Earlier this month, Bajrang Dal, an activist group championing the cause of Hindus organised a peaceful rally in Haryana’s Mewat region, to mark their protest against the continuous atrocities faced by Hindus from miscreants allegedly belonging to the Muslim majority of Mewat, a region known as “Mini Pakistan” because of the prevalence of abductions, rapes, forced conversions and murders of the minority Hindus.

All the requisite permissions for the rally, which was organised on December 12, were sought from the police in advance so as to ensure that the law of the land was respected, unlike the anti-CAA protests and farmers’ protests, which were carried out even when the police had explicitly denied them permission or in some cases, without even bothering to inform law enforcement officials about their planned rally.

Media contacted Haryana Police to confirm if they had granted Bajrang Dal permission to organise a rally in Mewat. The police affirmed that necessary approvals were sought for the saffron rally in Mewat’s Nuh. In fact, the police also confirmed that the rally was completely peaceful and no untoward incident was reported.

Yet, a malicious campaign of vilifying Bajrang Dal and its activists is underway on social media, spearheaded by Islamists and their sympathisers online, in conjunction with Maktoob Media, a far-leftist media organisation known for shielding radical leftists and watering down atrocities committed by them.

Meer Faisal, a journalist associated with Maktoob Media, posted a series of tweets to insinuate that the Bajrang Dal rally organised in Mewat’s Nuh was an attempt to stoke passions and drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims in the region. In his Twitter thread, Faisal shared a clip of Bajrang Dal member Jeet Vashisth, stating that it was from the December 12 rally.

Faisal also claimed that Jai Shree Ram slogans were raised in front of Muslim households and that the rally was carried out with over 500 cars filled with “Hindutva supporters” who had entered the area to saffronise Mewat’s Nuh. Faisal then goes on to make a series of insinuations to suggest that the rally organised by Bajrang Dal had ulterior motives, even though the police said no inappropriate occurrence was reported during the demonstrations.

Even as Maktoob Media scaremongered over Bajrang Rally in Nuh, Bajrang Dal member Jeet Vashisth in his video said that he had been receiving threatening messages and messages warning him that it was not safe to enter Mewat. “We are not as weak as you (Muslims) think. We are not scared of your messages and comments,” he said. But as expected, these nuggets of information were conspicuously missing from the report published in Maktoob Media.

Islamists and their sympathisers go on an overdrive to wrongly accuse Bajrang Dal of fanning communal hatred

Soon after the Maktoob Media report was published and Faisal posted a Twitter thread to scaremonger over the Bajrang Dal rally in Nuh, a host of Islamists and left-leaning ‘liberals’ came out in the support of the leftist media organisation in its efforts to malign the Hindu group and accuse them of inciting discord in society.

And since there was no untoward incident reported in the rally organised by the Bajrang Dal, Islamists and their supporters took offence at the mere notion of the Hindu activist group showing the temerity of organising a protest rally and standing up for the rights and safety of minority Hindus. The report by the Maktoob Media and Islamists asserted that Bajrang Dal’s rally tried to trigger discord between Hindus and Muslims, just because it was organised in a Muslim-dominated region, and chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans were made during the rally.

So, they presided over stoking paranoia about the Bajrang Dal’s rally and peddling unfounded fears, possibly in an attempt to discourage more such rallies in future. The Bajrang Dal rally was aimed at voicing the concerns of the aggrieved Hindus who felt intimidated, wronged, and oppressed by the Muslim-majority of the region, something which has even been reaffirmed by a committee headed by former Justice Pawan Kumar on Muslim atrocities against Hindus in Mewat.

Therefore, the deliberate and wanton fearmongering over the Bajrang Dal rally in Mewat’s Nuh appeared like an orchestrated attempt to besmirch the Hindu activist group, and an exercise possibly aimed to create a smokescreen to cover up the rising Muslim fundamentalism in the region and shield culprits of hate crimes from being brought to reckoning. The Islamists were, perhaps, worried that the Bajrang Dal’s group rally would be a harbinger to Hindu awakening in the region against the atrocities committed against them on account of their religion.

Also, according to Maktoob Media and its supporters, a Hindu organisation automatically becomes guilty of fanning communal hatred by simply organising a peaceful rally in a Muslim-dominated region. Moreover, chanting of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans in Muslim-dominated regions is branded as an attempt to provoke Muslims. These are astonishing claims, given that India is a ‘secular’, ‘democratic’ country, and any organisation has the right to organise protest rallies anywhere across the country. The Islamists are projecting a false motive of “spreading communal hatred” to show the Bajrang Dal in a negative light. Something as basic as organising a rally or wearing one’s religion on his sleeve by chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is branded as a communal provocation aimed at creating a divide in the society.

Ironically, these are the same folks who routinely cite the ‘secular’, ‘democratic’ nature of India’s constitution to argue that Muslims have the right to pray in open spaces even though it inconveniences fellow Hindus and non-Muslims, or mosques should have loudspeakers for azaan regardless of disturbance it causes to non-Muslims. The dishonesty of the Left in fearmongering over the Bajrang Dal rally in Haryana’s Mewat is staggeringly duplicitous, and it stems from the problematic antecedents of the place.

Haryana’s Mewat known as “Mini Pakistan” for the prevalence of abductions, molestation, forced conversions and murders of Hindus

Haryana’s Mewat earned its moniker as “Mini Pakistan” for the rampant abductions, rapes, murders, forced conversions and other crimes committed against Hindus. In June 2020, Former Justice Pawan Kumar likened Mewat to Pakistan, stating that there was no difference between the two. Kumar, who headed an investigation team to probe the atrocities inflicted on Hindus and Dalits in Haryana’s Mewat, declared that Hindus and other communities in the region lived under perpetual fear of being targeted by the region’s Muslim majority.

The findings of the team also revealed that the molestation of girls and women had become pervasive all over Mewat, which has caused problems for girls to continue their studies. “A 12-year girl was raped by 4 Muslims and the house where the rape took place was of one of the Muslim cops,” the press release by former Justice Pawan Kumar’s team said. No action was taken against the perpetrators.

Furthermore, the statement also cited an instance from Freozpur Namak where 9 Muslims allegedly raped a woman for several days after forcibly abducting her. The press release stated that no action was taken against the complaint filed and the abductors killed the woman four days later.

Besides, more than 200 cases of forced conversions had allegedly taken place in the region, the team headed by former justice Pawan Kumar said. The committee also added that because of police inaction, the perpetrators have been emboldened and pressure is being mounted on the family members of those forcibly converted to get them converted as well.

Besides, the cremation grounds of Hindus, including Dalits, were also encroached upon. Dalits were abducted and assaulted by Muslims. Attacks on Dalits asking for the refund of the burrowed sum to the Muslims had become a common occurrence. Reportedly, Dalit weddings have also been attacked and looted. There were also instances where brides were kidnapped.

Islamists resort to unwarranted vilification of Bajrang Dal to draw a veil over criminal atrocities commited by Muslims in Mewat

It is these atrocities committed against Hindus that Bajrang Dal sought to highlight through its rally in Haryana’s Mewat. It was a message of reassurance to the beleaguered Hindus in the region that they are not alone in their fight against continuous persecution, and that there is an organisation willing to stand for their rights and safety. It was also a stark warning to the miscreants in the region, who have for long gone unpunished and felt emboldened to continue committing atrocities in absence of police action against them.

It is worth noting that there was no rioting, no violence, no incidents of vandalism or arson in the rally organised by the Bajrang Dal, a far cry from the demonstrations and protests conducted by the Left supporters and Islamists, for whom indulging in violence and causing anarchy is second nature. The violent riots witnessed during the anti-CAA protests, or more recently during the farmers’ protests, is a testament to the barbaric tendencies of the Left. By contrast, the Bajrang Dal rally was concluded peacefully, with no reported violations of law and order during the demonstrations.

Yet, the Islamists and the far-left organisation Maktoob Media resorted to spreading unfounded fears about the Bajrang Dal rally. The only plausible explanation for this perversity is that the Left and the Islamists want Hindus to meekly endure brutalities committed against them without raising their voice against their continuous persecution. They don’t want Hindus to draw the nation’s attention towards the ongoing atrocities meted out on them because doing so would directly implicate the region’s Muslim majority population. Therefore, an insidious attempt is undertaken to paint aggressors as victims and victims as aggressors so that prevailing lawlessness could be attributed to assertive Hindus while real culprits could be absolved of their crimes.

References:

opindia.com - by Jinit Jain