India ; Muslims have been subjected to violence for decades, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only made things worse.
Muslims in India are being targeted by vile propaganda, intense intimidation, and mob violence.
For instance, Hindu nationalists in 1992 destroyed the 16th-century Babri Mosque. Nationwide riots then killed about 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.
In 2002, 59 Hindu pilgrims were killed in a train fire in Gujarat state, which was blamed on Muslims.
Narendra Modi, who headed the state at that time, was accused of doing little to stop the violence.
In 2019, Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party enacted a citizenship law, seen to discriminate against Muslims.
Human Rights Watch said ensuing riots in New Delhi over that law killed 53 people, mostly Muslims, and that Hindu mobs injured over 200.
Propaganda films like The Kashmir Files demonise Muslims, a film Modi endorsed.
Today, mosques are often attacked, like the 300-year-old one in Uttar Pradesh razed for a highway.
This cycle of violence and vilification directed at a religious group is something history has seen before—and it never ends well.
Art by Al Jazeera
