Recent developments in South Asia demand the immediate attention of our government.  

India became rocked by protests by its minority Muslim community after  a spokesperson of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made offensive remarks about the Prophet Mohamad.      

Although Nupur Sharma has been suspended following outrage expressed by Islamic nations—including powerful oil producers—the matter has not died down. It occurred as a result of the BJP's ongoing polarization of the Hindu majority against Muslims.

Sharma, the BJP's former national spokesperson, has not responded to a Mumbai Police summons to make a statement. And the department has reportedly not been able to trace the frequent media commentator's whereabouts.

Attacks on Muslims have grown since 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government came to power with a majority. His party aspires to turn India into Hindu theocracy.

Emboldened by successive  victories in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, Modi introduced a divisive Citizenship Amendment Act in his second term. This legislation discriminates against Muslim refugees coming to India from neighbouring countries.

In addition, the Modi government revoked special rights and limited autonomy granted to the only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir, and went ahead with constructing a temple at the disputed site of Ayodhya, believed to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Lord Ram.

Back in 1992, BJP goons razed an ancient mosque, claiming that it was built by Muslim rulers after removing original Ram temple.

Meanwhile, since the cow is considered as a sacred animal by orthodox Hindus, Indian Muslims are frequently harassed on suspicion of consuming beef. 

Sharma’s remarks proved to be the last straw and forced Muslims to take to the streets. The BJP cannot get away by simply washing their hands off by suspending her. The party needs to be held accountable for its agenda and its track record.

It’s easy to scapegoat one individual rather than challenging an establishment.

The Modi government needs to take the blame for creating such a toxic environment in the first place that gave Sharma the audacity to insult the Prophet. It would be foolish to accept the party statement condemning Sharma and claiming to be respectful of diversity when we all know what it actually stands for. The bigotry of BJP is a well-established fact and not fiction.  

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that right-wing commentators wouldn't let it go anyway as some of them continue to support Sharma. It’s nothing but sheer hypocrisy and arrogance on their part as they won’t tolerate anyone questioning the mythology of Hinduism or the authenticity of the story of Ram temple being demolished by Muslim rulers, but take it as their birth right to belittle the Muslim faith. On top of that they expect everyone to agree with Sharma. 

Canada, which pretends to be a human rights leader in the world, needs to take notice of this. Considering that all the three levels of our government have been making statements against Islamophobia, how come they don’t see what is happening in India?

It’s a shame that Canada has mostly remained indifferent to the plight of Muslims in India. This is despite the fact that a number of Indo Canadian activists have been raising voices against this madness for the last eight years.

Due to the silence of Canada,BJP supporters have intensified their activities here too.

Most of our Canadian leaders are happy enough to pay lip service and make hollow Eid greetings but fail to back this up with meaningful action. While it's true that they have been vocal about Uyghir Muslims being persecuted in China and elsewhere, for the most part they've shown that they do not care for Muslims in India, with whom the Canadian government is eager to have good trade relations.

This has given Modi more legitimacy in the eyes of Canadians.

Muslims in this country too need to ask Canadian politicians why it is only the burden of Islamic nations to react to what Sharma did? Why couldn’t Canada summon  the Indian ambassador to register a protest on behalf of its Muslim population?