NEW DELHI (Anadolu) – The Indian government must take steps to ensure a safe environment for minorities in the country, community leaders say.
On Minorities Rights Day in India, which was observed on Saturday, representatives of minority communities also said that the government has failed to bring an end to attacks on minorities, especially Muslims.
According to the last census held in 2011, the number of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population. Of late, there has been an increase in attacks against minorities in India.
“There are many forces that are anti-minority, and now particularly religious minorities are facing a threat. Organizations and individuals are being threatened by Hindutva groups, and the problem is aggravating. The unusual thing now is (such) attacks are no longer considered a crime. Rather, it has become a norm,” Niyaz Farooqui, secretary of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, India’s largest socio-religious Muslim organization, told Anadolu Agency.
“The authorities are not acting very tough against these groups, and that is why we are seeing the situation is aggravating,” Farooqui said.
In October, three nonprofit groups released a report stating that over 300 incidents of violence targeting the Christian community were reported this year.
Many leaders in the country also say that over the years, fear among minorities has increased.
According to a February 2021 report by Human Rights Watch, “prejudices embedded in the government of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have infiltrated independent institutions ... empowering nationalist groups to threaten, harass and attack religious minorities with impunity.”