HINDUTVA ATTACKS
Muslims flee Indian business hub after religious clashes, attacks
A police officer sits outside a mosque that was attacked by a mob, in Gurugram
Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal
Thu, August 10, 2023
By Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal
GURUGRAM, India (Reuters) - Over 3,000 poor Muslims have fled a business hub outside New Delhi this month, fearing for their lives after Hindu-Muslim clashes and sporadic attacks targeting them, residents, police and a community group said.
Shops and shacks owned or run by Muslims and their houses in two large slum areas were padlocked when Reuters visited them more than a week after seven people were killed in clashes in Nuh and Gurugram districts in Haryana state, adjoining the Indian capital.
The violence began on July 31 after a Hindu religious procession, organised by groups ideologically aligned with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was targeted and a mosque attacked in retaliation. Police quelled the unrest in 48 hours.
But minor attacks targeting Muslims have continued for days, scaring families who had moved to the new urban centre of Gurugram - where 250 of the Fortune 500 companies have offices - in search of a livelihood.
Stone-throwing, arson and vandalisation of two small Muslim shrines in the slum districts forced hundreds of Muslim families to abandon their single-room houses and seek shelter at a train station before heading out, witnesses said.
"Many of us spent the entire night on a railway platform because it was much safer there," Raufullah Javed, a tailor who fled to his home village in the eastern state of Bihar, told Reuters by phone.
The Gurugram president of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind (Council of Indian Muslim Theologians) Mufti Mohammed Salim estimated that more than 3,000 Muslims had left the district after the violence.
Four Muslim shopkeepers who also fled to their villages in eastern India said by phone that members of hardline Hindu groups had questioned them about their businesses and families.
"Some Hindu men came in a large group and started asking questions such as how much money I earn," said Shahid Sheikh, a barber who fled from Tigra village, home to over 1,200 Muslim families.
"Many Muslims decided it's best to leave for a while," said Sheikh, adding that some Hindu owners of shops rented out to Muslims wanted them to vacate.
Tensions between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims have risen over issues such as the eating of beef and inter-faith marriages with Muslims saying they have been increasingly targeted by Hindu activists since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government took power in 2014.
BJP leaders say clashes between the two communities have broken out in the past as well and have been less frequent since they came to power.
The trouble in Gurugram, a city of over 1.5 million people formerly known as Gurgaon, has exposed multinationals such as Google, American Express, Dell, Samsung, Ernst & Young and Deloitte based there to risks of violence and disruption.
Haryana police said they had arrested over 200 men from both communities in connection with the violence and some Muslims who had fled had begun to trickle back.
Anil Vij, the interior minister of Haryana's BJP government, said he had received reports of some Muslims leaving but the situation is completely under control now.
"No one is asking them to leave and we are providing full security in all communally sensitive areas," he told Reuters.
(Reporting by Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Angus MacSwan)
A police officer sits outside a mosque that was attacked by a mob, in Gurugram
Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal
Thu, August 10, 2023
By Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal
GURUGRAM, India (Reuters) - Over 3,000 poor Muslims have fled a business hub outside New Delhi this month, fearing for their lives after Hindu-Muslim clashes and sporadic attacks targeting them, residents, police and a community group said.
Shops and shacks owned or run by Muslims and their houses in two large slum areas were padlocked when Reuters visited them more than a week after seven people were killed in clashes in Nuh and Gurugram districts in Haryana state, adjoining the Indian capital.
The violence began on July 31 after a Hindu religious procession, organised by groups ideologically aligned with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was targeted and a mosque attacked in retaliation. Police quelled the unrest in 48 hours.
But minor attacks targeting Muslims have continued for days, scaring families who had moved to the new urban centre of Gurugram - where 250 of the Fortune 500 companies have offices - in search of a livelihood.
Stone-throwing, arson and vandalisation of two small Muslim shrines in the slum districts forced hundreds of Muslim families to abandon their single-room houses and seek shelter at a train station before heading out, witnesses said.
"Many of us spent the entire night on a railway platform because it was much safer there," Raufullah Javed, a tailor who fled to his home village in the eastern state of Bihar, told Reuters by phone.
The Gurugram president of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind (Council of Indian Muslim Theologians) Mufti Mohammed Salim estimated that more than 3,000 Muslims had left the district after the violence.
Four Muslim shopkeepers who also fled to their villages in eastern India said by phone that members of hardline Hindu groups had questioned them about their businesses and families.
"Some Hindu men came in a large group and started asking questions such as how much money I earn," said Shahid Sheikh, a barber who fled from Tigra village, home to over 1,200 Muslim families.
"Many Muslims decided it's best to leave for a while," said Sheikh, adding that some Hindu owners of shops rented out to Muslims wanted them to vacate.
Tensions between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims have risen over issues such as the eating of beef and inter-faith marriages with Muslims saying they have been increasingly targeted by Hindu activists since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government took power in 2014.
BJP leaders say clashes between the two communities have broken out in the past as well and have been less frequent since they came to power.
The trouble in Gurugram, a city of over 1.5 million people formerly known as Gurgaon, has exposed multinationals such as Google, American Express, Dell, Samsung, Ernst & Young and Deloitte based there to risks of violence and disruption.
Haryana police said they had arrested over 200 men from both communities in connection with the violence and some Muslims who had fled had begun to trickle back.
Anil Vij, the interior minister of Haryana's BJP government, said he had received reports of some Muslims leaving but the situation is completely under control now.
"No one is asking them to leave and we are providing full security in all communally sensitive areas," he told Reuters.
(Reporting by Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Angus MacSwan)
India's Modi appeals for peace in Manipur, months after ethnic clashes erupted in the state
Dozens of houses lay vandalized and burnt during ethnic clashes and rioting in Sugnu, in Manipur, India, June 21, 2023. For three months, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been largely silent on ethnic violence that has killed over 150 people in the remote state in India’s northeast. That's sparked a no-confidence motion against his government in Parliament, where his party and allies hold a clear majority.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Narendra Modi appealed for peace during a Parliament debate Thursday, after opposition lawmakers had called for a no-confidence vote, accusing the prime minister of staying silent as a northeastern state governed by his party convulsed in months of ethnic violence.
Modi raised the conflict in Manipur state some 90 minutes into his speech in response to the no-confidence motion — and only as opposition lawmakers staged a walk-out in frustration.
It was Modi's first statement about the violence in Manipur, where clashes since early May between two dominant ethnic groups have killed over 150 people and displaced more than 50,000. The opposition has slammed Modi's silence and moved the no-confidence motion to force him to address the conflict from the Parliament floor.
For an hour and a half, Modi did not mention the crisis but made repeated digs at the opposition. Many opposition lawmakers stood up and chanted “Manipur! Manipur!” before walking out in protest.
“The central and the state governments are working towards peace. I assure people of Manipur that peace will be restored soon,” Modi said. “The country is with you. We will sit together and find a solution to the current challenge to restore peace and put Manipur on the path of development.”
Last month, after a video surfaced showing an assault on two women being paraded naked and groped in the state, Modi condemned the incident but held back from addressing the overall conflict.
After the opposition walkout, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies easily defeated the no-confidence motion — an expected development as they control more than 360 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the powerful lower house.
The opposition argued that the motion was meant to force Modi to address the Manipur violence in Parliament, which has been locked in an intense impasse for weeks over the crisis.
“We succeeded in ending Modi’s silence and made him speak in Parliament,” Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress Party, told reporters outside Parliament.
“Modi is running away from his responsibility to provide justice to the people of Manipur," he added. "He should visit the state.”
In his speech, Modi said the violence in Manipur was saddening. “Crimes against women are unacceptable and the central government as well as the state government will work to ensure the guilty are punished,” he added.
During three days of debate, opposition leaders accused Modi and his party of failing to quell the bloodshed for months despite a heavy army presence in Manipur and demanded he fire the state’s top elected official, who is from Modi’s party.
The conflict in Manipur erupted after the minority Christian Kukis protested a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs.
Armed mobs torched homes and buildings, killed scores of civilians, looted weapons from police armories and drove tens of thousands from their homes.
On Wednesday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused Modi's government of silencing people’s voices and creating a civil war-like situation.
In response, Home Minister Amit Shah defended the government’s handling of Manipur and said they were deeply concerned about the violence.
The government was working with both ethnic communities to bring peace, Shah said, but critics say it has shared little about plans on how to resolve the crisis.
TO LITTLE TOO LATE TO CALL OFF HIS FOLLOWERS
Dozens of houses lay vandalized and burnt during ethnic clashes and rioting in Sugnu, in Manipur, India, June 21, 2023. For three months, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been largely silent on ethnic violence that has killed over 150 people in the remote state in India’s northeast. That's sparked a no-confidence motion against his government in Parliament, where his party and allies hold a clear majority.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)
KRUTIKA PATHI and ASHOK SHARMA
Thu, August 10, 2023
KRUTIKA PATHI and ASHOK SHARMA
Thu, August 10, 2023
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Narendra Modi appealed for peace during a Parliament debate Thursday, after opposition lawmakers had called for a no-confidence vote, accusing the prime minister of staying silent as a northeastern state governed by his party convulsed in months of ethnic violence.
Modi raised the conflict in Manipur state some 90 minutes into his speech in response to the no-confidence motion — and only as opposition lawmakers staged a walk-out in frustration.
It was Modi's first statement about the violence in Manipur, where clashes since early May between two dominant ethnic groups have killed over 150 people and displaced more than 50,000. The opposition has slammed Modi's silence and moved the no-confidence motion to force him to address the conflict from the Parliament floor.
For an hour and a half, Modi did not mention the crisis but made repeated digs at the opposition. Many opposition lawmakers stood up and chanted “Manipur! Manipur!” before walking out in protest.
“The central and the state governments are working towards peace. I assure people of Manipur that peace will be restored soon,” Modi said. “The country is with you. We will sit together and find a solution to the current challenge to restore peace and put Manipur on the path of development.”
Last month, after a video surfaced showing an assault on two women being paraded naked and groped in the state, Modi condemned the incident but held back from addressing the overall conflict.
After the opposition walkout, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies easily defeated the no-confidence motion — an expected development as they control more than 360 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the powerful lower house.
The opposition argued that the motion was meant to force Modi to address the Manipur violence in Parliament, which has been locked in an intense impasse for weeks over the crisis.
“We succeeded in ending Modi’s silence and made him speak in Parliament,” Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress Party, told reporters outside Parliament.
“Modi is running away from his responsibility to provide justice to the people of Manipur," he added. "He should visit the state.”
In his speech, Modi said the violence in Manipur was saddening. “Crimes against women are unacceptable and the central government as well as the state government will work to ensure the guilty are punished,” he added.
During three days of debate, opposition leaders accused Modi and his party of failing to quell the bloodshed for months despite a heavy army presence in Manipur and demanded he fire the state’s top elected official, who is from Modi’s party.
The conflict in Manipur erupted after the minority Christian Kukis protested a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs.
Armed mobs torched homes and buildings, killed scores of civilians, looted weapons from police armories and drove tens of thousands from their homes.
On Wednesday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused Modi's government of silencing people’s voices and creating a civil war-like situation.
In response, Home Minister Amit Shah defended the government’s handling of Manipur and said they were deeply concerned about the violence.
The government was working with both ethnic communities to bring peace, Shah said, but critics say it has shared little about plans on how to resolve the crisis.
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