By Arunabh SAIKIA
Muslim teacher Tasleem Qureshi’s walk to the polls on Friday took her past the yellow barricades and police cordon guarding her local mosque — a looming flashpoint in India’s religious divide.
Her hometown Mathura is the site of the Shahi Idgah, an Islamic house of worship that the Hindu faithful believe was built over the birthplace of the deity Krishna.
Hindu activists want to “reclaim” the site in a campaign endorsed by members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The BJP keeps saying that the Shahi Idgah will cease to exist after the elections,” Qureshi, 48, told AFP.
“We will not let that happen and we will protect it with our lives,” she said.
Modi is widely expected to win a third term in office once India’s six-week-long election concludes in June, in large part thanks to his championing of the country’s majority faith.
This story was originally published in barrons.com. Read the full story here.