Anti-Muslim sentiments by some Indians abroad costing them their jobs

Some Indians living abroad have lost their jobs in recent weeks for displaying anti-Muslim bigotry on their social media accounts.

In Canada earlier this month, Mr Ravi Hooda was sacked from his real estate job and removed from his position on a local school council in Bolton, Ontario.

This was prompted by his crude opposition to the Brampton Mayor's decision to allow mosques to broadcast the evening call to prayer over speakers daily during the fasting month of Ramadan.

The mayor's move was welcomed as worshippers have been unable to gather at mosques because of pandemic-related restrictions.

But Mr Hooda questioned the decision, tweeting: "What's next? Separate lanes for camel & goat riders, allowing slaughter of animals at home in the name of sacrifice, by law requiring all women to cover themselves from head to toe in tents to appease the piece (sic) fools for votes."

The incident was preceded by the sacking of about 10 Indians, including some this month in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait. Their anti-Muslim posts were brought to the attention of their employers by social media users.

This led Mr Pavan Kapoor, India's Ambassador to the UAE, to tweet on April 20 a warning to Indian expatriates in the UAE against indulging in such behaviour.

A day earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted that Covid-19 "does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking". He added: "Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood."

While the sackings have given rise to discussions, they have failed to curtail Islamophobia online in India, said Mr Pratik Sinha, founder of Alt News, a fact-checking website.

It has debunked several videos and images in recent weeks that were maliciously propagated to suggest Muslims were deliberately spreading coronavirus.

Mr Sinha told The Straits Times: "In India, the polity is such that even senior politicians have tweeted stuff that is hateful or discriminatory in nature. I don't see how the hate being propagated is going to reduce until the politics of the country changes."

Anti-Muslim bigotry saw a surge in India after a Tablighi Jamaat meeting emerged as a coronavirus hot spot in March. Thousands had attended the gathering of the Muslim missionary movement.

Some media commentaries sought to blame the Muslim community for the pandemic in India. Major social media players have tried to contain the problem by deleting posts and deactivating accounts for exhibiting hatred.

India has a range of hate speech laws, including Section 153A of the Penal Code that penalises "promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion".

But the law is not a solution, said Mr Sinha. "Like any other piece of legislation, it will be used selectively."

Cases have been filed against several parties in recent weeks for anti-Muslim bigotry, including a hospital in Uttar Pradesh that asked Muslims last month to prove they were not infected with the coronavirus before treating them.

Growing global condemnation of Islamophobia displayed online by some Indians also seems to have led the Indian government to crack down on such content.

On April 28, it asked Twitter to pull down more than 100 tweets.

An analysis by The Wire, an Indian news portal, showed about 60 per cent "could be described by some as Islamophobic while a smaller chunk could be viewed as Islamist, anti-Hindu and anti-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)".