By Ayush Tiwari
On the morning of July 14, a mob targeted Muslim residents in Gajapur village in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district.
The Quint reported that some residents were physically assaulted, their homes were ransacked and a video showed the men attacking the Sunni Raza Jama masjid in the village.
But this is not the first time that Hindutva groups have targeted Muslims in Gajapur, a village at the foothills of the centuries-old Vishalgad fort.
In February 2023, on the occasion of the Hindu festival Maha Shivratri, a Muslim shrine at the foot of Vishalgad fort was attacked.
Called the Hazrat Sayyed Malik Rehan Meera Saheb dargah, the shrine is located two-and-a-half kilometres from the Sunni Raza Jama masjid that was attacked on July 14.
That story went mostly unreported.
Even at the time, the violence was linked to a movement to clear “illegal encroachments” near the fort led by Sambhaji Raje Chhatrapati, a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament.
Several of the men involved in the 2023 violence told Scroll they were associated with the Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or flaunted their political links on social media.
This story was originally published in scroll.in. Read the full story here.
