Muslims Flee Indian Town amid Rising Threats: Report
About a dozen families have fled Purola, a small town in northern India’s Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand state, after notices were pasted on homes and businesses asking them to vacate the town, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.
The threats, allegedly issued by two far-right Hindu groups – the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal – follow an alleged attempt by two men to kidnap a 14-year-old Hindu girl on May 26.
The accused were apprehended by residents and charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other laws.
Both the VHP and Bajrang Dal are affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the ideological mentor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and aims to create an ethnic Hindu state in India. Together, these groups form the “Sangh Parivar” (parivar means family in Hindi).
The kidnapping incident involved a 24-year-old Muslim man, leading to Hindu groups alleging that it was a case of “love jihad”, a conspiracy theory that accuses Muslim men of convincing Hindu women into relationships for the purpose of converting them to Islam through marriage.
However, residents of Purola, where the incident occurred, believe that Hindu groups are using the incident to further a long-standing movement that seeks to remove the Muslim community from the Himalayan state, known for its many Hindu pilgrimage sites and temple towns, the report added.
Purola is a town of around 10,000 residents located 140km (87 miles) from the state capital Dehradun and home to about 400-500 Muslims.
Anti-Muslim slogans
On May 29, the Hindu groups and hundreds of supporters organised another rally, calling for the expulsion of Muslims from the area.
According to the residents, provocative slogans were raised against the minority community at the rally. The mob also vandalised some shops and removed signboards bearing Muslim names. Since then, most Muslim-owned businesses have been shuttered in Purola while the rest of the market is buzzing with activity.
As the atmosphere in Purola remains strained, religious tensions have reportedly spread to adjacent towns and villages.
In Barkot, another small town about 30km (19 miles) from Purola, an “X” sign was seen on the doors of some Muslim-owned shops, an act reminiscent of the Nazi-era targeting of Jews in pre-World War II Germany.
It was in Uttarakhand’s temple town of Haridwar that a controversial Hindu event calling for the genocide of Indian Muslims was held in December 2021.
The rise of Islamophobia in India
This is not an isolated case of anti-Muslim violence in India. The country has witnessed a surge of Islamophobia and Hindu nationalism since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.
The BJP and its allies have pursued a hardline Hindutva agenda, which seeks to assert Hindu supremacy and marginalize minorities, especially Muslims.
They have passed laws that restrict interfaith marriages and conversions, banned the slaughter and consumption of cows, which are sacred to Hindus, and revoked the autonomy of Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority region.
They have also promoted a revisionist history that glorifies Hindu rulers and erases Muslim contributions to India's culture and civilization.
The BJP's policies have emboldened Hindu vigilantes, who have attacked and killed Muslims over allegations of cow slaughter, love jihad (a conspiracy theory that accuses Muslim men of luring Hindu women into marriage and conversion), or blasphemy.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, at least 44 people were killed by Hindu mobs between May 2015 and December 2018. Most of them were Muslims accused of storing beef or transporting cows for slaughter.
The report also documented cases of Muslims being lynched for wearing traditional clothes, sporting beards or praying in public.
The BJP has often downplayed or justified such attacks, while accusing its critics of being anti-national or pro-Pakistan.
The party has also faced international backlash over its Islamophobic remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his wife Aisha, made by two prominent members who were later suspended.
Several Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, summoned Indian diplomats and demanded an apology for the offensive comments.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world's largest Muslim body, condemned the remarks as part of "intensifying hatred and abuse toward Islam" in India. India rejected the OIC's criticism as "unwarranted" and accused Pakistan of fomenting communal disharmony in India.
Many analysts say that Modi's government is using Islamophobia as a political tool to polarize the Hindu majority and consolidate its support base. They warn that this strategy is undermining India's secular democracy and its image as a tolerant and diverse nation.
Source: Agencies
