The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Sunday, February 26, adopted a resolution saying the Union government should ban dharam sansads which have been giving a call for genocide against Muslims. “Ban criminal organisations participating in violence and repeated hate speech; and arrest their ringleaders. Provide compensation to the victims of majoritarian violence and rehabilitate the families of those persons who have been lynched or killed in the name of Hindutva,” the resolution read. The resolution was adopted at the party’s national conference held in Mumbai.
It also condemned the increasing violence against Muslims, other minorities and Dalits under the BJP government. “It has been observed that Dalits, Muslims and other religious minorities across India have been facing increasing violence at the ends of state authorities and non-state vigilante groups connected to the Sangh Parivar. These attacks include attacks on churches, mosques and religious symbols such as azaan, hijab, halal and meat. Such violence has forced minorities and Dalits to live in fear and has denied them their fundamental human rights to life, livelihood, property, privacy and religious freedom,” the resolution moved by Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel read.
The resolution said these attacks have also targeted important symbols of faith of various communities such as the Prophet Mohammed for Muslims and the statues of BR Ambedkar. “There is a direct connection between patronage given by the BJP governments, frequent hate speeches by leaders of the BJP and the increase in targeted violence against minorities and Dalits. BJP and Congress-led governments have repeatedly participated in the organisation of ‘Dharam Sansads’ which have made genocidal calls against Muslims. State governments' inaction against such dharam sansads has emboldened criminal elements. State patronage to such groups has created an environment of fear and insecurity among the country's vulnerable groups,” the resolution stated.
In a veiled attack against the Congress party, the AIMIM also said it condemned the silence and unwillingness of “self-identifying secular parties” to counter such hate speech and violence.
It called upon the Government of India and respective state governments to clamp down on illegal criminal organisations that have undertaken a “systematic campaign of terror” in the garb of cow protection, anti-conversion and love jihad. The AIMIM asked the Union Ministry to set up a dedicated cell in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to track and counter the radicalisation of majoritarian religions. They also urged the government to strengthen the implementation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and amend the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955, to protect individuals from religion-based discrimination and take action against office-bearers, MP and MLAs, who indulge in hate speech against minorities and Dalits.
The resolution said that the Prime Minister and respective Chief Ministers should speak out against hate speech and take immediate action in their capacity as heads of the Union and states.
The party also condemned the draconian laws introduced by UP, Haryana and Uttarakhand against “love jihad.”
The resolution also stated that many individuals had been arrested and are languishing in prison unjustifiably. The laws are being used to persecute Christians and Muslims. Such laws create a presumption of forced conversion on mere inter-religious marriage or mere propagation of a particular faith. They require prior permission from the government for religious conversion. Such provisions are antithetical to secularism, which is part of the basic structure of the constitution, the resolution read.