By Syed Ali Mujtaba
It is not even two months in 2024; there are numbers of anti – Muslim hate crimes reported from different parts of the country. The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism Mumbai has come out with a report on the communal situation in India, since January 2024. The center has listed the hate crimes against Muslims and categorized them as communal riots, hate speeches, Hindu vigilantes, state funding of Hindu religious activities, demolition drives, etc.
Communal riots – Five communal riots have taken place in January 2024. They are directly related to the Pran Pratisthan event held in Ayodhya on January 22. Out of the five communal riots, two were reported in Mumbai, one in Nagpur, one in Vadodara, and one in Shajapur in Madhya Pradesh. All these riots took place in the BJP-ruled states.
The communal riots in Mira Road, Mumbai had origin in local tension where scuffle gave way to stone pelting resulting in Municipal Corporation stepping in to use bulldozers. The Corporation bulldozers demolish about 15 structures in the Muslim-dominated area on Mira Road. In the incident, more than nine persons were injured.
The second incident took place in Thane, near Mumbai. Here stones were pelted by miscreants at a vehicle rally taken out on the occasion of Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya. A clash broke out between members of two communities and several people were injured in the ensuing clashes.
The communal riot in Nagpur took place in the Garib Nawaz Nagar locality where an altercation between members of two communities took place to celebrate the consecration event in Ayodhya. This led to a scuffle between two communities in which 12 persons were injured.
In Bhoj, Vadodara communal riot took place on January 22 after stones were allegedly pelted on a procession, Shobha Yatra, to celebrate the idol consecration in the Ram temple at Ayodhya.
In Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh communal riot took place on January 8, when participants of a religious procession were allegedly pelted with stones leading to clashes where several persons were injured.
This story was originally published in muslimmirror.com. Read the full story here.