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Beware of identity politics of identity and the danger of majoritarianism
Despite some important progress in the last five years, Indonesia still maintains some discriminatory regulation against religious minorities.
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Protestors shout slogans and burn a picture of Nupur Sharma, the spokeswoman of India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a demonstration against the remarks about Prophet Mohammed made by her, in Karachi on June 7, 2022. (AFP/Arif Ali)
R
ecently, we have witnessed waves of protests in India against controversial statements by two politicians from the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the Prophet Muhammad, which were deemed as offensive and insulting.
The BJP suspended Nupur Sharma, spokesperson for the party, and expelled Naveen Jindal, another BJP politician, on June 5. On the other hand, Sharma and Jindal also withdrew their statements and made public apologies.
The reaction to the incidents has spiraled beyond India’s borders. Saudi Arabia issued a strong statement of condemnation. Kuwait, Iran and Qatar summoned India's ambassadors to their respective countries to convey their protests. Several other Muslim-majority countries followed suit and not to be missed, Indonesia raised an objection with the Indian Embassy.
Several mass protests took place in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Within India itself, demonstrations sprung up in various cities after Friday prayers on June 10. Riots also broke out, and police reportedly arrested a number of protesters (Outlook India, June 10, 2022). In Jakarta, protesters rallied outside the Indian Embassy demanding the Indian government’s public apology.
Sharma reportedly received rape and murder threats.
Learning from previous events from various parts of the world, controversies involving religious issues have been proven to easily break geographical boundaries.
The controversial remarks made by Sharma and Jindal were not an isolated incident. We need to pay attention to at least three things to understand the context more thoroughly.
