COVER STORY
AN INDIAN GENOCIDE IN THE MAKING
Can India still be considered a secular democracy? BY ASLAM ABDULLAH
A
day before President Trump’s 36-hour visit to India in February, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) members belonging to the Hindu paramilitary organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS; founded in 1925) attacked Muslim businesses and houses in northeastern New Delhi. By Feb. 26 they had killed some 38 people, mostly Muslims, burnt houses and a mosque. 20 ISLAMIC HORIZONS MAY/JUNE 2020
This number would increase, as the seriously injured aren’t receiving adequate treatment in hospitals often staffed by pro-RSS doctors. This is the worst attack on Muslims seen in New Delhi since independence (1947) and the second deadliest since 2002, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, known to many as the “Butcher-in-Chief,” was chief minister of Gujarat state.
