Media Cries ‘Islamophobia’ as Hindu-Right Gains Ground in India
President Trump calls Indian PM Modi to congratulate him on the latest electoral victory
Mainstream media is reeling following the victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-Right BJP party in nationwide state elections, with leading liberal newspapers and news outlets raising the cry of ‘Islamophobia’ in India.
The UK’s left-wing newspaper The Guardian called the Hindu-Right electoral gains in the biggest Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), which has a population of 220 million, “a victory for anti-Muslim bigotry”. Aiming its criticism of the man elected to run the state — a 44 year-old Hindu Monk — Yogi Adityanath, The Guardian complained that “[Adityanath] backs a Donald Trump-style travel ban to stop “terrorists” coming to India.”
According to Indian media reports, President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Modi today to congratulate him on his electoral success.
The left-wing news website Vox was equally critical of UP state’s newly elected Chief Minister Adityanath, writing that “he publicly supported President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, stating, “Similar action is needed to contain terror activities in this country.””
The Washington Post profiled the monk-turned-politician, Adityanath, with a story titled “Meet the militant monk spreading Islamophobia in India”. The Washington Post held India’s PM Modi responsible for the rising Islamophobia:
[Latest election result] points at rising Islamophobia in India, aided and abetted by the far right and the elephant in the room ever since the unexpected win of Narendra Modi in the 2014 national elections. Adityanath’s anointment as the chief minister of a state that has been a hotbed of communal tension for more than two decades suggests that this Islamophobia is taking deeper roots.
The current liberal hysteria is similar to the one seen in the run up to the Indian general elections three year ago that led to the victory of PM Modi. In April 2014, UK-based news magazine, the Economist asked in its editorial, “Can anyone stop Narendra Modi?” The magazine complained that Modi “will probably become India’s next prime minister. That does not mean he should be.” Echoing the media’s response to a potential Trump presidency.
U.S. magazine The Nation explained to its reader “Why Narendra Modi’s Election Threatens Democracy in India”, and leading the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Qatar-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera threw around the incendiary ‘fascism’ charge.
Despite grim prophecies from the mainstream media, India’s democracy is just as vibrant and strong under Modi. India’s GDP has grown at an impressive rate of over 7 percent each year since Modi took office almost three years ago. The country’s fiscal deficit has declined and foreign investments (FDI) have been on the rise.
This doesn’t take away from the fact that Modi faces daunting challenges ahead of him. Seven decades of Socialism has stifled India’s entrepreneurial potential and created an inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy.
When India gained independence from the British in 1947, its economy was comparable to that of other Asian countries. While Asian tiger economies soared by creating infrastructure and wealth by adopting Free-Market Capitalism, India’s Socialist leaders hitched their wagon to the Soviet Block, nationalising vast sectors of industry with devastating results for the country’s economy.
By the time Soviet-inspired Socialism was done with India, the country had become home to over 30 percent of world’s poorest. It was only after India introduced capitalist reforms in the wake of the economic crisis of 1991 that its economic growth took off, and poverty declined.
Just like Israel, India stands geographically at the forefront of global Jihadist onslaught. Islamist ideology of Jihad warfare has made inroads into India’s 180 million strong Muslim population that makes up 15 percent of the country’s population. Indian armed forces are paying a heavy price fighting Islamic terrorism — losing nearly 5,000 civilians and over 2,400 soldiers since 2001.
The political rise of the Hindu-Right, that the media likes to call ‘Islamophobia’, is a reaction to this Islamist warfare aimed at India’s Hindu and Sikh population. As Western Europe refuses to even comprehend the risks of radical Islam, the U.S. must join hands with steadfast allies like India and Israel to face the biggest threat to civilisation in our lifetimes.
Video: President Trump calls Indian PM Modi to congratulate him on the latest electoral victory:
[Cover image courtesy YouTube]
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“Jihad warfare has made inroads into India’s 180-strong Muslim population”.
Is that supposed to read “180-million strong” ?
I don’t know much about Modi, but the enemy of my enemy has a good shot at being my friend, or at the very least someone I can work with.
Do they need ammo?
Who ever doesn’t need ammo?
I have a keg of black powder and a hundred pounds or so of bird shot.
I need ammo.
This is a curious thing. The only reason there are Muslims in India is, they invaded the place.
Between 1000 and 1500A.D. Muslims slaughtered an estimated 50 to 80 million Hindus and Buddhists. A credible case can be made they massacred 120 million. Unlike Christians and Jews the Hindus and Buddhists had no choice but to fight as they didn’t have the option of paying the extortion money, or jizya (although this rule wasn’t always strictly enforced, much to the displeasure of the theologians).
How are the Muslims the victims? They’re only in India because their ancestors perpetrated a crime against humanity.
Hindu Kush. The slaughter of the Hindus. The Muslims were proud of their crimes. They named mountain ranges after them.
I need to distinguish between Muslims and Islam. The vast majority of Muslims lead far better lives than their prophet. It’s the ideology I despise. Not it’s primary victims.
Big deal. You can say the same thing about any of the “isms”. That doesn’t make them any less inimical to human life.
The ideology is always harmless; a mere instruction book. It’s the human actors who make it intolerable.
Ideologies are harmless? As Solzhenitsyn, who experienced the effects of a malign ideology first hand, so aptly observed, any maniac can kill dozens. But to kill millions requires an ideology.
Your statement that ideologies are always harmless is the kind of wishful thinking that is leading to our destruction. Wake up! The promise of a carnal, hedonistic paradise for those who kill the unbelievers isn’t going to go away if you continue to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Surah 9:111
“Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah , so they kill and are killed. [It is] a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah ? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment.”
This is not harmless, friend. Best take it seriously.
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard it was said, “You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Just curious, Tom. Do you not see a difference?
There are also Christians in India. Are they also threatened by Hindu Nationalism and, if not, why not? (And if they were, would the press refer to the casuse as Christophobia)?
“In Eurasia the great historic fault lines between civilizations are once more aflame. This is particularly true along the boundaries of the crescent-shaped Islamic bloc of nations, from the bulge of Africa to central Asia. Violence also occurs between Muslims, on the one hand, and Orthodox Serbs in the Balkans, Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Buddhists in Burma and Catholics in the Philippines. Islam has bloody borders.
— “The Clash of Civilizations” by Samuel Huntington.
Yes, there are radical Hindu extremists who threaten Christians. India is complicated.
Modi’s democratic accomplishments aside, there is a real concern with the Hindu Nationalists. When he was Governor of Gujarat, there was widespread nationalist rioting against local Christians and he turned a blind eye.
Any and all religious bigotry is despicable. But I don’t understand why Hindu nationalism is to be condemned, when the clear directives of Islam are far worse.
Albigensian, you are why it is necessary for me to draw the distinctions that I draw.
A five year old can understand. So let’s try. Does their religion command it? I can explain to a five year old that the book of Joshua doesn’t command Jews to go around killing “everything that breaths” in any random city.
You know what the best evidence for this is? Jews aren’t doing it.
What I can’t do is argue that these verses don’t apply to today’s Muslims.
Surah 2:216
“Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not.”
Surah 3:28
“Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than believers. And whoever [of you] does that has nothing with Allah , except when taking precaution against them in prudence. And Allah warns you of Himself, and to Allah is the [final] destination.”
Surah 4:89
“They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah . But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.”
Surah 8:12 [Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, “I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip.”
I.E. behead them and mutilate them for the crime of not believing.
Surah 9:74
“They swear by Allah that they did not say [anything against the Prophet] while they had said the word of disbelief and disbelieved after their [pretense of] Islam and planned that which they were not to attain. And they were not resentful except [for the fact] that Allah and His Messenger had enriched them of His bounty. So if they repent, it is better for them; but if they turn away, Allah will punish them with a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And there will not be for them on earth any protector or helper.”
Who, you might correctly wonder, is supposed to be the instrument of Allah’s punishment “in this world?”
Allah provided an answer earlier in this Surah.
Surah 9:14
“Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the breasts of a believing people”
And just for emphasis, as to how Muslims are supposed to view non-Muslims.
Surah 60:4
“There has already been for you an excellent pattern in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, “Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah . We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you ANIMOSITY AND HATRED FOREVER until you believe in Allah alone” except for the saying of Abraham to his father, “I will surely ask forgiveness for you, but I have not [power to do] for you anything against Allah . Our Lord, upon You we have relied, and to You we have returned, and to You is the destination.”
Maybe I’m mistaken, but since you call yourself Albigensian I am led to believe you are trying to make a point. And I would be the last person to argue that a lot of people who called themselves Christians did many great evils in the name of God. I would also argue that they did so in violation of this commandment:
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
If I do evil, and do so in the name of God, I’m going to h3ll.
This is why, Albigensian, we Italians have a saying. The floor of h3ll is paved with the skulls of priests.
But Islam commands its adherents to treat people in ways that Jews and Christians recognize as evil. There is no golden rule in Islam. Quite the opposite.
Surah 48:29
“Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah ; and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, MERCIFUL AMONG THEMSELVES. You see them bowing and prostrating [in prayer], seeking bounty from Allah and [His] pleasure. Their mark is on their faces from the trace of prostration. That is their description in the Torah. And their description in the Gospel is as a plant which produces its offshoots and strengthens them so they grow firm and stand upon their stalks, delighting the sowers – so that Allah may enrage by them the disbelievers. Allah has promised those who believe and do righteous deeds among them forgiveness and a great reward.”
Now, if you’d like to disqualify yourself in the eyes of any and all honest persons, please carry on as if Islam doesn’t have a message that distinguishes it from Judaism and Christianity. And for that matter from Hinduism and Buddhism. But if you wish to be considered a serious person, you have to be able to acknowledge that fact, and take the next step of learning what that message is so you you can convey it to others. And you don’t have to believe any of it. But what you can’t do is draw this false moral equivalence.
First, they came for Israel, and then Russia.
The social justice adventurists aren’t even trying.
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:33-34
You will not find a similar verse in the Quran, where time after time Allah announces that he does not love the unbeliever.
Surah 3:31-32
“Say, [O Muhammad], “If you should love Allah , then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” Say, “Obey Allah and the Messenger.” But if they turn away – then indeed, Allah does not like the disbelievers.”
It needs to be said the Coast Guard really wants an ice breaker, Uncle Sugar.
https://www.uscg.mil/acquisition/icebreaker/
Just sticking up for my sister service.
You’re welcome, Coaties. And you still owe me ten dollars.
Modi’s war on cash is not a good idea.
Look at the list of media sources cited in this post. If the Guardian, the Nation, Vox, and the Washington Post all see “islamophobia,” you can be sure that’s not the real problem in India.
India has not had a widespread Islamist radical problem, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some attacks. In a chaotic country with large groups of all kinds, in which the ignorant are often incited to riot by the leaders of various groups, there are going to be problems — and of course the attack on Mumbai by Pakistani radicals is well within Indian memory.
“…the ignorant are often incited to riot by the leaders of various groups”
I wish you were around in 2012, when I was trying to tell people Obama was lying about Benghazi. There’s no such thing as a spontaneous storming of a diplomatic facility. Somebody organizes it.
We are seeing just as much nationalism as Islamism here. Pakistan and India have already fought two wars, and the Pak ISI has been supporting terrorist groups since the 1980s.
India is just getting tired of ISI’s excuses on how they’re not able to shut down known terror groups in Pakistan territory. For that matter many Pak civilians have become quite impatient with their military, so it’s no surprise India is reacting.
We are going to see a lot more reporting on the “evils” of nationalism.
Because Trump beat Clinton. And the press needs to tell us how bad that is.
Believing in America is just wrong. If you believe in America you’re a Hindu nationalist, and ultimately a Nazi.
Hindus and Muslims in India have never gotten along. That’s the reason for the partition of India (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India) in 1947 into India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. India and Pakistan have been on the verge of war ever since, especially in border provinces like Kashmir. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_conflict)
The Pakistanis don’t do any favors for their Hindu citizens, and they have sent terror squads into India (Mumbai 2008, for example). So India and Pakistan are sworn enemies, and only someone who wants to put a political spin on it would call it “Islamophobia”, because the Pakistanis’ “Hindu-phobia” is just as strong, and more likely to become violent.
“Hindus and Muslims in India have never gotten along.”t
This could have something to do with the fact that Muslims don’t belong in India. They invaded it and slaughtered tens if not hundreds of millions of Hindus. The Muslims have given the Hindus several million reasons not to like them.
It doesn’t follow that the Hindus are automatically right about anything. But it irks me that I have to point out simple facts. There should not be anything called the Islamic world. Unless you’re for violent conquest in the name of religion.
Please bring up the Old Testament. Then try to tell me about the Hebrew world.