Attacks on Muslims spike in India

Analyst says the incidents are fallout from aggressive election campaigns

Indian hawker Mohammad Qasim never expected he would become a familiar face online.

Deep in northeastern India, the Muslim hawker from central Bihar's Begusarai district had gone out to sell detergent pouches on his bike on Sunday when a man asked his name.

"The moment I revealed my name, he started hurling abuses at me and then asked what are you doing here? You should have been in Pakistan," said Qasim.

"Before I could understand anything, he fired at me and the bullet hit my back. He was loading another bullet in his pistol when I pushed him away and fled the scene," Qasim was quoted as saying in a video message that went viral in the social media due to a video taken by an onlooker.

According to Qasim, no villagers came to his rescue as the attacker was waving the pistol in his hand. Soon after the incident, wrapping cloth around the wound with blood oozing out from his body, Qasim rushed to the local police station. The police admitted him to hospital after finding his condition critical.

Days before, Indians learned that the National Democratic Alliance led by Prime Minister Norendra Modi's Bhartiya Janata Party, or BJP, had won the general election with a thumping majority. Modi is to be sworn in on Thursday for his second five-year term.

Many in the nation were shocked by Qasim's case, as he was shot just after revealing that he was a Muslim.

"Such incidents are the fallout of the aggressive campaigns witnessed during the monthlong elections. The uncharitable remarks passed against the other community by the leaders for mere political gains have caused distrust in the society," Indian social scientist Sachindra Narayan commented.

Police are conducting raids in search of Qasim's attacker. "We have registered the case and raids are on to nab the absconding attacker. He will be caught very soon," a local senior police official Neeraj Kumar Singh told the media on Wednesday in Begusarai.

In Gurugram, a financial and technical hub close to New Delhi, Mohammad Barkat Alam was returning home from a local mosque on Saturday night when a group of attackers appeared.

"The attackers warned me against wearing skull cap and said I was not allowed to wear skull cap in the area," Alam has told The Hindu newspaper. "When I refused to remove my cap, they assaulted me and forcibly took away my cap. They also asked me chant 'Jai Shri Ram (Hail Lord Rama)'. When I refused, they threatened to feed me pork."

In Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state, another three Muslim villagers were tied to a tree by the suspected cow vigilantes and beaten badly for allegedly carrying beef. Although the incident took place on May 22, it came to light after a video of the incident went viral in the media two days later.

Police have arrested the Muslim victims on the grounds that the possession, transportation or sale of beef is unlawful in Madhya Pradesh, a state which only recently came into the control of the Congress party after 15 years of BJP rule.

Kanhaiya blamed some politicians. "For such incidents, leaders and their cronies who spread hate for their political gains are responsible. We will not rest until the guilty are punished," he explained.

Experts have found these incidents quite grave and asked the government to act fast. "Now that Prime Minister Modi is in full majority, he will have to prove that the 'One India, One Nation' is not just a mere slogan. He will have to prove it on the ground," Delhi-based political expert Ajay Jha said.

The writer is a freelance journalist in India for China Daily.