Monitoring Desk
A mosque was set on fire in north-eastern district of Indian capital, New Delhi as anti-Muslim violence touched new heights on Tuesday.
According to Indian media reports, the Ashok Nagar Delhi Mosque was surrounded by angry mobs shouting ultranationalist Indian slogans while placing a “Hanuman flag” on the top of the mosque. Two Indian journalists were allegedly attacked by a mob when they were reporting about the burning mosque, as reported by the Week.
The violent attack came amid clashes among protesters over the new Indian citizenship law in New Delhi with at least 10 people, including a policeman, killed. Vehicles and shops were set on fire, property destroyed and more than two dozen people injured on Monday as protesters supporting and opposing the law hurled bricks at each other. The area remained tense on Tuesday with reports of scattered incidents of violence, including bouts of stone-throwing, arson and vandalism, according to newspaper, Al-Sabah.
The clashes happened in pockets of northeast Delhi that have a large Muslim population.
India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which eases the path for non-Muslims from neighboring Muslim-majority nations to gain citizenship, has triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The law is seen by its opponents as discriminatory against Muslims.
India, with a population of over 1.3 billion, is 80% Hindu and 14% Muslim, which means it has one of the largest Muslim populations of any country in the world. There have been growing questions about the stance of the government, led by Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, toward India’s 172 million Muslims. Attacks on minorities, especially Muslims, have risen sharply across India in the last few years under the leadership of Modi., revealing escalating violence against Muslims in the country.
