Thread by @suchitrav

Reupping this thread after the recent violence in #LeicesterCity after Hindu mobs chanting “Jai Shree Ram” marched through Belgrave Road. This is not the first time #JaiShriRam has used as a rallying call to assert the idea of a muscular Hindu Rashtra.

This pattern is seen in several instances of violence against Muslims in India. The chant has long been used to nurture hate politics, starting with the violence in Ayodhya and the destruction of the Babri Masjid.

Another reminder that the hate nurtured has no borders and will spread to the diaspora.

In September 1990, LK Advani, the then BJP president, started the Ram Rath Yatra with VHP and other Sangh cadres dressed as mythological figures, chanting Jai Shri Ram.

The chant embodied Sangh's construction of an imaginary Hindu nation through myth and propaganda. It employed the narrative of Hindu victimhood, martyrdom, and the need for a political Hindu resurgence through any means possible, even violence.

The path of the Ram yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya was marked by hate speech, communal polarisation, and violence. The Yatra was followed by several riots that targeted Muslim communities throughout the country.

In 'Religious Symbols and Political Mobilisation: The Agitation for a Mandir at Ayodhya', KN Panikkar writes that "from the very beginning, the yatra created tension between the Hindus and Muslims, even in localities far removed from its route.
Source: jstor.org/stable/3520346

Between 1 September and 20 November, communal riots occurred in which 564 people died. The details are as follows:" (excerpted from the essay )

After the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, Jai Shri Ram became a rallying call for an aggressive Right-wing Hindutva nationalism that drew its strength from communal hatred, bullying, bigotry, and its resulting violence.

Here, violence was not an unintended consequence; it was crucial to win elections and consolidate power. Religious polarisation through violence became an important political strategy for the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.

Similarly, during the 2002 Gujarat riots, Jai Shri Ram was used by violent Hindu mobs. In days leading up to the Godhra incident, the Bajrang Dal cadre on the Sabarmati Express attacked Muslims and forced them to shout, Jai Shri Ram.

While the BJP/ RSS is not the first to exploit differences for electoral gain, its mobilization is fundamentally different. "Each mobilization program" of the party and the Sangh is "mob-oriented, creating de-individualized, irrational and violent participants."

Guardian reported that: "Half of those arrested over clashes in Leicester were from outside the county."

It would be necessary to understand who these people are and why they were mobilized for violence now.

theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/s…

If you have come this far, read this essay by @AmritWilson about the disturbing rise of Hindutva supremacism in India has been mirrored by a corresponding growth of extremism in the Indian diaspora. ihrc.org.uk/from-nagpur-to…

Another essay by @DrFRajina

https://twitter.com/azadessa/status/1572250067075055616