Arunachal Muslims forced to chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’
Itanagar: Muslims in Arunachal Pradesh were forced to chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and threatened with mosque demolitions in the BJP-ruled state.
According to Kashmir Media Service, a video circulating on social media shows leaders of the Arunachal Pradesh Indigenous Youth Organisation (APIYO), aligned with Hindutva ideology, aggressively confronting Muslim ulema and threatening to demolish a mosque in the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR).
The footage has sparked widespread outrage, exposing a worrying rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in Northeast India, particularly under the BJP government.
The video depicts APIYO General Secretary Tapor Meying and President Taro Sonam Liyak at the contested mosque site. In a tense exchange, Liyak questions a maulana. He targets Islam and holy Quran.
The situation escalates when Liyak attempts to coerce the maulana into chanting “Bharat Mata ki Jai,” asserting the Hindutva slogan: “Do you people say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’? If you cannot say it, how can you be true Indians?”
This episode is not isolated but part of APIYO’s month-long campaign targeting Muslim religious sites. On November 17, APIYO activists issued a five-day ultimatum for the demolition of a Jamia Masjid, threatening to launch a “democratic movement” if their demands were not met. A subsequent call for a 12-hour bandh on November 24 was deferred, but the group reiterated calls for banning weekly markets and razing mosques
