Imam Killed During Mosque Attack in India's Gurugram

Facts

  • On Tuesday, a deputy imam — identified as Maulana Saad — was killed during an attack on a mosque in a suburb of India's New Delhi by a group of Hindus, according to the police.1
  • Saad was the deputy Imam of the Anjuman Jama Masjid in Gurugram, having joined the mosque six months prior. Nitish Aggarwal, deputy commissioner of police in Gurugram, stated that a group of 45-50 "resorted to firing and arson" at the site in the early hours of Tuesday.2
  • The death of the cleric means that the death toll stemming from violence beginning in the district of Nuh before spreading towards Gurugram has reached five, according to police. Over 50 have reportedly been injured, 10 of which are policemen, and two of the dead are home guards.3
  • Troubles in Nuh began on Monday after violence at a religious procession by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). The BJP government has consequently imposed a ban on the gathering of four or more people in the district.4
  • The Chief Minister of the state of Haryana, of which Nuh is a part of, has claimed the attacks to have been part of a wider conspiracy. The VHP has also demanded a probe by the National Investigation Agency.5
  • India has consistently struggled with communal violence ever since the region was divided into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan in 1947, which led to an initial exodus of tens of millions and is believed to have killed over 1M people at the time.6

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Telegraph India, 3Tribune India News Service, 4The Quint, 5The Economic Times, and 6CBS.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Muslim Mirror. Although PM Narendra Modi stresses the importance of terrorism internationally, the same cannot be said for his domestic agenda. As the base of his government continues to grow further to the right, Indian Muslims continue to live further in fear. Open calls for the extermination of Muslims are simply ignored by Indian ministers and leaders of the ruling establishment, and the terrorism targeting Indian Muslims carries on unchecked.
  • Narrative B, as provided by OpIndia. While the media has vilified the actions of a group of Hindus in Nuh, it must not be forgotten that the incident was instigated by an Islamist attack against a Hindu religious procession. Islamists meticulously planned the assault and later spread fake news online to deflect the blame. The media continues to both create confusion and shield the people who are really accountable for the bloodshed.
  • Narrative C, as provided by Guardian. Since the partition of India and Pakistan, those Muslims and Hindus have been at odds with one another, and such tension has only been exacerbated by the modern obsession with ideologies focused on race, religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Indian Muslims and Hindus must work toward coexistence, compassion, and love — or brutal communal violence will only continue.