka4nation) August 11, 2020
As always, the victim card came out almost immediately with the whitewash brigade getting busy proving how ‘secular and tolerant’ Islamists actually are.
A video is doing rounds in which some people have formed a ‘human chain’ outside a Hindu temple. Please note that this is after hours of rioting and in the video there are no rioters around. This is clearly a PR job and with the might of ‘secular’ ecosystem behind it, it is sure to go viral in coming days.
Do note: reports of such ‘humanity’ and protecting temples emerge after every riot instigated by Islamists. The same template was followed in the anti-CAA Delhi riots planned by Tahir Hussain and others where it was claimed that a Durga temple was protected by Muslims who formed a human chain and braved stones. The media, naturally, picks up these stories without much verification in order to obfuscate the issue and guilt trip Hindus who cannot even imagine such sophisticated taquiya (propaganda to deceive your enemies).
Another video of some Mufti PM Muzammil of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind is doing rounds in which he is seen appealing to Muslims to stop violence as the FIR has been filed. Notice the smirk on the face of the religious leader and also the scenes in the background. He is not addressing the mob behind him but the cameras so that a narrative can be built of peaceful people.
Mocking Hindu Gods and figures vs mocking Islamic religious figures-Radicalization among Muslims
Recall the events of a few days ago, when incidents of comedians like Munawar Faruqui, Agrima Joshua, Kenny Sebastian, Vir Das etc. mocking Hindu deities and hurting Hindu sentiments came to light. There was no violence from the side of the Hindus. An abusive person, Shubham Mishra from Vadodara, made a few videos threatening Agrima and on the basis of that a PR campaign to save Agrima was run for many days. Ultimately, Hindus were slandered as violent despite there being no violence in any of these cases. Social media posts abusing or mocking Hindu deities are routine, yet no Hindu resorts to violence and only recently have they started taking the legal route.
Compare with this situation where Muslims first vandalized public and private property and with the power of mainstream media might still come out as a secular and peaceful minority. There would be no discussion on the issue of radicalization. No Dalit leader will even squeak that the MLA is a Dalit and such behavior shows how Dalits are victims of Islamic violence. There will be no discussion on freedom of speech and rather Hindus will be lectured on sensitivity. Indeed, no major media house has even called it a riot yet. The incidents of yesterday night are being called ‘violence’, ‘clashes’ or ‘disturbances’. Notice how when Hindus are accused, it becomes a pogrom, genocide and mass murder. If any other Hindu has a quarrel with a Dalit, it becomes anti-Dalit violence. You will find all these words absent from the discussion about this riot.
Conclusion
Bengaluru riots have again shown how young Muslims in Bharat have been radicalized. This must ring a warning bell for our policymakers. The attacks on the house of an MLA and police stations show that a radicalized mob does not care for the culprit. This was a show of power.
The actions in the aftermath of Bengaluru riots should show that state will not tolerate jihadi violence. No compensation should be paid to those who are killed and injured in rioting. Videos and social media posts should be analysed and rioters should be heavily fined so that they think twice before destroying public and private property. The leaders and perpetrators should should be jailed under appropriate laws. Unless the state shows its willingness to strictly deal with rioters, such riots will continue to happen.
The first appeared in the Hindupost on 12 August,2020.