Public Humiliation
Public humiliation was another inhumane tool in the arsenal of Nazis that is also applied by the BJP-RSS regime.
Humiliation of German Jews by Nazis
During the twelve years of the Third Reich (1933-1945), Nazi officials and organizations publicly humiliated Jews and others in Germany and Nazi-occupied countries. The humiliation was intrinsic to the Nazi program.
Many religious Jewish men were humiliated when their beards and side-locks were forcibly cut off. Other Jews were forced to pose with Jewish ritual objects including tallitim and tefillin, or to remove traditional skull caps known as yarmulke or kippah. Sometimes the humiliation[82] was compounded by forcing Jews to debase each other, such as having one Jew shave the beard of another.
Humiliation of Indian Muslims by the BJP-RSS Regime
Muslim girls and female teachers faced public humiliation in the wake of the BJP-RSS government orders and a court decision against hijab (headscarves) in public schools[83]. Muslim girls and teachers are forced to strip themselves of their hijab, even though 59% Hindu women in India also cover their heads[84]. It led to RSS youth heckling Muslim girls and snatching the hijab off women on the streets.
In July 2021 and January 2022, two apps called “Sulli Deals” and “Bulli Bai”[84] were launched to humiliate, degrade, and intimidate Muslim women leaders. The apps allowed men to bid on the profiles of featured Muslim women leaders as prostitutes.
In April 2022, a viral video showed a Hindu priest addressing a crowd outside of a mosque in Uttar Pradesh, India, threatening to kidnap and rape Muslim women. Each of his remarks against Muslims[86] were met with cheers and chants of “Jai Shri Ram” (Victory to Lord Ram).
The BJP-RSS regime uses several other strategies for humiliating Muslims:
- Indian government and Hindus blaming Muslims for spreading the coronavirus[87]
- Police stripping Muslims naked[88]
- Muslims forced to chant Jai Shri Ram[89]
- Police beating injured Muslims[90] and ordering them to sing the national anthem
- Beating or lynching Muslims[91] on the basis of beef-eating accusations
[82] Public Humiliation, Holocaust Encyclopedia; https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/public-humiliation (accessed 2022-3-9)
[83] Students, Teachers forced to remove #Hijab outside schools in #Karnataka after High Court order; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s4dwhZcKq8 ( accessed 2022-3-9)
[84] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/17/in-india-head-coverings-are-worn-by-most-women-including-roughly-six-in-ten-hindus/
[85] Bulli Bai: Indian app that put Muslim women up for sale is shut – BBC News; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59856619 ( accessed 2022-03-09)
[86] The Gradual Normalization of Violence Against Indian Muslim Women: https://womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/the-gradual-normalization-of-violence-against-indian-muslim-women
[87] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/world/asia/india-coronavirus-muslims-bigotry.html
[88] https://scroll.in/article/985347/a-year-after-the-delhi-riots-a-muslim-lawyer-surveys-indias-distorted-democracy
[89] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58406194
[90] https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/04/09/shoot-traitors/discrimination-against-muslims-under-indias-new-citizenship-policy
[91] https://www.npr.org/2019/08/21/751541321/this-is-it-im-going-to-die-indias-minorities-are-targeted-in-lynchings