New Delhi: A group of prominent retired civil servants, diplomats and public figures has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to promptly address escalating communal tensions in India. The letter highlights the “extreme anxiety and insecurity” among minority communities, particularly Muslims and, to a lesser extent, Christians, in the wake of incidents that have allegedly intensified interfaith discord.
Among the 17 signatories are N.C. Saxena, former secretary of the Planning Commission; Najeeb Jung, former Lt Governor of Delhi; S.Y. Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner; Shiv Mukherjee, former High Commissioner to the UK, and Lt-General Zameer Uddin Shah (retd), former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, among others.
In the letter, signatories have expressed alarm over the deterioration of Hindu-Muslim relations in India, a trend they say has worsened since 2014, when the Modi government came to power at the Centre. They assert that while communal strife has been a recurring issue in the country’s history, the past 10 years have witnessed a disturbing shift.
The letter points to the role of certain state governments and their administrative apparatus, which have allegedly exhibited a partisan stance in fostering or tolerating acts of violence and discrimination against Muslims.
“It is not that inter-communal relations have always been good. The gory memories of partition, the circumstances leading to it and the tragic riots in its aftermath remain embedded in our minds. We are also aware that even after partition, our country has periodically been rocked by gruesome communal riots and the situation now is no better or no worse than what it was earlier,” states the letter.
“However, the incidents of the last 10 years are markedly different in as much as they show the clearly partisan role of many of the state governments concerned and their administrative machinery. This, we believe, is unprecedented,” it adds.
It further cites a series of incidents, including the public lynching of individuals accused of carrying beef, Islamophobic hate speech, and the destruction of Muslim homes at the orders of local administrations, as reflecting this trend.
The signatories of the letter also express concern over reports of attacks on Muslim-owned businesses, leading to economic and social fallout.
They highlight calls by Right-wing groups to conduct archaeological surveys on medieval mosques and dargahs, most notably the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, which they allege is an attempt to rewrite India’s pluralistic history.
The letter adds that despite the clear legal protections offered by the Places of Worship Act, the courts have responded to these demands with “undue alacrity and haste”.
“An ideological assault on this uniquely syncretic site is an assault on our civilisational heritage and perverts the very idea of an inclusive India that you yourself seek to reinvigorate,” the letter states.
The signatories urge Modi to take a firm stance against divisive forces and to ensure that all state administrations respect the Constitution and uphold the rule of law. They also call for an interfaith meeting under the PM’s leadership to reaffirm India’s commitment to its secular and pluralistic values. “Society cannot progress nor your dream of a developed Bharat come to fruition in the face of such disturbances,” says the letter.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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Their heart bleeds for the Ajmer Dargah but not for the victims of the Ajmer grooming and rape case victims. Almost all members of the influential Chishti family of Ajmer were involved in the massive scale grooming operations targeting young Hindu girls.
But the signatories to this letter will never speak for these hapless victims.
With due respect, it always takes two to clap.