Berlin
\nA prominent Indian journalist, referring to the backlash in Muslim countries over the blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by two leaders of India\u2019s ruling party, BJP, denounced Prime Minister Narendra Modi for remaining silent amid growing protests across the country and beyond.
\n\u201cThroughout all of this, the social-media-savvy Modi, known to invoke values of pluralism abroad, has remained silent as Indian democracy has descended into hate and is humiliated with international backlash,\u201d wrote Rana Ayyub in an article published in The Washington Post\u2019s Wednesday edition.
\n\u201cTo me, a journalist who has been reporting on the Indian government\u2019s relentless attacks on the country\u2019s more than 200 million Muslims since Modi assumed power in 2014, this global reaction was long in the offing,\u201d he wrote.
\n\u201cIn recent years under the BJP, India has seen the passage of a law that made religion a criterion for citizenship for the first time; restrictions on the slaughter of cows in many states; the construction of a Hindu temple at the site of a demolished mosque in Ayodhya; the abrogation of the special status that granted the majority-Muslim region of Kashmir a measure of autonomy; a ban on the wearing of Hijabs in schools and colleges in the southern state of Karnataka; and ominous discussions for a Uniform Civil Code applicable to all religious communities (currently, the personal laws of different religious communities are governed by their respective scriptures).\u201d
\nNoting that the two BJP leaders were removed from their posts, Rana Ayyub, who is also the author of \u201cGujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up,\u201d said: \u201cThe kinds of views the BJP wants to characterise as \u2018fringe\u2019 are, in fact, the language of the ruling party and state, spoken each night on the country\u2019s leading news channels.
\n\u201cMembers of the prime minister\u2019s party crossed the red line of outrageously insulting (Prophet) Muhammad (PBUH),\u201d pointing out that even more concerning was that the BJP\u2019s actions against the two spokespersons, Ms Ayyub said, occurred days after their comments, and only after public rebukes by multiple nations critical to India\u2019s strategic and economic interests.
\nThe world has long viewed India as a nation that has been the melting pot of cultures, religions, and customs; a leading light in fighting tyranny and oppression; and a leader in the discourse around secular and plural values,\u201d the journalist wrote.
\n\u201cIndia under Modi, however, is coming across as a petty, vindictive nation that seeks pleasure in humiliating the oppressed and the less privileged,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cThe land of Mahatma Gandhi, Abul Kalam Azad, and Rabindranath Tagore is being reduced to a caricature of hate on the global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Berlin A prominent Indian journalist, referring to the backlash in Muslim countries over the blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by two leaders of India\u2019s ruling party, BJP, denounced Prime Minister Narendra Modi for remaining silent amid growing protests across the country and beyond. \u201cThroughout all of this, the social-media-savvy Modi, known to invoke values […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[195,8406,304],"class_list":{"0":"post-265614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-india","9":"tag-indian-journalist","10":"tag-narendra-modi"},"yoast_head":"\n