It’s one thing to have a phobia of rattlesnakes. It’s another thing not to want to invite them into your bed.
Yes, I just compared jihadists to rattlesnakes.
Mainstream media is reeling following the victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-Right BJP party in nationwide state elections, with leading liberal newspapers and news outlets raising the cry of ‘Islamophobia’ in India.
The UK’s left-wing newspaper The Guardian called the Hindu-Right electoral gains in the biggest Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), which has a population of 220 million, “a victory for anti-Muslim bigotry”. Aiming its criticism of the man elected to run the state — a 44 year-old Hindu Monk — Yogi Adityanath, The Guardian complained that “[Adityanath] backs a Donald Trump-style travel ban to stop “terrorists” coming to India.”
According to Indian media reports, President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Modi today to congratulate him on his electoral success.
The left-wing news website Vox was equally critical of UP state’s newly elected Chief Minister Adityanath, writing that “he publicly supported President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, stating, “Similar action is needed to contain terror activities in this country.””
The Washington Post profiled the monk-turned-politician, Adityanath, with a story titled “Meet the militant monk spreading Islamophobia in India”. The Washington Post held India’s PM Modi responsible for the rising Islamophobia:
[Latest election results] points at rising Islamophobia in India, aided and abetted by the far right and the elephant in the room ever since the unexpected win of Narendra Modi in the 2014 national elections. Adityanath’s anointment as the chief minister of a state that has been a hotbed of communal tension for more than two decades suggests that this Islamophobia is taking deeper roots.