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15-07-2022, 12:45 PM
By Rhea Mogul and Swati Gupta, CNN
Updated 0917 GMT (1717 HKT) July 7, 2022
Delhi (CNN)The last remaining Muslim lawmaker in India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has resigned, leaving the party without a single representative from the minority community among its 395 members of parliament.
Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigned on Wednesday, one day before his term was expected to come to an end. The Indian parliament has nearly 800 lawmakers in total.
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Naqvi's resignation comes at a volatile time for India's Hindu and Muslim communities. Religious tensions have been flaring in recent weeks
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Violent and deadly clashes have since broken out in parts of the country between Hindus and Muslims
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP swept to power in 2014 promising economic reform and development, but critics feared his rise could signal an ideological shift away from the nation's secular political underpinnings to those of a Hindu-nationalist state.
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Since then, the ruling party has been repeatedly accused by rights groups, activists and opposition parties of stirring anti-Muslim sentiment.
Over the last eight years, several BJP-run states have imposed new laws that critics say are rooted in Hindutva ideology. At the same time, reports of violence and hate-speech against Muslims have made headlines across the country.
Some of the most controversial new laws are in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Hindu monk-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath. The state has introduced laws to protect cows, an animal considered sacred to Hindus, from slaughter, and made it increasingly difficult to transport cattle. It has also introduced an anti-conversion bill, which makes it harder for interfaith couples to marry or for people to convert to Islam or Christianity.
......
Last month, India scrambled to contain the diplomatic fallout as at least 15 Muslim-majority countries condemned Sharma's remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. The incident sparked uproar among India's key Arab trading partners and calls from around the Gulf to boycott Indian goods.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/07/india...index.html
Updated 0917 GMT (1717 HKT) July 7, 2022
Delhi (CNN)The last remaining Muslim lawmaker in India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has resigned, leaving the party without a single representative from the minority community among its 395 members of parliament.
Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigned on Wednesday, one day before his term was expected to come to an end. The Indian parliament has nearly 800 lawmakers in total.
......
Naqvi's resignation comes at a volatile time for India's Hindu and Muslim communities. Religious tensions have been flaring in recent weeks
......
Violent and deadly clashes have since broken out in parts of the country between Hindus and Muslims
......
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP swept to power in 2014 promising economic reform and development, but critics feared his rise could signal an ideological shift away from the nation's secular political underpinnings to those of a Hindu-nationalist state.
......
Since then, the ruling party has been repeatedly accused by rights groups, activists and opposition parties of stirring anti-Muslim sentiment.
Over the last eight years, several BJP-run states have imposed new laws that critics say are rooted in Hindutva ideology. At the same time, reports of violence and hate-speech against Muslims have made headlines across the country.
Some of the most controversial new laws are in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Hindu monk-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath. The state has introduced laws to protect cows, an animal considered sacred to Hindus, from slaughter, and made it increasingly difficult to transport cattle. It has also introduced an anti-conversion bill, which makes it harder for interfaith couples to marry or for people to convert to Islam or Christianity.
......
Last month, India scrambled to contain the diplomatic fallout as at least 15 Muslim-majority countries condemned Sharma's remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. The incident sparked uproar among India's key Arab trading partners and calls from around the Gulf to boycott Indian goods.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/07/india...index.html
