Ten jailed in India’s Jharkhand for 2019 lynching of Muslim man
Al JazeeraJul 03, 2023
The Facts
On Monday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court demanded a stop to the multi-day demolition of Muslim homes and businesses in India's Haryana state. The court questioned if the demolition was occurring to uphold the law or as a means of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing.
Following last week's violent Hindu-Muslim unrest on Thursday, India's Haryana state began bulldozing more than 300 homes and shops owned by Muslim residents. Six people were killed during the outbreak of violence, including Muslims, Hindus, and members of the police guard.
The Spin
Narrative A
The BJP has loudly denounced any derogatory behavior on the basis of religion. The party backs these strong statements with action, as evidenced in the suspensions and experiments that have occurred within the party over rogue and insulting comments. Opponents of Modi should not be weaponizing sad incidences of political violence for their own gain, they should be joining the BJP in rebuking them entirely.
Narrative B
While Modi is touring the world spouting rhetoric about democracy and touting his economic prowess, his domestic policies paint a different legacy. He and his party have incited Hindu hatred toward the country's more than 220M Muslims. Modi has allowed more than 50 anti-Muslim rallies in populous city centers to occur that are often organized, led, and attended by party representatives. As long as Modi is in power, Muslims will continue to live in fear of the "democracy" that he promotes.