- The Mail on Sunday revealed that entities linked to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are believed to have instigated Hindus to violently attack British Muslims during tensions in Leicester last summer.
- WhatsApp has long been a tool utilised for the nefarious purposes of the BJP.
The Mail on Sunday revealed that entities linked to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are believed to have instigated Hindus to violently accost British Muslim youths during the tumultuous tensions in Leicester last summer.
The Mail’s article further elaborates that a security source in the UK claimed that there is proof of activists linked to BJP using private WhatsApp groups to incite Hindu protestors to hit the streets. However, the source cautioned that this is just the ‘most egregious’ of Indian Hindu nationalists utilizing private social media posts to meddle in UK affairs.
The Mail on Sunday goes on to quote the security source who issued a warning, stating:
‘So far, it’s mainly local politics – Modi and his BJP doing that they would do in Gujarat [Mr Modi’s home state] to get this or that local councillor elected.
‘But it has to be stopped before it spreads to attempts to influence our national politics.’
The mainstream press, with its firm grasp on the narrative, asserts that the clashes between Hindu and Muslim youths in Leicester originated after the cricket match between India and Pakistan in late August. The locals of Leicester, however, contest this narrative and place the genesis of the ongoing hostilities to May of last year, when a group of approximately 30 Hindu youths subjected a 19-year-old Muslim man to a vicious assault, employing bats and poles as their weapons of choice.
Disregarding this significant occurrence in the sequence of events, the mainstream press seemed inclined to persist in crafting a narrative that relies heavily on a racially biased stereotype of Asians behaving violently following cricket matches. By doing so, they overlooked the crucial incident that unfolded, perpetuating an incomplete understanding of the true dynamics at play.
A cynic might assert that individuals with prejudiced inclinations within the mainstream press hastened to conflate this with such racist stereotypes, conceivably as a purposeful endeavour to divert attention from critically examining the ruling BJP, a regime with which the United Kingdom persists in upholding economic and diplomatic ties.
WhatsApp has long been a tool utilised for the nefarious purposes of the BJP.
Back in 2019, The HuffPost featured an article by Gopal Sathe that exposed the BJP’s utilisation of WhatsApp as a tool for promoting political propaganda.
The article described how the BJP had utilised the services of a private company Sarv Webs Pvt Ltd, to disseminate political propaganda through mass messages on WhatsApp. While this activity could potentially breach Indian election norms, legal experts considered it to be a matter of ambiguity and uncertainty.
Later that same year in December 2019, The Wire, a news publication in India, revealed an investigation that found an organised campaign on WhatsApp groups designed to stoke Islamophobia and hatred against Muslims and immigrants in the country.
Within the intricate web of WhatsApp groups, run either directly or indirectly by the BJP and its associates, lies a malevolent nexus. These groups engage in the heinous act of vilifying the Muslim community, employing unsubstantiated statistics and dubious “data” to further their agenda. They brazenly advocate for violence against Muslims and revel in the idea of their citizenship being stripped away, particularly in light of the prospective implementation of a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Wire uncovered screenshots of widely circulated WhatsApp messages outlining plans for the elimination of Muslims in India to establish a ‘Hindu rashtra’ (Hindu nation):
The provided screenshot presents a ‘four-step’ plan for transforming India into a Hindu nation. The initial step involves the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which marginalizes Muslim immigrants in India. This is followed by the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a bill that revokes the citizenship of immigrants who fail to prove Indian lineage. The next step suggests the enactment of a law aimed at controlling the Muslim population, crudely dubbed as ‘No pig breeding.’ Finally, the proposal includes the adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, which aims to abolish the legal recognition of Muslim civil law, including divorce procedures according to the sunnah.
WhatsApp Vigilantes
The London School of Economics conducted a study titled ‘WhatsApp Vigilantes,‘ which revealed the escalating levels of violence against individuals perpetrated by vigilante mobs. These acts were frequently triggered by a deliberate falsehood, a rumour, a chain of propaganda, or misinformation that propagated through online or mobile phone social media apps like WhatsApp. The full report can be read here.
India stands as the singular nation on Earth where minority individuals are publicly lynched, often in the presence of law enforcement officers, for the “crime” of consuming beef. Between May 2015 and December 2018, 36 Muslims were killed in such attacks. WhatsApp, as research would suggest, plays a significant role in quickly organising mobs driven by BJP indoctrinated, and fuelled by a desire for violence.
The potency of WhatsApp as a tool in India is largely due to the fact that it has over 487 million users in the country, making it WhatsApp’s biggest market. The BJP has demonstrated early and effective utilisation of the rising user base of WhatsApp, harnessing it for its malicious objectives.
The events witnessed in Leicester last year portrayed the insidious spread of this malevolent hatred driven by the BJP onto the streets of Britain. It is imperative that law enforcement and the government address this issue swiftly and earnestly.
Is the Daily Mail’s attack on the BJP a positive indication of the paper’s impartiality and dedication to upholding truth, or is it merely a blip that Muslims shouldn’t get comfortable with?
Permit my inner cynic to persist, for regrettably, I remain unconvinced that the Mail on Sunday’s reproach of the BJP party arises from a foundation of moral rectitude and unwavering commitment to truth.
The Daily Mail has a long history of fomenting hatred and violence against Muslims with racially charged headlines. What follows below is a mere glimpse into the kinds of dangerous headlines that have emanated from the bowels of the Daily Mail:
(The above snippet is from an article by Julian Hargreaves, Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge.)
The question still remains as to why the Daily Mail permitted the publication of a critical piece about the BJP.
It is noteworthy that this article was published by the Mail merely a day following its publication of the headline: ‘India threatens colonial ‘reckoning’ for Britain as it prepares to ask for the return of legendary treasures including priceless Koh-i-Noor diamond used in Crown Jewels.’
The aforementioned article unveiled the plan for India’s foreign diplomats to embark on a mission aimed at reclaiming treasures acquired by Britain during the colonial era. This includes the highly coveted Koh-i-Noor diamond, renowned as one of the world’s largest cut diamonds in the world.
In the article, Govind Mohan, Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Culture, is quoted as saying:
‘It is of huge importance to the government. The thrust of this effort to repatriate India’s artefacts comes from the personal commitment of prime minister Narendra Modi, who has made it a major priority.’
Serendipitously, the Mail unveiled an investigation to the world a mere day later, wherein a security source confirmed the active involvement of Modi’s BJP in fomenting violence on the streets of Britain.
It seems that this noteworthy shift in newspaper targeting occurs following Narendra Modi’s disruption of the status quo, as he dares to assert his “personal commitment” in demanding the return of India’s treasured artifacts from the British.
One could interpret this as a subtle manoeuvre by the British establishment, reminding Modi to stay within his designated boundaries and not succumb to lofty ambitions that include dictating terms to his former British masters.
