Chicago – January 31, 2024
In August 2023, the world watched in horror as authorities in the northern Indian state of Haryana demolished more than 300 Muslim-owned homes and businesses in Nuh – the only Muslim-majority district in the state.
Hindu right-wing groups in Haryana followed up the violence with calls to boycott Muslim businesses and for Hindu-owned businesses to fire Muslim employees. Before the demolition drive, clashes broke out between Hindu and Muslim groups in Nuh when a procession led by the far-right Hindu organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad reached the district.
What we are witnessing is undoubtedly a consequence of the hateful rhetoric encouraged under the current Hindu nationalist regime run by PM Narendra Modi.
Yet, the large-scale destruction of Muslim homes and properties in parts of the country like Nuh, where the community has lived for centuries, points to something even more sinister: a concerted effort to erase all evidence of Muslim presence and heritage in the country.
That India’s treatment of Muslims is inching towards the United Nation’s definition of genocide has become amply evident over the last few years – especially with acts like the demolition of homes and businesses that deliberately inflict conditions that may lead to the physical destruction of Muslim life.
In recent years, Hindu nationalist leaders have routinely incited violence and discrimination against Muslims in public forums. In October 2022, during the “Virat Hindu Sabha” event in Delhi, BJP Member of the Legislative Assembly Nand Kishor Gurjar lauded the conduct of Hindu groups during the 2020 riots in Delhi. To the 2,500 attendees, he declared, “We will kill jihadis, we will always kill jihadis”.
