In July 2024 England witnessed riots and unrest in several cities. They were precipitated mainly due to misinformation and anti immigration sentiments among the people. In these riots Muslims were the main target. There were attacks on mosques and also places where immigrants were living. In the aftermath of this, an All Party Parliamentary Group of the UK came up with a report for preventing such violence in future. This group mandated that using the phrase ‘Muslims spread Islam by the sword’ is banned; ‘Islam Spread by Sword’ is one of the roots of Islamophobia.

This is a great example to emulate in our country where this and many other misconceptions and biases about Muslims rule the roost. How did Islam spread? By citing the examples of some Hindu kings being killed by Muslim Kings for political reasons, it has been popularized and instilled the myth that Islam spread by sword. The reality of the spread of Islam in India is very different.

Arab traders had been frequently coming to Malabar Coast of Kerala and Islam was adopted by the locals through social interaction with these traders. The manifestation of this phenomenon is perceivable through Cheraman Juma Mosque in Malabar region of Kerala which was built as early as the 7th century.

Swami Vivekananda points out “The Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation of the downtrodden, to the poor. That is why one fifth of our people have become Mohammedans. It was not the sword that did it all. It would be the height of madness to think that it was all the work of sword and fire. It was to gain their liberty from the… zamindars (landlords) and from the - Priest, and as a consequence you find in Bengal there are more Mohammedans than Hindus amongst cultivators, because there were so many zamindars there.” 

As such none of the kings spread their religion, barring Emperor Ashok, who sent his emissaries to spread the message of Lord Gautama Buddha.

Misconceptions against minorities

Today in India the misconceptions against Muslims and Christians abound and form the base of violence. The misconceptions are becoming stronger over the period of time and have become a part of ‘social common sense’. The process of spreading misconception began with formulation that Muslim Kings destroyed Hindu temples. The intensification of the propaganda led to demolition of Babri mosque on 6th December 1992, the guilty of which have not been punished till date. The Babri Mosque issue has been added, Kashi and Mathura. Even Tajmahal is being propagated as Shiva Temple converted into the tomb of Noorjahan, queen of Jahangir.

Lately misconception about ‘Cow being a holy animal and Muslims are killing the cows’ is at the forefront. This is one of the main grounds for propagating vegetarianism on one hand and lynching on the other. As per IndiaSpend, “Muslims were the target of 51% of violence centered on bovine issues from 2010 to 2017 and comprised 86% of the 28 Indian citizens killed in 63 incidents. Only 3% of these attacks had been reported before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government came to power in May 2014. IndiaSpend also recorded that about half the cow-related violence—32 of 63 cases—occurred in BJP-ruled States.”

Human rights activist Harsh Mander, the founder of Karwan-e-Mohabbat, visits the families of lynching victims to soothe the wounds of the families and residents. The impact of lynching is very powerful and frightening. All this came to mind when cow vigilantes’ killed a Hindu student Aryan Mishra in Haryana recently on the suspicion of cow smuggling. His mother stated “In her statement, Aryan's mother questioned the reasons behind the killing, saying, “The accused mistook him as a Muslim and killed him. Why? Aren’t Muslims human? Why you need to kill Muslims”. We do recall Akhlaq, Junaid, Rakbar Khan and many others who have been done to death on suspicion of killing the cows. Recently while travelling from Amritsar to Palampur by road, my young colleague was shocked to see the plight of stray cows, their menace on the road and frequency of road accidents related to cows, and the plight of helpless farmers because of stray-cow menace.

On parallel lines the non vegetarian food in school tiffins is becoming another cause for tormenting Muslim students, especially in small towns. In a reported incident a third standard Muslim boy in a prominent school in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh had brought biryani in his lunch box. The principal of Hilton School, Amrish Kumar Sharma, locked him up in the store room, commenting that "I won’t teach children who will demolish temples after growing up..."

Unchecked hate speech

The major problem being faced by the country is hate speech. We have mechanisms to control and punish those indulging in hate speech, but in reality those indulging in hate speech are generally enjoying impunity; rather they are promoted in the party hierarchy. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on spreads such hate on a regular basis, like "I will not let Miya Muslims to take over Assam". And uses words like flood jihad, electricity jihad and naukari (jobs) jihad. He and other BJP leaders resort to such speech to polarize the community on religious lines.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath began demolishing the houses and property of Muslims by bulldozers. Other BJP chief ministers have been following his example. On the bulldozer menace, Supreme Court Justice B.R. Gavai stated “How can homes of people be demolished only because he is an accused? Even if he is a convict, it can’t be done without following the procedure as prescribed by law,”.  He was hearing a petition against the Jahangirpuri demolition drive in Delhi after the 2022 riots.“  But the question is will the chief ministers listen?

Is it not time for India to set up a committee like the one in the UK to ensure the implementation of norms which combat misconceptions about other religions? In India many misconceptions are prevailing and no impactful effort has been undertaken to counter these. These misconceptions have spread very dangerously in society. The civil society groups and political parties committed to inclusive, peaceful society need to come forward and to undertake promotion of harmony by countering misconceptions, it is overdue to prevent communal violence in society!

(The writer, a former IIT Bombay professor, is Chairman, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai. Views expressed are the author's own.)