Hindu fanatics try to damage mosque in Madhya Pradesh

Police in India on Wednesday arrested five Hindu fanatics for trying to damage a mosque a day earlier in Madhya Pradesh state's Mandsaur district, The Print reported.

The incident occurred in Dorana village when members of Hindu extremist right-wing organisations including Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal were taking out a rally to create awareness about a fund-collection campaign for the proposed Ram temple at Ayodhya — the place where Babri mosque was demolished by Hindu zealots 20 years ago.

According to the report, another fund-collection drive for the temple resulted in communal tension at Indore on Tuesday as the participants of a rally tried to damage a mosque and read the Hanuman Chalisa — a devotional hymn addressed to Hindu God Hanuman — outside the premises.

According to local police, the unpleasant incident resulted in shots being fired as well as stone-pelting, injuring some participants. Later, police held 27 people and also registered FIRs against four.

Taking to Twitter, President Arif Alvi condemned the incident and said that the desecration of mosques is on the rise in India. "Minorities in India particularly Muslims are feeling isolated and intimidated," he added.

He said that the fascism of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Modi government is making India a country for Hindus only.

A new wave of Islamophobia and growing intolerance continues to haunt Muslim lives in India since the BJP government came to power.

During Eidul Azha, in another attack on Muslim minority, a video showed a Hindu mob beating a young man for carrying cow meat while forcing him to chant Jai Shree Ram. Similarly, a Hindu mob thrashed a 52-year-old Muslim rickshaw driver and allegedly forced him to chant pro-Modi slogans.

The Covid-19 surge in India too met with Islamophobic outbursts when its initial spread was blamed on the Tableeghi Jamaat members while the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act was already discriminatory against Muslims and sought to fast-track nationality for non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Experts believe the CAA violates international law and the prohibition on rendering people stateless.

In February, a mosque was set on fire in New Delhi while more than a dozen people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between opposing groups of protesters the Indian capital.

Video footage shared on social media showed a mob climbing to the top of the mosque's minaret where they attempted to plant a saffron flag.

Local media reported that shops in the area were also being targeted by the mob.