The recent speech by Madhya Pradesh BJP minister Vijay shah referring to colonel Sofia qureshi as the blood sister of Pakistani terrorists is abhorrent and morally repugnant to the core. It reeks of an attitude which holds all Indian Muslims to be essentially Pakistanis and that only Hindus qualify as natural citizens of India. Her military position, otherwise sacrosanct for the hindutva discourse, couldn’t save her from this abuse. What is more contemptuous is the deafening silence of the Madhya Pradesh government and chief minister who despite high court order have not taken any action or even criticized or even distanced themselves from the statement. The top BJP leaders have not taken any cognizance either. It seems so natural in their worldview that questioning him would be repudiating their entire ideological curriculum and pedagogy. Its not the first instance either, Noida MP Mahesh Sharma had said that former president APJ Abdul kalam was a patriot despite being a Muslim and recently their south Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri had abused BSP mp danish Ali using religious slurs both in the floor of Loksabha and there was no reaction from the BJP leadership. The most shameful part is played by the mainstream media which reports these incidents as a dog whistle for the BJP supporters but doesn’t question the government or the BJP. This absolute othering of Muslims from Indian national space and imagination seems complete for them and it’s a surprise that the Indian Muslims have still not given up on the idea of India.
