A brief history of Anti-Muslim Crimes in India and the recent incident of violence in a Mosque in Rajasthan

India is home to about 204 Million Muslims and it has always had a considerable proportion of the Muslim population. The recent incident of a Mosque set on fire in Rajasthan, is not an exceptional or rare case, yet worthy of attention and condemnation. But before getting into that, here’s a brief overview of major such events in history.

 Muslims in India are being targeted by vile propaganda, intense intimidation, and mob violence. It has been the same throughout history. 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.  

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. 

Presently, India is moving forward with a citizenship law that has been criticized for discriminating against Muslims. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) offers a pathway to citizenship for non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

The CAA grants citizenship eligibility to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who immigrated from the three neighboring countries.

The law has been widely criticized for excluding Muslims, raising concerns about religious discrimination.

There have also been numerous reported cases of verbal and physical abuses against Muslims in India, recently. Setting fire on Mosques is a very common practice in India. 

The most recent case was in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, where there was a dispute in front of a Mosque and people started throwing stones at the mosque and raising religious slogans. According to reports at least 12 people were injured in this report. Death of one person is confirmed according to the reports but it is not confirmed. Local people are of the view that those riots are created for political purposes since it’s time for elections. 

However, the police of Chittorgarh have a different statement about this whole incident. 

‘No person has died in the incident’ according to the local police. 

They clearly stated that they had already taken action against both parties involved. And in a tweet they warned people ‘spreading unnecessary, misleading, fake news’ about this incident to be held accountable for it even though there are circulating videos of the incident, confirming the initial reports.