Daily Times

In his address to the provincial assembly of Azad Kashmir, Imran Khan compared his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi with Adolf Hitler over the scrapping of article 370 and 35 (A), and thereby, revoking the special status of Jammu & Kashmir as well as a blockade of the entire region.

“What Modi is doing in Kashmir,” he remarked, “is like Hitler’s final solution.”

“Hitler had arrogance, and Modi’s arrogance is no different,” he added.

Comparing the radical Hindu ideology to Nazism, Khan opined, “In this ideology, like Nazis, the ethnic cleansing of Muslims from India is also included,” referring to Kashmir being the only Muslim majority region in a Hindu-majority India.

PM Khan was right in making a comparison of Modi with Hitler.

Like Hitler, Modi is synonymous with fascism, hawkishness, barbarism and religious fanaticism. He is the incarnation of arrogance, stubbornness and self-righteousness. He nurtures an unquenchable thirst for power and wants to play the role of regional policeman, thereby, establishing a regional hegemony. To this end, he can go to whatever extent he may deem necessary.

Certainly, Modi embodies many a trait of Fuehrer. Like Hitler, he has never shrunk from showing the country his complete disdain for the Indian parliament. Following the footprints of Hitler, he wants a concentration of the power in his hands and to become an all-in-all.

The political chronicle of Hitler shows that within two months of coming into power, he got the Reichstag to pass what is known as the Enabling Act, a piece of legislation that spelt the death of the very same Reichstag by vesting in the chancellor the power to frame and sign off on any law he deemed necessary in “national interest.”

For the next 12 years, the Reichstag met periodically only to ratify the extensions of the same Act.

Similarly, for PM Modi, parliament is of no worth. That’s why he always shuns gracing the parliament with his presence. On the contrary, he chooses to stay away even when parliament discusses issues of paramount importance with far-reaching consequences. He often makes the mockery of the parliamentary protocol by repeatedly promulgating executive ordinances in place of proper legislation.

Let us note another character trait that Hitler and Modi appear to share in common: the conviction that they were ordained to play a messianic role in the lives and affairs of their respective nations. Hitler’s capacity for deluding himself on this course has been demonstrated too often to bear repetition. For Modi, there are enough tell-tale signs that he is also convinced that he is a messiah: taking all the credit for anything good happening in his time even when it has had the slightest link to him. He is so profoundly absorbed in self-serving narcissism that he now needs nobody to tell him that he is great.

Apart from this, like Hitler, Modi, too, is xenophobic and megalomaniac with a deep inclination towards imperialism. Hitler launched a campaign for a pan-European empire and the Holocaust of Jews whereas Mr Modi, under the very inspiration of Hindutva ideology, is aggressively working on the agenda of “Akhand Bharat” meaning “undivided India;” encompassing those nations or regions of South, East or Central Asia once a part of pan-Indian empires or influenced by the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism. This usually includes countries ranging from Afghanistan to Indonesia. He also propagates the genocide of those who don’t reconcile to this very ideology. Therefore, Modi is employing all his resources to translate the Hindutva ideology into a reality; the nucleus of which is the creation of “Akhand Bharat.”

The very idea of” Akhand Bharat” is now an open secret and reinforced by the right-wing Hindu nationalists as well as RSS mouthpiece from time to time. In December 2015, BJP National Secretary Ram Madhav, in an interview with Al-Jazeera’s Mehdi Hassan, described that RSS still believed that one day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which have, for historical reasons, separated, would again, through popular goodwill, come together and Akhand Bharat will be formed. Lately, in March 2019, RSS leader Indresh Kumar claimed that Pakistan would reunite with India by 2025; Indians would settle in and migrate to Lahore and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet; an Indian-allied government had been ensured in Dhaka and a European Union-style Akhand Bharat” would be established.

Cow protection is being used as an alibi to perpetuate the carnage of Muslims

Additionally, Hindu nationalist political groups, such as Shiv Sena, allied to BJP, have also sought the reclamation of Pakistan-administered Kashmir under the pretence of “Akhand Bharat,” especially after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A of the Indian constitution.

Further, following the abrogation of Indian-administered Kashmir’s special status, some posters were also seen in Islamabad displaying the map of “Akhand Bharat,” encompassing India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Tibet, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar; accompanied by the caption “Akhand Bharat Real Terror.”

Inter alia, Narendra Modi, in terms of barbarity and inhumanity, is also not less than Hitler. Once dubbed as “butcher of Gujrat” because of the Muslim genocide that he committed in Gujrat in 2002, he has now earned a new title “The founder of Lynchistan.”

Socio-political literati, inside and outside India, is of the view that by patronising the public lynching of the Muslims in the name of “Gau Raksha” (cow protection), he has turned India into “Lynchistan.”

Lynching Muslims in the name of “cow protection” has become a new normal in the so-called world’s largest democracy. Cow protection is being used as an alibi to perpetuate the carnage of Muslims. None but Modi is spearheading this gruesome and inhuman movement against innocent Muslims.

According to an Indian Spend analysis, 97 per cent beef-related violence took place after Modi came to power. Modi’s government has enacted many pro-Hindutva laws. In 24 out of 29 states, cow slaughter is strictly prohibited. In some states, such as Gujarat, the government has introduced a law that makes cow slaughter punishable with life imprisonment. Emboldened by such state support, pro-Hindutva or right-wing groups are unleashing violence; targeting Muslims in the name of “Gau Raksha” or cow protection.

Consequently, after the enactment of such unjustified and biased law, the cases of Muslim persecution in India have increased exponentially. Cow vigilantes under the garb of “Gau Raksha” cow protection have publically lynched many Muslims. Many instances can be cited in this regard.

In September 2015, Mohammad Ikhlaq was attacked by a mob; dragged out of his house and killed on suspicion of keeping beef and consuming it. Similarly, in June 2017, 15-years-old Junaid was stabbed to death by a mob that attacked him and his brother. The mob also hurled religious insults at them and called the brothers “beef eaters” and “anti-nationals” before killing them in cold blood.

Another beef-related incident took place in the same year when a mob beat up and killed Asgar Ansari, a 45-years-old Muslim trader, for allegedly carrying beef in his car. Three days earlier to this horrific incident, a Muslim dairy owner, Usman Ansari, was beaten up and his house was fired when a cow carcass was reportedly found near his home.

Cow vigilantes enjoy state patronage and work in an organised manner. They use modern means to get themselves interconnected. At the core of this interconnectivity are the WhatsApp groups. Propaganda videos of “Gau Raksha” with the facility of faster internet are circulated non-stop among the WhatsApp groups. Such videos, even if they are fake, go viral in seconds. Thus, the cow vigilantes flock together to a place pointed in such video. On one call from the head of the group, men start lynching the innocent soul. Ironically, all this happens, as mentioned earlier, under the government’s patronage.

Gau Rakshas (cow vigilantes) are provided with legitimacy for their unjustified and illegal acts by the state’s law enforcing institutions. In most of the lynching incidents, the police are found to be a silent spectator. It is also reported that police supports these lynching cliques by peppering over their heinous crimes. Thus, the lynching of Muslims is orchestrated with impunity, having no fear of accountability and conviction.

Moreover, once the offence of lynching is done, the offenders are congratulated, wrapped in the national flag and garlanded by the extremist Hindu nationalists, religious fanatics and exclusively vigilant-friendly politicians. They are portrayed as heroes and true servants of the religion. This suggests that this shameful and inhuman deed is done by the nexus comprising of Neta-police and Gau-Rakshas. On the top of this trio is none other than Modi, the founder of Lynchistan.

The writer is a legal practitioner and columnist based in Quetta