The killing of Kanhaiya Lal Teli highlights why tackling extremism in India should be a collective effort

Author: Wasiq Wasiq, a journalist specialising in defence and terrorism

Kanhaiya Lal Teli, a Hindu from the lakeside city of Udaipur, was hacked to death two days ago by two Islamist extremists. The 40-year-old tailor was alleged to have shown support for the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, Nupur Sharmar, after she had criticised the Prophet Muhammad on a TV talk show. The attackers, Gaus Mohammad and Riyaz Attari, have been arrested for the murder.

Whilst it is welcomed that the authorities have successfully arrested the alleged extremists, the apparent indifference in doing the same with the Hindutva extremists creates fertile ground for sectarian tensions to grow. To tackle this, both the government and Indian Muslim leaders must come together to find solutions rooted in mutual respect and upholding the law. Without this collective effort, terrorist acts of this nature could become commonplace.

Mohammad and Attari visited Teli’s place of business, where he worked as a tailor. He was measuring one of them, whilst the other was secretly recording him on his smartphone. Moments later, the pair began stabbing the merchant and then proceeding to behead the Hindu man. The video was posted online and went viral. A second video was released from the pair, where they’re brandishing the bloodstained cleavers warning the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, for inflaming religious tensions.

What the Indian government and its partners in Muslim majority countries are acutely aware of, is that for Islamist extremists, violence is a core ingredient to their being. There was never a question of if this would happen, but rather when it would happen. But with this knowledge, the Indian government should have been, or at least, should be working closely with Muslim leaders in India to contain this threat. But this is a difficult task when there are elements of Hindutva extremists that are not being challenged for their anti-Muslim hatred. 

In December of last year, the Hindu extremist Pooja Shakun Pandey, a senior member of the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha Party, was openly calling for ‘Muslim Genocide’. In an address during a three-day rally, Pandey stated: "If 100 of us become soldiers and are prepared to kill 2 million (Muslims), then we will win ... protect India, and make it a Hindu nation." Her calls for killing Muslims were met with applause by the attendees. 

Openly calling for the murder of two million Indian Muslims should be more than just a concern; it should have been seen as a declaration of sectarianism against a religious minority that makes up 15 per cent of the population, particuarly as India is set to become home to the most number of Muslims in the world by the year 2050, despite not being a Muslim-majority nation . That the BJP government dragged its feet to condemn it, gives Islamist extremists ammunition to recruit and grow so that they can retaliate in kind against a very real threat that appears to be blossoming under the inaction of the Indian government.

But placing all the responsibility on the Indian government, to tackle Islamists, leaves out a crucial ally against extremists within the Muslim community.

Muslim leaders in India are in a unique position, where the bonds of faith are stronger than caste, colour or wealth, meaning, that when they address their congregation, they do so equally in the eyes of Allah (God). There are no middle men between Muslims and Allah, nor are their shortcuts to attaining eternal paradise. 

Killing innocent civilians, because they have shown support for comments that disparage the religion of Islam, highlights the desperation some Muslims feel they find themselves in. That instead of challenging blasphemy peacefully, the only solution is violent jihad (holy war). This is not a solution to protecting Muslims or standing up for Islam, this is just straight forward murder. 

At every point possible, the Indian government needs to make a distinction between Islam and Islamism. The former is a religion practised by two billion people around the world, whereas the latter is a political ideology seeking to establish a Caliphate ruled by Sharia law. This distinction is crucial, because it separates innocent Muslims from Islamists. 

But whilst the Indian Government need to do this, Muslim leaders need to equally do the same with Hindus and those that are Hindutvas. Neither Muslim nor Hindu should be dragged into conflicts instigated by extremists. Thus, conflating both with Islamists and Hindutvas has the potential to promote the message that such is the case when it is clearly not. 

There is no question that the killing of Kanhaiya Lal Teli was wrong. Every right-minded person would think so. But what hasn’t been promoted, is that the BJP recognised that in India, a culture very different to that found in the west, there is deep-rooted respect for religion and its place in Indian society. This was demonstrated by the fact that the former spokesperson for the BJP, Nurpur Sharma, was expelled from the party following her comments.

Unfortunately, expelling Sharma is not the only solution to preventing extremists from taking the law into their own hands, but it does have the ability to promote the message that the Indian government are not at war with Muslims and Islam. This message should also be promoted by Muslim leaders, who wield influence over their congregations. 

There is clearly work that needs to be done both at governmental level and in the grass roots to contain the sectarianism that has been ravaging the landscape for some time now. But in order to do this, the BJP and other political parties must come together with Muslim leaders to work out what those viable solutions are. There is no overnight fix to this, but there is potential to weed out and arrest the extremists before they take more innocent lives.