Mobsters target Muslim trade in Gurugram

According to latest news reports, fear has gripped Muslims traders of Gurugram and near regions. The Print has reported Muslim vendors providing for the local needs of the tech city are fleeing en masse, despite the assurances given by police.

On the morning of August 1, a mosque in Gurgaon’s Sector 57 was violently attacked by a large armed mob, setting it on fire. The chief imam was absent, but the 19-year-old deputy imam, who led prayers, was brutally assaulted. This incident has demoralised Muslims who are mainly labour migrants from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. On the same day the Shahi Masjid in Sohna, Gurugram was also vandalised by a mob comprising 70-100 men.

Similar instances were reported from different locations in Badshahpur as well.

The alleged complicity and inaction of the police with the mobsters has diminished the Muslim community’s faith in the police. The trust deficit and the disruption of law and order left Muslims scared and they find themselves leaving the city.

Besides, widespread looting has also been reported. The video shared by Mohammed Zubair, founder of AltNews, shows the grim lamentation of a Muslim dress merchant whose shop was set on fire by mobsters. Similar incidents have been reported by other media outlets as well.

In the aftermath of the Nuh violence, people from the Muslim community in Gurugram’s Badshahpur were forced to leave their houses locked in fear of riots or attacks. This decision came after several shops belonging to their community were targeted.

Looting and financial crippling of Muslims have been the most astonishing incident of communal violence. Similar incidence of massive economic looting and arson was reported widely during the Northeast Delhi riots of 2020.

The most worrisome was the mass exodus of Muslims from the Uttarkashi district in Himachal in June this year. What started as some Muslim shopkeepers and traders fleeing Purola town after one of the accused in the abduction of a minor Hindu girl cause furore among right wing groups, escalated very quickly. In the next two weeks, up to 10 towns — Purola, Uttarkashi, Mori, Naugaon, Barkot, Chinyalisaur, Dunda, Damta, Netwar and Sankri — have seen strikes/hate rallies calling for Muslims to be denied shops, for extra “verification”, or simply for them to be expelled.

In January this year the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) gave a call for economic boycott of Muslim vendors during the Panchalingeshwara temple fair in Vittal town in Dakshina Kannada district. According to a Times Now report, the Muslim vendors were forced out by VHP workers.

One day before the 75th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse, fascist forces of the Hindutva variety made their presence felt in Mumbai with an ominous ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha’. The rally, purportedly organised against ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad’, ended with a provocative speech by Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh calling for a boycott of Muslim owned businesses and for Hindus to ‘slit throats’.

Notorious for stigmatising and dehumanising the minority community apart from spreading communal disharmony by targeting the Muslim community, T. Raja Singh, BJP MLA from Goshamahal, Telangana, delivered two hate speeches in Maharashtra. Through his speeches, given at Shrirampur and Malang Gad district of Maharashtra, he made explicit calls for violence and the killing of Muslims and their economic boycott, only so that a Hindu nation can be established. The impact of the inciting and provocative words can be seen on the thousands in the mob who attended and listened, screaming out “Jai Shri Ram” as a war cry.

Economic boycott and vandalism of minority owned businesses has been the major focus of far-right-wing Hindutva organisations.

Related:

The biggest exodus of the decade: Muslims leave Uttarkashi amidst threats, hate speech

Uttarkashi: Cross marks, “leave” threats on Muslim shops, hatred spreads to other towns: Uttarakhand

Hindu Janjagran Manch Leader Delivers Hate Speech, Advocates Economic Boycott of Muslims