Why? Are Muslims terrorists?” said Sabiran Bibi, 31, who has lived in the area all her life. “They don’t want Muslims to live in this country. On Wednesday morning, bulldozers demolished a string of shops on the roadside in Jahangirpuri while the owners peered out from windows in their homes, watching helplessly as their stalls were destroyed or taken away on trucks. But critics argue this is the latest attempt to harass and marginalize Muslims, who are 14% of India’s 1.4 billion population, and point to a pattern of rising religious polarization under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Officials say their demolition drive targets illegal buildings and not any particular religious group.
They said Hindu and Muslim groups threw stones at each other during a procession to mark the birth date of Hindu god Hanuman, leaving eight police officers and a civilian injured, local media reported. Police have arrested at least 24 suspects since communal violence broke out Saturday during a Hindu religious procession in New Delhi’s northwest Jahangirpuri neighborhood. They stopped the bulldozers just outside the entrance of a Hindu temple, about 50 meters (160 feet) from the mosque, and began to retreat, spurring outrage from Muslim residents who said they were being targeted.Īnti-Muslim sentiment and attacks have risen across India in the past 10 days, including stone throwing between Hindu and Muslim groups during religious processions and demolitions of a number of properties, many belonging to Muslims, in another state last week. But for nearly an hour after the Supreme Court order, officials continued to demolish structures, including the outer entrance and stairs leading into a mosque.
Shop owners searched through the rubble of their shops afterward to collect their belongings. NEW DELHI (AP) - Authorities used bulldozers to raze a number of Muslim-owned shops in New Delhi before India’s Supreme Court halted the demolitions Wednesday, days after communal violence shook the capital and saw dozens arrested.
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