BJP Out, Hindu Extremism Remains: Fresh Massacres Target Indian Muslims

Hindu nationalist organizations allied with the now-opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)have recently intensified efforts to stir public sentiment against the Muslim minority. Seizing on a recent Indian census showing the Muslim birth rate rising to 3.7%, these groups warn the Hindu majority that demographic trends, left unchecked, will reduce them to a minority within decades—calling for decisive measures to curb what Hindu extremists term an 'abnormal phenomenon.'

Targeting of Mosques

Perhaps the sharpest weapon wielded by these extremist factions to crush minorities—especially the Muslim community—is orchestrating acts of mass extermination. Recently, two massacres struck the Muslim minority in Maharashtra. One unfolded in the Marathwada region, where a powerful explosive detonated inside a mosque during Friday prayers, killing 150 Muslims and wounding 250 others, 50 of whom were left in critical condition. In the aftermath of the blasts, anti-Muslim violence erupted across Jalna, Purna, Parbhani, Nanded, and Aurangabad. Hindu extremists took to the streets and bazaars, attacking Muslims, looting their properties, torching shops, and desecrating mosques, amid complicity from police who failed to intervene to protect Muslims—a group regarded as worthless within a Hindu caste- and race-based social hierarchy. Emboldened by this impunity, the perpetrators persisted; the following Friday, another high-explosive device was discovered inside a mosque and safely defused before detonation.

The detonation of a bomb inside the Jama Masjid specifically during Friday prayers—a time when mosques overflow with worshippers—coupled with organized anti-Muslim rallies, signals grim days ahead for Indian Muslims. The changing of faces in New Delhi's corridors of power, marked by the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party's victory to form the new government, offers Muslims little cause for celebration; Hindus perpetually preach peace while concealing daggers. Sympathetic Indian newspapers raised a piercing, legitimate question: Where were the police forces typically deployed outside mosques to maintain Friday security on the day of the blast? How did the culprits manage to escape, and why have no arrests been made nearly a month after the incident?

It is worth noting that neutral Indian commentators have pointed to the RSS—a group enjoying political backing from the BJP—as the primary culprit behind these events. Among their most compelling evidence is the sudden attack launched by Hindu demonstrators shortly after the mosque explosion against the headquarters of the Marathi-language daily Lokmat Times, a publication aligned with the Congress party.

In a related incident, an armed group attacked another mosque in Karnataka in early September, opening fire on Muslims inside, leaving 40 dead and numerous others injured. Suspicion fell on Uma Bharti, a prominent hardliner in the former BJP government. While police raided her residence in Bhopal, she managed to evade arrest, subsequently fleeing and going into hiding at an undisclosed location.

Collusion of the Congress Government

Sensing widespread Hindu sympathy for Bharti, the state's Chief Minister, Dharam Singh—a Congress party leader—was pressured into retracting the arrest warrant and quashing all charges against her. This marked a blatant usurpation of the Supreme Court's constitutional jurisdiction, as it alone holds the legal authority to grant relief or pardons to wanted fugitives—underscoring the deep entrenchment of extremism within India's Hindu majority.

While such impunity might have been anticipated under the ousted BJP administration—the political arm of the extremist RSS and its hardline offshoots—it is alarming to witness it unfold under a Congress-led government widely perceived as moderate and minority-friendly. Compounding the crisis, the perpetrators of both atrocities against Muslims remain at large more than a month later. This leaves only two plausible conclusions: either the current government proved entirely inept in tracking down the culprits, or it lacked the political will to do so. Under either premise, the administration stands indicted—either as toothless and unable to protect Muslims, or as actively complicit against them.