While the ‘liberals’ often shame us that ‘this is not the India we grew up in’ to cry ‘religious intolerance’ against Hindus, they turn a blind eye to the India that has become now where ‘sar tan se juda’ fanatics are running wild ready to behead you the moment you say something that they can perceive as ‘blasphemy’ on their divine figures.

The ‘seculars’ in India have often taken pride in the ‘Ganga-Jamuni’ tehzeeb (the peaceful coexistence of two different communities – Hindus and Muslims) in India where usually the onus of maintaining such ‘tehzeeb’ is squarely on the shoulders of Hindus. Whenever this is pointed out, the ‘secular liberal’ elites of the country will call you communal and bigoted. If 2022 is anything to go by, any comment on the Muslim community in India is like walking on eggshells because as we have seen even quoting their religious text about their divine figures (peace be upon them) leads to riots and beheadings.

In January this year, a young man from Dhadhuka in rural Ahmedabad, Kishan Boliya alias Kishan Bharwad was shot dead by two men of Muslim community.

Kishan had shared a video which showed an image of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims firmly believe that visual depictions of Muhammad is forbidden. Islamists believe that such a visual depiction is blasphemy and an ‘insult’ to Muhammad, and beheading the one who blasphemed is the appropriate punishment.

Terrifying, isn’t it? Unfortunately, many are still unaware about such terrifying laws of blasphemy in Islam.

Kishan was a simple boy with a simple life. He was into farming, loved cows and his wife had just had a baby. Whose face he never got to see because he was killed by Islamists over a WhatsApp status as it was ‘blasphemy’. The Muslim celebrities of India, who cry ‘Indian Muslims are under threat in Modi regime’ have not condemned this act by their coreligionists.

In fact, a source informed me that the local Muslim residents and religious leaders had collected money to build mazaar in the names of the two men who were involved in the murder. “If they get the death sentence or whenever they die, these two will be celebrated for having done jihad for the faith,” I was told. A mazaar is a shrine/tomb of saints or notable religious leaders.

It should be noted that in Pakistan, Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated politician Salman Taseer who was against the blasphemy laws, has a shrine in his name. Qadri had gunned down Taseer in 2011 and now his followers believe he has earned a place for himself next to Prophet Muhammad. But even before that, before the partition of India, Mahashay Rajpal, publisher of Rangeela Rasool, was assassinated for publishing a satirical take on Prophet Muhammad. Unsurprisingly, his assassin, Ilm Ud Deen is also celebrated and his shrine/mazar in Lahore is revered by his followers.

Kishan Bharwad was a forgotten memory and the news cycle moved on. The court-ordered videography of Gyanvapi took place where at the disputed structure, was found the Shivling. The same Shivling which the original Nandi ji looks at from inside the new Kashi Vishwanath temple premises. The disputed structure is referred to as Gyanvapi mosque and Shivling was found at the wuzukhana, the place where people who offer namaz inside the mosque clean their dirty hands and feet.

You see, when the Mughals and other Islamic invaders demolished our temples, they didn’t destroy them fully. Many were kept broken as a reminder, to humiliate Hindus, on how their places of worship were destroyed.

And if you thought jihadis are only the ones who behead, blow themselves or planes or tall towers up, you are wrong. Many are also sort of ‘digital jihadis’ who dog whistle to the ones on the ground who then carry out the dirty work.

During a television debate on Gyanvapi and Kashi Vishwanath mandir, BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma said something about Prophet Muhammad which has been written in the holy scriptures. Except, some Islamists ‘felt bad’ about the ‘tone’ used and, well, now Nupur is a marked target. In days that followed, there were riots in various parts of the country and about half a dozen people were murdered only for supporting Nupur’s right to speak something that was already written in the Islamic holy books.

Till now, not a single maulana or ‘fact-checker’ or maulanas masquerading as fact-checkers have fact-checked Nupur. None of them have refuted the claims made by her or pointed out to the particular verse in their holy books which proves Nupur lied and was ‘spreading hate’ or ‘blaspheming’. But here we are, 7 months down the line, where Nupur continues to live under the cloud of fear.

This threat to her life because she ‘blasphemed’ will never go away, because as we have seen, Salman Rushdie, who wrote the satirical book ‘The Satanic Verses’ which is supposed to be a satirical take on Islamic holy scriptures, was stabbed in New York, over 30 years after a bounty was announced on his head for ‘blasphemy’.

In the late 80s, after Rushdie wrote the book The Satanic Verses, believed to be a satire on the Quran and life of Prophet Muhammad, fatwas were issued against him. India, under Rajiv Gandhi government, was the first country to ban the book.

Since the publishing of the book that is considered ‘blasphemy’ by Muslims, Rushdie has been living under the threat because of the fatwa issued against him. On August 12 when he was about to give a lecture at Chautauqua Institution in New York, he was attacked by one Hadi Matar, who seems to be inspired by Iran leaders. Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini also issued a fatwa, calling for Rushdie’s death. A bounty was offered to anyone who kills Rushdie.

More than three decades after the bounty on his head was announced, Rushdie was stabbed publicly in New York.

He has now lost vision in one eye and use of one hand.

So much is the fear of ‘sar tan se juda’ fanatics that even those Muslims who identify themselves as ‘atheists’ or claim to respect all faiths equally or are ‘liberal’ are too afraid to condemn those who attack and kill others in name of ‘blasphemy’. Which is why you will never see celebrity Muslims ever condemn these deaths.

No one, no one has said in as many words that ‘Gustakh-e-Rasool’ should not be punishable by death. These calls for death by these zombies are normalised. ‘Sar tan se juda’ slogan (full chant – Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda, sar tan se juda) calls for literal beheading of the one who has ‘blasphemed’. If you have said anything that could hurt the religious feelings of ‘believers’, beheading is permitted by the Islamic law.

Further, if you ask any Islamist, they would quite likely say how Quran is above the constitution for them. Safdar Nagori, 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blast convict had quite infamously said the constitution holds no value for him and Quran is above all. A resident of Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, 54-years-old Nagori was associated with the banned Islamic terrorist organization Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He was the main conspirator of the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts.

After SIMI was banned, some members started other outfits like PFI and SIO and others and they have been at the forefront of raising hateful slogans against Hindus including demanding their beheading.

When Hindus feel offended that the Shivling found inside the wuzukhana of disputed Gyanvapi structure is referred to as ‘fountain’ and jokes are cracked, many Hindus themselves accuse them of being ‘too sensitive’.

“My faith is not that weak that it can’t take a joke,” they would say to justify how Hindus should not feel offended at the idea that those who offered namaz at the disputed structure were washing their dirty hands and feet in the wuzukhana where the Shivling was found. That they knew and they still did it. The same people would then blame Nupur for her comments for triggering riots.

What is good for the goose should be good for the gander. Just because Hindus don’t take to street power and don’t run riots or give calls for beheading those who mock our faith, it is they who must be mindful of not hurting others’ religious feelings. Because the other side knows how to play victim and get away with it because of the ummah.

They may ‘condemn’ threats (many of which follow their own dogwhistling), but will not say in as many words that ‘Gustakh-e-Rasool’ ki saza should not be ‘sar tan se juda‘.