Bahrain: Woman,54, wearing burqa goes viral for smashing Hindu gods, now charged
A video showing a woman wearing a burqa breaking idols of Lord Ganesha in a shop has gone viral on social media and been met with celebrations and praise.
The video circulating, shows two women standing near an aisle where idols of Hindu gods are kept on a shelf. One of the women picks up the religious idols and starts throwing them on the ground, breaking them. It appears she is speaking to a shopkeeper, angrily asking “This is a Muslim country, right? Why is this here? … Does Hamad Bin Isa [the King of Bahrain] accept this?”
Islamists took to social media to celebrate the breaking of idols and praising the woman for her actions.
One Twitter user said the smashing of idols must only be done when ‘Allah commands it’ adding ‘we aren’t told to attack other people’s faith in this manner.’
‘Not in the nature of the Bahrain people’
The Ministry of Interior issued a statement regarding the video and said the 54-year-old woman was summoned for intentionally damaging a shop in Juffair and breaking religious idols.
She has now been charged for criminal damage and publicly insulting religious idols. Under questioning, she confessed to smashing the Hindu statues according to the Public Prosecution and will be tried in court at a later date.
Former Foreign Minister and diplomatic adviser to the King of Bahrain, Sheikh Khalid Al Khalifa, tweeted his condemnation of the women’s actions.
“Breaking of religious symbols is not the nature of the people of Bahrain. It is a crime… of hatred and is rejected. Here [in Bahrain], all religions, sects and people coexist, whoever does it is a stranger and not one of us.”
Religiously diverse Bahrain
The incident also sparked condemnation on social media with many noting Bahrain hosts hundreds of thousands of religiously diverse migrant workers, mostly from Asia.
Foreign workers in Bahrain make-up approximately 600,000 according to a report by the European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights and make-up nearly 55 per cent of the Gulf’s state’s workforce.
Of Bahrain’s migrant workers, Indians – many who follow the Hindu faith – are the most populous single nationality.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to donating $4 million to Bahrain to renovate the Sree Krishna temple in the capital. But Modi has been criticised for his anti-Muslim policies at home, where the plight of India-administred Kashmir, which has faced a year-long clampdown causing widespread economic and social damage, is an ongoing issue.
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