Uproar in India as Hindu group files court case over lion named after Muslim emperor

The group is demanding that a lion named after Emperor Akbar which shares a zoo enclosure with a lioness named after Hindu deity Sita be separated

Critics say the case is yet another example of hardline Hindu groups’ rising intolerance – and the fear that their actions and words inspire

Reading Time:4 minutes

A lion rests at a zoo in the Czech Republic. Hindu hardliners have slammed a zoo in India’s West Bengal state for putting a lioness named after a Hindu deity in the same enclosure as a lion that shares its name with a Muslim emperor. Photo: Slavek Ruta/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Published: 10:41am, 20 Feb 2024Updated: 10:57am, 20 Feb 2024

A bizarre court case in India involving a lioness named after a Hindu deity and a lion bearing the name of a 16th-century Muslim emperor has sparked concerns about the rising intolerance of hardline Hindu groups who balk at any perceived religious slight.

To supporters of these Hindu groups, however, the court petition filed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is justified – as Indian authorities have for years placated the country’s Muslim community over incidents of alleged blasphemy.

VHP has slammed a zoo in West Bengal state for putting the lioness named after Hindu deity Sita in the same enclosure as Akbar the lion, which shares the name of the Mughal emperor whose reign lasted from 1556 to 1605.

03:46

Viral in India: Social media content creators fuel Islamophobia with staged videos

The Calcutta High Court will hear the petition on Tuesday.

VHP is one of several Hindu nationalist groups who detest anything to do with the Mughals, who ruled over a huge swathe of the Indian subcontinent for several centuries before the arrival of the British and are regarded by hardliners as having enslaved the Hindu majority.

Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rose to power in 2014, such groups have been emboldened to demand anything which they claim to have hurt Hindu religious or cultural sensibilities be banned.

In its petition, VHP, which has ties with Modi’s ruling BJP, is demanding action against the North Bengal Wild Animals Park in Siliguru, West Bengal.

Uproar in India as Hindu group files court case over lion named after Muslim emperor

The group is demanding that a lion named after Emperor Akbar which shares a zoo enclosure with a lioness named after Hindu deity Sita be separated Critics say the case is yet another example of hardline Hindu groups’ rising intolerance – and the fear that their actions and words inspire

The group is demanding that a lion named after Emperor Akbar which shares a zoo enclosure with a lioness named after Hindu deity Sita be separated

Critics say the case is yet another example of hardline Hindu groups’ rising intolerance – and the fear that their actions and words inspire