Tue 16 November 2021:
A former Indian foreign minister, Salman Khurshid’s Nainital home was vandalized and set on fire on Monday, only days after his new book on Ayodhya stirred a controversy by drawing a link between “Hindutva” and extreme Islamist groups.
This is the latest incident of religious violence that critics say has been inflamed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Salman Khurshid, a Muslim from the main opposition Congress party, published a book last month in which he compared the kind of Hindu nationalism that has flourished under Modi to extremist groups like Daesh.
Police said a mob of around 20 people from a hardline local Hindu group massed outside Khurshid’s house near the northern city of Nainital on Monday.
“They shouted slogans, threw stones, broke several windows, ransacked (the entry) and set fire (to a door),” local police chief Jagdish Chandra told media.
Visuals shared by Mr Khurshid on Facebook show tall flames, charred doors and shattered window panes at his Nainital home. Two men are seen trying to douse the fire by throwing water.
Sharing the visuals, the Congress leader said in a post, “I hoped to open these doors to my friends who have left this calling card. Am I still wrong to say this cannot be Hinduism?”
— Salman Khurshid (@salman7khurshid) November 15, 2021
Mr Khurshid, a former Union Minister, has been under the spotlight ever since the launch of his new book, ”Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times”. At the centre of the controversy is a passage that reads, “Sanatan Dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to the jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years.”
DIG (Kumaon) Neelesh Anand told news agency ANI that a case has been registered against 21 people in connection with the incident. “Rakesh Kapil and 20 others have been booked. Strict action will be taken against perpetrators,” he said.
Activists say that religious minorities in Hindu-majority India have faced increased levels of discrimination and violence since Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.
In 2020, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom listed India as a “country of particular concern” for the first time since 2004. Modi’s government rejects having a radical “Hindutva” (Hindu hegemony) agenda and insists that people of all religions have equal rights. Uttarakhand state, where the latest incident took place, appears to be a particular hotspot.
Last month, a mob of around 200 people reportedly attacked a Christian church in the state. The local head of the BJP said the building was used for “suspicious gatherings.”
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