*Trigger Warning: Islamophobia*
The deadly wave of Islamophobia in India has seen a lot of deaths not only of the human body but also of human relations. There was a time when a person was appreciated or criticised for their actions. But since Islamophobia has hit the secular state of India, people are not only judged but also punished for following a particular religion which is said to be a “threat” to the “integrity” of the Sangh parivar.
The people of this country are now so used to the injustice faced by the minority community that they themselves are mostly okay with the events which deny their basic rights because of their Muslim identity. But that’s not the end. We’ve recently witnessed a new “delta variant” of Islamophobia which is deadlier than ever.
The Symptoms
It targets Muslim women. The issue of Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai came to light thanks to the power of social media, but the mere existence of these platforms is a matter of grave concern. The idea is to sexualise Muslim women and harass them by calling them names and giving rape threats to them whenever they try to take a stand (although receiving rape threats has nothing to do with religion, women who take a stand are used to it no matter which religion they follow).
The Cause
The question is, who is doing this? The youth. The right-wing has destroyed a generation by giving them false hope, history and ideology. This has led to a mood of unemployment. Even if there are jobs, the youth does not want to work. They would rather use their 2 GB data pack and spew venom across social media, praising an ideology that isn’t theirs and hating someone they grew up with without a logical explanation.
They are being paid by the infamous IT Cell of the ruling party to not only spread propaganda but also be a part of it by specifically identifying someone with their immediate identity.
How Does It Spread?
There’s proper machinery dedicated to social media to automate hate by manipulating trends. They use technically sound apps to hijack Twitter trends, use inactive WhatsApp accounts, and use individuals’ private databases for targeted harassment.
The kind of personal information and attributes they use is an eye-opener in itself. They target women based not only on their age or skin colour but also on their sexuality and body measurements. This is the level of hate propaganda that is being spread.
The Cure
There’s no cure for this variant as of yet, but there’s definitely a vaccine to protect yourself from this deadly virus that is spreading like wildfire. The vaccine is your vote. Don’t be like those who think the virus won’t catch them because they do not belong to a particular religion. It can and it will.