By Em Hilton / 972Magazine
On the weekend of Sept. 17-18, while most of the United Kingdom was distracted by the impending funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, tensions between Hindus and Muslims in an English city boiled over into violence. In Leicester, which is home to some of the country’s largest Muslim and Hindu populations, Hindu men — some of whom had traveled from other parts of the U.K. — marched through Muslim areas of the city. They chanted “Jai Shri Ram,” a Hindi phrase meaning “Hail Lord Ram” that has been co-opted by Hindu nationalists and has anti-Muslim undertones. Windows were smashed, bottles were thrown, and fights broke out. A flag from a Hindu temple was snatched and burned. The High Commission of India in London released a statement condemning the violence and the “vandalization of premises and symbols of Hindu religion.”
Observers of political currents in India itself have become accustomed to seeing this kind of street violence; attacks against Muslim communities by Hindu nationalists are now commonplace, while the Indian government is regularly demolishing the homes of Muslim citizens, banning Muslim girls from wearing the hijab to school, and preventing Muslims from praying at historic mosques. Parallels with Palestine-Israel — from the annual Flag March on Jerusalem Day to settler raids on Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, in step with escalating state-level repression — are impossible to avoid, raising questions as to what we might learn by considering the rise of an emboldened Hindu nationalism alongside the mainstreaming of Kahanism in Israel and diaspora Jewish communities.
In recent years, Israel and India have cultivated a very public strategic alliance, born from the political ambitions of both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Against the backdrop of flourishing far-right nationalism and authoritarianism, the governments of both countries have also increasingly cracked down on civil society, harshened measures in occupied and disputed territory, and stepped up Islamophobic rhetoric and policies.
This story was originally published in 972mag.com . Read the full story here
