Agencies-Gaza post
India activist’s house bulldozed ‘illegally’ after protest over comments against Prophet Muhammad
A young Muslim activist whose home was destroyed by the authorities in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh says it was an “act of vendetta” by the government for the demonstrations over comments made against Prophet Muhammad by officials of the country’s right-wing governing party.
Surrounded by a massive posse of police in riot gear, authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj city on Sunday brought in earthmovers to demolish Afreen Fatima’s home as hundreds of media people recorded the destruction.
After hours, the two-storey building was turned to rubble and its belongings – furniture, books and photographs – thrown on an empty plot next to the home.
Among them was a poster that said: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
The destruction came after days of protests by India’s Muslims against the anti-Islam remarks by two members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this month, triggering a diplomatic backlash against New Delhi.
As many Muslim nations called on an apology from the Indian government, the Muslims in India saw the remarks by the BJP’s Nupur Sharma and former Delhi media cell head Naveen Kumar Jindal as yet another instance of the right wing’s hate speech against the minority community which has spiked since Modi came to power in 2014.
As global outrage increased, the BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal, saying their comments do not reflect the party’s views and asking its spokespeople to be “extremely cautious” on religious matters while speaking on news channels.
Meanwhile, police in the Indian capital filed cases against the two and others for “inciting hatred” and other charges.
