Communalism

While the BJP and the RSS are busy exploiting the occasion of the inauguration of the Ram Temple scheduled on January 22 in Ayodhya for their political gains ahead of the 2024 General Elections, BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde has added fuel to the communal fire by calling for "taking revenge on the minority Muslim community."

IIT Bombay to have a ‘Shriram Darbar Shobha Yatra’, a musical event inspired by the Geet Ramayan and the inauguration of a ‘Gaushala’ on the campus 

Witnesses in the case have stated they don’t know or never saw the boy spit at the Hindu procession which took place in Madhya Pradesh last year after which 3 young Muslims were arrested for having allegedly spat at the procession. After 151 days of custody, the boy is now released after evidence falls short

After having their remission quashed, two weeks were granted before surrender, applications were move by 11 convicted to SC citing marriage, harvesting winter produce, ill health

A spate of criminal activities have emerged again recently where several suspects deliberately try to pass off crimes they commit as those committed by Muslims. It takes no rocket science to deduce that this has led to the further criminalisation of Muslims and a sharp stigmatisation and spiralling animosity directed at them.

Apart from an assertion of a false narrative – Goswami Tuslidas who authored Ramacharitmanas 37 years after the so-called destruction of the temple by Babar makes no mention of the ‘demolition’—the event on January 22 at Ayodhya involves a problematic consecration ceremony, and is in fact a crass political gimmick meant to bolster one person alone, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi

Bilkis Bano has fought a hard, challenging battle. As one of the 1,958 women Muslim survivors of the targeted violence in Gujarat in 2002, she can now breathe some sighs of relief, if the convicts are “found” by the Gujarat police and report to prison by January 22 (the deadline set by the Supreme Court). There is also a possibility that these convicts now approach the Maharashtra government for remission under section 432 of the CrPC

Ahead of the Lord Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya on 22 January, the supreme spiritual leaders of Sanatan Hindu Dharma have made a public statement that they would not participate in the inauguration ceremony in Ayodhya, causing a big embarrassment for the ruling Hindutva forces. 

On January 10, 2024, the ‘grand old party’, the Congress, finally declined to attend the inauguration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya on January 22, stating the blatant politicisation of religion and state behind the event as its reason, in its rather belated and vacillating response. Now, with the BJP attacking this move, the Congress has gone all out to counter the BJP’s ‘anti-Hindu’ slur

In two well-coordinated programmes, prime minister Narendra Modi and union minister for minorities (also Women and Child Welfare) continents apart, on January 8 and January 9, led two programmes with all the optics in place, to show case their empathy with Muslims, at least, internationally