The outrage has simmered and now spread to another town, namely, Barkot. In Purola, as the shops belonging to Muslims remain shut, some errant right wing groups pasted posters on the shutters of these shops on Saturday. These posters threaten them to “shut down their business and leave the town before a ‘mahapanchayat’ to be held on June 15 or else face action.” In some places, shops belonging to Muslims have been vandalized with black cross marks, reported The Times of India. The posters were removed by the police on Monday.

Image: Hindustan Times

In Barkot as well similar incidents were reported whereby Muslim shops were left with black cross marks, as a sign of boycott of their businesses. Some even removed the boards of these shops. These miscreants remain unidentified. A local trader from Purola speaking to TOI, said, “The posters asking us to leave or face action are an attempt to intimidate us. Over 30 shops have remained shut since May 26.”

President of Purola traders’ association, Birjmohan Chauhan however maintained that nobody was asked to vacate their shops.

Uttarkashi Circle Officer, Anuj Kumar, told TOI that a case has been lodged against unidentified persons for indulging in wanton vilification of a religion and indulging in public mischief under sections 295 (a) and 505 of IPC. He said that a probe is on and they are checking the CCTV footage to identify the culprits.

Hindustan Times reported the disturbing incidents in which the poster read:

“Love jihadiyon ko suchit kia jata hai ki dinak June 15, 2023 ko hone wali mahapanchayat hone se purv apni dukanein khali kar de. Yadi tumhae dwara aisa nahi kia jata, toh wakt par nirbhar karega (Love jihadists are informed that they should vacate the shops prior to a mahapanchayat on June 15. If they don’t, it (consequences) will depend on time),” the poster, which calls for ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’ (campaign for protection of land) said.

A local VHP leader claimed that the posters were put up by local residents, “These posters were put up by local residents who want people from a particular community to leave the town to ensure peace and communal harmony. They came here on the pretext of doing business but are targeting girls and women from our community,” VHP leader Virender Rana said while speaking to HT.

Memo by Muslim families

A memorandum has also been sent by Muslim families of the area to Purola SDM underlining their financial crisis and are seeking security so that they can open their businesses again. The memo also states that if anything untoward happens to the Muslims, the administration will be responsible for the same.

Background

On May 27 it was reported that 42 shopkeepers in Purola (all Muslim), fled, abandoning their shops and businesses owing to the protests by right wing groups. Outrage had sparked over the abduction incident whereby a Class 9 student was kidnapped allegedly by two men, Ubed Khan (24) and Jitendra Kumar Saini (23) who were arrested on May 27.

A procession was carried out by right wing groups as also businessmen of the area last week and shouted slogans against targeting the Muslim community while threatening them to vacate their shops. Fearing violence, 42 shopkeepers and vendors like street hawkers, vegetable vendors, bicycle repair persons and other such small businesses reportedly fled the area. The protesting group also sent a memorandum to the Governor through SDM Devanand Sharma demanding the immediate removal of businessmen from a particular (read Muslim) community, with a criminal mindset.

The protest march in Purola on May 29 had turned violent whereby Muslim shops were attacked and over 900 people had taken part in this mob. The memorandum sent by the protestors said, “In the garb of doing business in the town, some people from a particular community have been indulging in immoral activities… thereby, polluting the atmosphere,” as reported by HT.

The systemic hate-exclusion and socio-economic boycott that this signals was best summed up by the TOI report that stated: In the Times of India Report, page 7, Mumbai edition, there is a cogent editorial comment:

“TIMES VIEW: Putting up posters asking a community to leave town is a dangerous trend that needs to be stopped. Authorities should step in immediately and take firm action against such rogue elements who strike at the very root of a secular and democratic state.”

Related:

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The post Uttarkashi: Cross marks, “leave” threats on Muslim shops, hatred spreads to other towns: Uttarakhand appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A video surfaced on Twitter on April 11 showing a crowd of about 100 people, men and women, taking an oath in Bastar Chhattisgarh, to economically boycott Muslims and Christians.  

“Today I vow that I will not deal in trade with any non-Hindu be it Muslim or Christian; be it milk, fruit, mattress, grocery or any type of goods. I take an oath to economically boycott them completely. We pray to Lord Ram that he gives us strength to fulfil this oath” the oath was then concluded with chants of “Jai Shree Ram”. The speaker, who introduced himself as Mukesh Chandak, addressing the crowd said that Hindu businesses should boldly display religious symbols like Swastika, Om etc so that people know that they belong to Hindus.

This is from #Bastar, #Chhattisgarh.

Local #Hindus took oath for economic boycott of #Muslims and #Christians.#Hindutva #HateSpeech pic.twitter.com/H0Vzd3PUb2

— Hate Detector ? (@HateDetectors) April 11, 2023

Economic boycott is one of the most pervasive means of religious persecution which hits the minorities where it would hurt anybody the most, their livelihoods. If a person is unable to earn their daily bread because the ‘majority’ community refuses to deal with them, employ them or carry out any trade with them, they will certainly be pushed towards poverty and the lowest rung of the society.  

Last month, Sabrang India had done a piece on how economic boycott of Muslims could push them further beyond marginalisation. Pointing towards the real economic impact such boycotts have on the community, the article states that Muslim community has largely been on the precipice of poor economic outcomes, based on various studies.  The Census 2011 data showed that almost a quarter of India’s 370,000 beggars are Muslim. A report released in 2018 titled “Vision 2025- Socio-Economic Inequalities, Why does India’s economic growth need an inclusive agenda” [authored by economist Amir Ullah Khan and historian Abdul Azim Akhtar], found that most Muslim asserted that their socio-economic condition had not improved  in the last 10 years. As per the survey, in terms of monthly per capita expenditure, Muslims were at the lowest rung, below SCs and STs in urban areas and slightly above STs in rural areas, reported Times of India.

Such calls for economic boycott were also made in Gujarat in the aftermath of the 2002 pogrom. An archival article of Communalism Combat details how Muslim were discriminated against after the pogrom even a whole year later.

“Muslim women from over 40 households who used to work as agricultural labourers are not entertained, and youth who drove transport vehicles have had their businesses taken over. Hunger and deprivation continues to hit the 400 Muslim residents of Por, with over 70 young persons out of jobs. The total strength of this Patel dominated village is 5,000, of which Muslims number 1,100. Women were also involved in milching cattle, an occupation that is today unavailable to them as they do not have access to buffaloes that were either stolen or driven away. The mosque in Por, which was systematically pulled down using a bulldozer belonging to the municipal corporation, has however been re-built. While some of the village elders such as Nathubhai Nagar are trying to break the social boycott, others insist that for Muslims, the quid pro quo for leading a normal life will be their withdrawal of the pending criminal case where 35 villagers have been accused of rioting and arson. With the survivors adamant on getting justice, (senior advocate Allah Rakha is appearing for the victims), the deadlock, stealthily, continues.”

Economic boycott is also manifested in temple fairs where non-hindus are not allowed to set up stalls. Such instances are rampant in many districts of Karnataka. In March last year, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Chikkamagaravalli Thimme Gowda Raavu a.k.a CT Ravi had said, “Halal is an economic Jehad. It means that it is used like a Jehad so that Muslims should not do business with others. It has been imposed. When they think that Halal meat should be used, what is wrong in saying that it should not be used?” 

A right wing leader emerging from Uttarakhand, Radha Semwal Dhoni had , last month, recorded a video where she pointed cameras at Muslim vendors and asked them their names and their Aadhar card as well. She claims that they represent themselves as Hindus and that they have come from Lucknow. In the video she says that the vendors lie and spit on the vegetables and sell these in her area (where she lives). She asks them, “why do you come here? Why don’t you carry an Aadhar card? Do you want to sell us vegetables that have been spat on?” to this, one of the vendors says, “it’s not true, we are not spitting on vegetables”.

Articles 21, 14 and 15 are all guarantees that every person has the right to life, equality and non-discrimination. Article 19 ensures freedom of movement and the right to undertake economic activity. While Article 14 says that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth. Further under article 15(2), no citizen shall be subject to any restriction or condition with regards to access to shops or the used of roads and places of public resort maintained out of state funds or made for the use of general public, merely on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

Despite such constitutional safeguards, people are giving such calls for economic boycotts against the minority communities. This is a brazen move to push the minorities to economic deprivation and social ostracization to a point where they will be compelled to live in poverty or flee the country fearing further deprivation and persecution; either of which is the worst outcome for the communities.

Related:

Marginalising the already marginalised: Economic Boycott Targeting Muslims

Are increasing calls for economic boycott of Muslims a sinister precursor to something worse?

Hate Watch: Indians reject #BoycottMuslims call

The post Oath for economic boycott of minorities administered in Chhattisgarh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Calling for economic boycott is commonplace among the right wing groups and their agents who spread these calls for economic boycott of the Muslim community while speaking at public events. Such public events are brazenly anti-minority with no garb or semblance of neutrality. These right wing speakers are on a spree and the most common theme for their speeches is the imaginary phenomena of “love Jihad”, “Land Jihad”, forced religious conversions and fear mongering among Hindus to boycott Muslims on the economic front.

Earlier, such incidents were seen as isolated incidents. The bangle seller in Madhya Pradesh who was allegedly using a Hindu name, the dosa seller in Mathura (UP) whose stalls name was ‘Shrinath Dosa’, the scrap dealer in Ujjain (MP) who was forced to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’, the calls for boycotting Muslim mehndi -walas during Karva Chauth. All these incidents, albeit affecting the livelihoods of these persons from Muslim community, the pessimist refused to view this as a concerted effort to economically oppress the community. It required a proper ‘connecting of dots’ to paint the big picture and demonstrate how this was culminating into an economic crisis for the community.

However, looking at the current atmosphere where the calls for economic boycott are being made so openly, the plight of the community is laid bare. Yet, there has been no promise of a better life for the community from any political party in the opposition.

ON January 30, T Raja Singh at the ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha’ held in Mumbai, called upon his Hindu brothers to not buy anything from Muslim vendors and to boycott buying of Halal products. The economic boycott does not stop at this. It is manifested in numerous ways. It does not just stop at ‘don’t buy fruits and vegetables from a Muslim man’, it goes further to warning women to check if their Uber/Ola driver is a Muslim as also checking whether your tailor or shopkeeper selling you bangles is a Muslim.

The real economic impact

The direct impact of such blatant calls for boycott of Muslims hurts the community widely. It is not that such boycott calls are a recent phenomenon. The fact that Muslim community has largely been on the precipice of poor economic outcomes has been proven in various research studies and the sustained economic boycott will only push them in a downward spiral.

As per a study conducted by Gallup, a UAE based public opinion research firm, in 2010-11, interviewing 6,000 Indians, Muslims (51%) are less likely than Hindus (63%) or others (66%) to be satisfied with their standard of living. Muslims were also found to be saying that they find it “difficult” or “very difficult” living on their present household income. Muslims (23%) were also slightly more inclined than Hindus (18%) and others (12%) to say there were times in the past year when they did not have enough money to buy the food that they or their families needed. The data found that Positive experiences were less common among Muslims which was deduced from questions like “do you feel well rested?” “were you treated with respect yesterday?” “did you smile or laugh yesterday?” and “did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?”. The complete data can be accessed here.

The Census 2011 data showed that almost a quarter of India’s 370,000 beggars are Muslim. The Sachar Committee report had found that despite the Muslim community being majorly self-employed, their access to credit facilities was limited.

A report released in 2018 titled “Vision 2025- Socio-Economic Inequalities, Why does India’s economic growth need an inclusive agenda” [authored by economist Amir Ullah Khan and historian Abdul Azim Akhtar], found that most Muslim asserted that their socio-economic condition had not improved  in the last 10 years. As per the survey, in terms of monthly per capita expenditure, Muslims were at the lowest rung, below SCs and STs in urban areas and slightly above STs in rural areas, reported Times of India.

Analysing the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) of 2004-05 and 2011-12, Christophe Jaffrelot , Kalaiyarasan A wrote for Indian Express that in West Bengal as well as Gujarat Muslims earn only 63 per cent of what Hindus earn in both states and in Haryana Muslims earned only 33 percent of what Hindus earned, (partly because of the poor condition of Muslim-dominated districts like Mewat and, in contrast, the affluence of the adjacent Hindu-dominated district of Gurgaon). It was also observed that in most of the states, Muslims earn less than Hindu Dalits.

In 2019, the same duo, writing for the publication, analysed the NSSO report (PLFS-2018) and the NSS-EUS (2011-12), examined the socioeconomic status of Muslim youth vis-à-vis other social groups in India. They noted that the percentage of youth who are currently enrolled in educational institutions is the lowest among Muslims. “The activities of vigilante groups could possibly have led young Muslims to withdraw into their shell,” the article says.

Another means of implementing such a boycott is banning Muslim traders from temple fairs. This was reported increasingly in Dakshin Kannada at Champa Shashti festival of Kukke Sri Subrahmanya temple (November 2022), Sullia Sri Channakeshava Temple, Mangaluru (January, 2023), Sri Mahalingeshwara temple, Kavuru (January 2023) Panchalingeshwara temple fair in Vittal town in Dakshina Kannada district (January 2023).

Blatant calls for economic boycott

In March last year, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Chikkamagaravalli Thimme Gowda Raavu a.k.a CT Ravi had said, “Halal is an economic Jehad. It means that it is used like a Jehad so that Muslims should not do business with others. It has been imposed. When they think that Halal meat should be used, what is wrong in saying that it should not be used?” He had also spread misinformation about Halal meat stating that Halal meat offered to ‘their [Muslim] God’ is dear to them (Muslims) “but for Hindus, it is somebody’s leftover”. He further said, “Halal has been designed in a planned way so that the products should be purchased only from Muslims and not others.” He asked the media, “When Muslims refuse to buy meat from Hindus, why should you insist on Hindus to buy from them? What right do people have to even ask this?”. Taking a leaf out of this, right wing groups had reportedly put up posters asking Hindu vendors to boycott halal meat during Ugadi in Karnataka which was celebrated on April 2 last year and even carried out a door to door campaign to increase awareness.

Articles 21, 14 and 15 are all guarantees that every person has the right to life, equality and non-discrimination. Article 19 ensures freedom of movement and the right to undertake economic activity. While Article 14 says that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth. Further under article 15(2), no citizen shall be subject to any restriction or condition with regards to access to shops or the used of roads and places of public resort maintained out of state funds or made for the use of general public, merely on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

In North-east Delhi’s Brahmpuri, a poster was pasted and widely shared on social media in January, calling on Hindu landlords in the area not to sell their houses to Muslim buyers. The street where these posters were found has a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims and the residents collectively filed a complaint with the Police against this poster.

A right wing leader emerging from Uttarakhand, Radha Semwal Dhoni had , last month, recorded a video where she pointed cameras at Muslim vendors and asked them their names and their Aadhar card as well. She claims that they represent themselves as Hindus and that they have come from Lucknow. In the video she says that the vendors lie and spit on the vegetables and sell these in her area (where she lives). She asks them, “why do you come here? Why don’t you carry an Aadhar card? Do you want to sell us vegetables that have been spat on?” to this, one of the vendors says, “it’s not true, we are not spitting on vegetables”.

On March 12, Kajal Singhala, a so-called “activist” from Gujarat was called to Mira Road area of Mumbai by the Hindu Janakrosh morcha (event organised by Sakal Hindu Samaj) where she delivered a vitriolic hate speech. Among the many vicious and demeaning things she said, she spread disinformation about Muslim vendors selling fruits and vegetables effectively propagating economic boycott of the community and urging women to only buy from Hindus, creating a fearful atmosphere around buying goods from Muslims.

To think that nobody pays attention to such hate speech and they do not deserve to be given that much importance is naivety. The repercussions of these undisguised forms of hatred that push the community towards further marginalisation are far reaching. It is also the future generations of the community that stand to be disadvantaged due to the current hate brigade that is out to  strip the community off its dignity, livelihood and eventually its existence.

Related:

Review of 2022: A year of discrimination & violence experienced by India’s religious minorities

Provocative poster in Delhi’s Brahmpuri calls on Hindu landlords to not sell to Muslim buyers

Temple fairs and the saga of economic boycott: Dakshina Kannada

Mumbai: BJP leaders attend far right Hindutva rally where calls for economic boycott of Muslims, violence against them are made

The post Marginalising the already marginalised: Economic Boycott Targeting Muslims appeared first on SabrangIndia.