Since early September, the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh has witnessed a disturbing rise in anti-Muslim violence, with far-right Hindu teams organizing protests and hate campaigns focusing on Muslims within the state.
Tensions erupted first over the development of a mosque within the state’s capital of Shimla. The problem escalated after a state minister from the Indian Nationwide Congress—the principle opposition get together nationally, however in energy in Himachal Pradesh—made inflammatory remarks within the state meeting and linked the mosque to thefts and the anti-Muslim “Love Jihad” conspiracy. Far-right teams demanded the demolition of the mosque and held mass rallies the place members shouted Islamophobic slogans, blaming Muslim immigrants for communal tensions and financial struggles. Additionally they launched violent campaigns focusing on Muslims within the state, like “Roko, Toko, Thoko,” that means “cease, refuse, kill.”
The violence rapidly unfold to different components of Himachal Pradesh. In Solan, Hindu supremacists marked Muslim-owned retailers with crimson paint, a chilling type of identification echoing apartheid-like ways. In Sujanpur and Panchrukhi, Muslim locations of worship had been threatened with destruction. In Kangra, a mob tried to storm a mosque, vandalizing retailers owned by Muslims alongside the way in which.
