Online Desk: Seventeen prominent retired civil servants, diplomats and public figures have expressed alarm over the deterioration of Hindu-Muslim relations in the country. They said the situation has worsened since 2014 when the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre. In an open letter to Prime Minister Modi, they asserted that while communal strife has been a recurring issue in the country’s history, the past 10 years have witnessed a disturbing shift.
They urged the prime minister to address escalating communal tensions in the country promptly, media reports said on Saturday. Among the 17 signatories are NC Saxena, former secretary of the Planning Commission; Najeeb Jung, former Lt-Governor of Delhi; SY 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.
The signatories highlighted 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. The letter pointed 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,” stated 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,” the letter added. It further cited 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 expressed concern over reports of attacks on Muslim-owned businesses, leading to economic and social fallout. They highlighted 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 added 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 stated.
