“I have never seen anything so terrible happen here before. This town has always been peaceful,” asserted Barkhat Ahmed, the headmaster of Minhaj Ul Uloom madrasa, located at Indira Colony in the central Telangana town of Medak.
The 50-year-old was referring to the communal violence that unfolded before his eyes on 15 June – merely days ahead of Eid al-Adha – after an alleged mob associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) accused two madrasas in the area, including Ahmed’s, of harbouring cows for slaughter on their premises.
Speaking to The Quint, Ahmed said:
“Every year, animals are sacrificed here for Bakrid. We only sacrifice oxen, not cows. That has been the case across Medak. But RSS log (members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) insisted that they take our animals to the gaushala, though we were ready to submit medical certificates proving they’re not cows.”
This story was originally published in thequint.com. Read the full story here.
