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Mr. President,
We thank Estonia for holding this important meeting today.
As we reflect on the "horrors" of the Second World War, we must remember its lessons:
We are, unfortunately, witnessing a global resurgence of right wing and fascist ideologies, hate speech, xenophobia, Islamophobia, incitement to violence and acts of brutal violence. These trends have been exacerbated, rather than ameliorated, by the Covid-19 pandemic- the most serious global crisis since the founding of the United Nations.
In particular, Islamophobia is emerging as a viral trend, unfortunately even in Europe and elsewhere, manifested by negative profiling, religious and cultural discrimination, the deliberate defamation of Islam, calls for barriers against and the expulsion of Muslim migrants and refugees, the vandalizing of Islamic sites and symbols, anti-Muslim hate speech, incitement to and perpetration of violence against Muslims.
Sadly, State-sponsored Islamophobia has found a fertile home in BJP-RSS ruled India. The founding fathers of the RSS were avowedly inspired by Hitler and endorsed the aim to cleanse Germany of the Jews. The "sevaks" of the RSS, modeled on the Nazi "brown shirts", are launched on a program to eliminate India's Islamic heritage - as evident in the 1992 destruction of the historic Babri Mosque and anti-Muslims pogroms in Mumbai in 1992, Gujarat in 2002 and New Delhi in 2020, a few months ago. India's Muslims are also being vilified as the source of the Covid virus in India.
The ethos of the Hindu supremists is epitomized in the following declaration of a prominent BJP parliamentarian:
"All people are not equal—-. Muslims are not equal in category. —If Muslims become more than 30%, that country is dangerous".
In occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP-RSS leaders are engaged in imposing what they themselves have called "a final solution"- a plan to crush Kashmir's quest for self determination and freedom and colonize it into a Hindu majority territory.
The Security Council has the mandate to prevent and punish Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It must act to prevent impending atrocities, including against the Muslims in India and in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
I thank you.