“My ‘Raj’ will come back” “My ‘Raj’ will come back”. My mom can still hear her aunt echoing these words while blankly rocking in her chair in the dark. Did ‘Raj’ come back? No. He was murdered with a knife to his back on the day of his wedding in Mumbai, India. Simply because he was Hindu. My mom lost her cousin when she was just fifteen years old. But this was just one murder in a series of violence against Dharmic (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism) minorities in South Asia.
Anti-Hinduism is still very prevalent today, which is evident through the many forms of abuse Hindus face globally. Hindus globally have a morbid history and current reality of being raped, killed, threatened, and forced to convert and denounce Hinduism solely for their religious beliefs. Hindus are suffering in silence as you read this right now. Much of American ignorance towards Dharmic oppression can be attested to the Western media for failing to recognize the strife of religious minority communities in Southern Asia.
The Kashmir region has been focal to recent politics in India. Popular Western news sources have made attempts to report the conditions in Kashmir, but only tell one-sided narratives that frequently fail to include the voices of persecuted minorities.
The Hindu minority in Kashmir has gone through centuries of 7 mass exoduses. The horrors of the 1990 exodus still ring in the ears of remaining Kashmiri Hindus who lost everything that decade, specifically on January 19, 1990. That night, on loud speakers, Kashmiris heard three words directed to religious minorities - Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive (either convert to Islam, leave the land, or perish).
‘Convert to Islam’: Hindus were herded into grounds, where calves were slaughtered in front of the eyes of vegetarian Hindus who were forced to eat the meat while cutting their sacred threads to prove allegiance to Islam.
‘Leave the Land’: Kashmiri Hindu and author of Our Moon Has Blood Clots, Rahul Pandita, recalls his refugee family’s fearful escape from Muslim Kashmir. He says “Women had been herded like cattle into the backs of trucks… a woman’s eyes were like a void that sucked you in… a picture of a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz”.
‘Perish or Die’: Hindu women were gang raped while bystanders laughed. Others were murdered as onlookers threw stones at bleeding Hindu corpses. Most Hindu homes, temples, and businesses were burnt to the ground. Hiding inside did not guarantee safety either as families and children were dragged out of their homes and all shot in cold blood.
Today, the seventh mass exodus exists only in the memories of Kashmiri refugees who have yet to return home. Already a minority in Kashmir, Hindus in Kashmir shrank from an estimated 140,000 in the late 1980s to only 19,865 by 1998; today, there are fewer than 2,700 Hindus left in the Kashmir Valley according to Al Jazeera. Because of the current unrest in the region, minorities who fled have still not been able to return to their ancestral land. Kashmiri Hindus are refugees in their own nation, some still living in refugee camps while others are dispersed all over the world. Their stories and history forgotten.
Ever since the partition in 1947 fueled by the British rule in colonial India, violence against Hindus and other minorities runs unbridled in Pakistan. The Minority Rights Group International’s report on the marginalization of religious communities in Pakistan claims that Hindus are treated as anti-state and anti-Islamic elements who are victims of discrimination, persecution, genocide, exploitation, and abuse. As a result, Hindus in Pakistan lack equal access to education, employment, and social advancement.
In Pakistan, discrimination and prejudice against Hindus is reinforced by the religious orthodoxy within the government, educational institutions, and censored media. Out of the existing 428 Hindu temples during the Partition, 408 of them were turned into toy stores, restaurants, government offices, schools, etc. claimed India Today. On December 30th of 2020, violence against Hindu minorities in Pakistan gained more media coverage as a restored Hindu temple was set on fire by an extremist mob according to The Guardian and several other news sources. According to the Minority Rights Group International, the last two decades have seen a steady exodus of Hindus from Pakistan. Former member of the Parliament of Pakistan, Farahnaz Ispahani claimed that after the partition in 1947, non-Muslims comprised 23 percent of Pakistan, in 2013, that number declined to about 3 percent, and the number continues to dwindle. Today, only about 2 percent of Pakistan is made up of Hindus found Al Jazeera.
Even during a pandemic, Pakistan has revealed their blatant faith-based discrimination by denying COVID relief aid to Hindus, Christians, and other minorities in the country according to the United States Commission of International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). With obvious, state-sponsored discrimination and repression, the minorities in Pakistan are deprived of their fundamental human rights.
Despite the ever existent abuse of non-Muslim minorities in South Asia, human rights organizations such as the United Nations and popular Western media remain silent. Silent Americans are part of the problem. Have you ever done Yoga, ordered a “chai tea” latte, wished bad Karma on someone or laughed at an Indian accent on television? If so, you may have been part of the Western world’s appropriation and whitewashing of South Asian culture, while persecution persists.
We were made fun of for wearing Mehndi, but now henna is a trendy booth at carnivals. Hindu girls are bullied for wearing a bindi to school, but others appropriate them at music festivals. We were scared to open our lunch boxes at school because kids made faces of disgust at the smell of our spicy food, but Americans can consume turmeric products to lead a healthy lifestyle.
We see our gods, goddesses and religious symbols mistreated as tacky decor to curate a trendy boho vibe. Under the British rule in India, our people were punished for practicing Asana Yoga, according to Medium, but Americans are allowed to turn it into a multi-million dollar industry while giving no credit to Hinduism. There is a difference between appreciation and appropriation. And the Western world has yet to figure out how to celebrate, appreciate, and credit South Asian culture, rather than leeching off of it to create new American trends while bodies pile up every day.
Congresswoman and former Democratic Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard opened up about her experience with anti-Hindu bigotry, as her Republican opponent claimed that Hinduism is incompatible with the US constitution and that a vote for Tulsi Gabbard is a vote for the devil according to The Economic Times. Gabbard recognizes the persistant Anti-Hinduism even in the Western world as she noted that “Sadly, our political leaders & media not only tolerate it [Hinduphobia], but foment it”.
We as Americans cannot claim to care about human rights while we are turning a blind eye toward some of the longest and largest humanitarian crises. What we can do is listen to the voices of the oppressed minorities and then amplify their voices by staying educated on important issues. Simply recognizing that people are suffering does not correlate with extremist nationalism. Refusing to see the whole story does.
The suffering of the Hindu community is one that is close to my heart because my family and community have been victims of anti-Hinduism. At the same time, I recognize that many other minority communities globally are suffering and that many governments and countries are not taking proper actions to help these marginalized populations. In every region of the world, we must stand for the people who are suffering, as these are the voices that are silenced by the religious majority, the government, and Western media.
There has always been the capacity for peace between religions. While getting out of a rickshaw, my great uncle was almost killed in the same fashion as my mom’s cousin. But my great uncle was saved by the driver — a Muslim man — who stopped the Muslim attacker from killing my — Hindu — great uncle. My great uncle is here today because of the driver’s compassion toward a man regardless of his religion.
There exists perpetual religious persecution around the world, and Hindus are by no means the only ones involved. By staying aware and continuously educating ourselves about the minorities around us, we can help end the violence by and against all religions. Like the rickshaw driver, who stood up for a man different than him amidst a time of tension between the two religions, hopefully one day, we will all love our brothers and sisters regardless of their religion, region, or race.
