‘Everything is gone’: entire Indian villages burned in ethnic violence

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/indian-villages-burned-ethnic-violence

by lisasays • 3 years ago

35 22 3 years ago

Sad stuff. The Hindu nationalism being pushed by Modi seems to be having more and more dire consequences for minorities in India.

n_t6• 3 years ago

Even this news report could not call it attack on minority (though they surreptitiously use images to build that notion), because reality is just the opposite - it is Christian tribes attacking local Hindus.

India has similar to affirmative action law (called reservation) which provides certain castes and tribes up to 60% of allocation in various governmental programs (like admission in university, promo in govt jobs, etc.)[0]. Kuki tribe (now all Christians) had this reservation for long but Metei (local Hindus who also qualify for Scheduled Tribe in that region) were demanding them to be included too. Recently, judicial court gave Meitei right to be included in this reservation system [1] and Kukis started rioting against it. The attack has been primarily from Kukis to displace Meitei from this region, and hence not share reservation quota. (um! does genocide ring a bell? probably not because genocide of Hindus in India is common thing. See Kashmir[2], Kerala[3], and currently going on in West Bengal).

I'll also add that in India, English media is very heavily biased against Hindus so one has to read regional language news or social media to find unbiased (unfortunately, unfiltered too) reports. To answer what you are thinking next - you can prove it yourself! Just compare what English dailies/channel report vs twitter layperson and regional newspapers do with evidence. Not just for this, for any (seemingly never-ending) forthcoming incidences.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India [1] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/manipur-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_of_Kashmiri_Hindus [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_rebellion

selimthegrim• 3 years ago

You are aware that lunchroom canteen at the Hindu had strict vegetarian policy until recently and you’re telling me they’re biased against Hindus?

And speaking of WB please tell me who was killing all the Hindus at Marichjhapi?

questime• 3 years ago

Why would Indian media be anti Hindu when the almost all of the 1. Electorate, 2. Government, 3. Corporations, 4. Media houses, 5. Rich are Hindu? I'd love to hear your explanation for that one. I don't disagree with your first point.

srnayak2• 3 years ago

I am from India. This incident has less to do with Hindu nationalism and more to do with reservation and politics. In the state of Manipur, the majority (60%) are Meitei ethnic group. Out of those around 80% Hindu and rest are Muslim. The remaining 40% are from various tribal communities which are mostly Christians. The tribal communities enjoy a lot of benefits starting from government jobs to right to use forest land. So there is a demand from Meitei people to be included as tribal to get the same benefits. The current Christian tribal communities are against this as they will have to share the benefit with a much larger and better educated group. That is the cause of the tension.

abudabi123• 3 years ago

Apple is coming to town for Xmas production.

throwaway3846295• 3 years ago

And PM Modi and Home Minister Shah are busy in election campaign in Karnataka state. Dozens of tweets for Karnataka in last few days, not a single mention of Manipur violence on PM's twitter account. BJP is power in Manipur.

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1654784919607070721

srnayak2• 3 years ago

To control law and order, you need to take action on the ground. Indian government has already deployed the army and paramilitary forces to control violence.

spprashant3• 3 years ago

People in India have become tone-deaf to communal violence now.

It's become so frequent and obvious, that the ruling majority considers it as the cost of doing business.

We will destroy a portion of the population in the race to put India on the global map.

throwaway3846295• 3 years ago

Actually its not the "cost of doing business", but an "enabler of the business" for right-wing/conservative politicians.

It's unfortunate that some political parties benefits when there is no harmony in people. Whether its White vs Black in USA, or Hindu vs Muslims in India and so on...

n_t6• 3 years ago

I'm from India, I beg to differ. Despite all the cacophony of news channels, it is much less lawlessness now, partly because people are more aware and focused on their lives.

However, to your point "destroy a portion of the population in the race to put India on the global map." I encourage you do dig deeper than what english media reports and find the truth yourself. For example, the reason for this violence is two tribal communities, X & Y in hilly area. X was enjoying benefits of reservation, while Y had shared same past and situations. Y went to court asking to be included for reservation as schedule tribe, which court agreed to. Immediately, rioting starts. Can you come up a logical reason why Y would create ruckus instead of celebrating these benefits? Now read the news again and fill in who is X and who is Y.

spprashant3• 3 years ago

Okay please go ahead and tell me this isn't true.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/tolerant-muslims-can-be-coun...

This is an Union minister speaking at an RSS event.

This is neither the first nor the most vicious attack on India's biggest minority that I have heard of. This kind of rhetoric just seems commonplace today.

Full disclosure: I am an Indian too, living abroad now, but voted for the Modi government in 2014.

jacooper• 3 years ago

Typical Hindu nationalism, the BJP won't care until it affects them.

An example of that is the endless anti-muslim rehotic, they only cared when the Arabian gulf reacted to a BJP PM attacking islam.

‘Everything is gone’: entire Indian villages burned in ethnic violence

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