Recalling Dr Ambedkar’s prescient vision of 1945 against calls for boycott of minorities
Published on: 27 August 2023, 05:43 am
How do we see the calls for genocide and social boycott of Muslims in India in light of what Dr B.R. Ambedkar and the Indian Constitution say?
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INDIA is beset by a worrying rise of aggressive calls for a genocide of Muslims by Hindu organisations and at 'dharam sansads' (Hindu religious gatherings).
Such hateful propaganda has become a staple of social media, along with calls for social and economic boycott of Muslims.
Increasing brutality
Many leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have also delivered speeches asking people not to engage with Muslims for business and economic purposes and have even asked the masses to boycott those who use push carts to sell vegetables, fruits and other commodities and earn a meagre income to sustain themselves and their families.
Only recently, in Purola, Uttarakhand, Muslims owning shops and business establishments were menacingly told to shut their shops and leave the place. They were described as land jihadis and were threatened with dire consequences in case they continued to stay there.
Odisha, known for the peaceful coexistence of people professing diverse faiths, saw circulation of leaflets on social media in the Odia language calling for social and economic boycott of Muslims.