WARNING: This story contains details that may bother some readers Tensions erupted in the western Indian city of Udaipur on Wednesday, a day after police arrested two Muslims accused of cutting the throat of an Indian tailor and posted a video of him on social media in a brutal attack representing a dramatic community violence in a country torn apart by deep religious polarization. The killing comes after months of rising tensions between Hindus and Muslims and has raised fears that it could spark increased violence. Authorities suspended internet services in the city and surrounding state of Ratzastan in an effort to prevent the disclosure of the creepy video, while rushing additional police to Udaipur and banned large rallies in an attempt to prevent the escalation of religious turmoil. In New Delhi, several dozen people linked to right-wing groups protested against the killing and demanded that the perpetrators be hanged. In recent months, there have been a number of attacks by Hindu nationalists on minority groups – especially Muslims – who have been targeted for everything from their style of eating and dressing to interfaith weddings. Muslim homes have also been demolished using bulldozers in some Indian states, in what critics call a growing “bulldozer of justice” pattern against the minority group. The feud escalated in May when two members of Prime Minister Narendra Monti’s party made eye-popping remarks that were seen as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad and his wife Aisha. Both were later suspended by Monti’s party. The tailor who was killed on Tuesday, who identified himself as 48-year-old Kanhaiya Lal, allegedly shared a post on social media in support of one of the dismissed spokesmen for the Prophet Muhammad’s statements, according to local media. The two men arrested a few hours after the attack, identified as Udaipur residents Gos Mohammad and Riaz Akhtari, posted a second video of themselves after the murder, accusing Lal of blasphemy and threatening to kill him in the same way. Monty. , smiling as he sat on a couch, waving long blood-stained knives. In the video of the attack itself, one of the perpetrators appears to be being counted by the tailor, while the other is being filmed. The man being measured then attacks Lal with a knife, stabbing him as the tailor desperately tries to chase him away with his hands. Then the man filming drops his phone and takes part in the attack, and Lal is heard screaming for help as he is killed. Police later said the men cut Lal’s neck and television reports carried footage from the tailor’s bloodied body to the ground. Despite police calls, both videos continued to circulate on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook a day later. Experts worry that the latest incident could exacerbate India’s religious rifts that critics say have deepened since Hindu-nationalist Monti took power in 2014. The divisions were exacerbated by comments made by his party’s representatives about the Prophet Muhammad in May, which also led to strong diplomatic backlash against the Hindu majority in many Muslim-occupied countries. “This horrific incident could lead to an escalation of religious tensions across India, especially with the ruling party supporting a very hard Hindu majority cause,” said Sushant Singh, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research, a think tank. public policy. “It is unlikely that this government or leadership will do anything to tell its supporters not to provoke, to urge calm and peace,” he said. Attacks on people accused of alleged blasphemy are common in neighboring Muslim-majority countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan. But in India, where religious tensions often lead to sporadic riots and deadly protests, incidents of violent killings of this kind are rare. In May, a Hindu in the southern city of Hyderabad was publicly stabbed to death by relatives of his Muslim wife. Last year, a Muslim man was beheaded by members of a vigilance group on the orders of his girlfriend’s Hindu family for not approving their interfaith marriage. In the state of Rajasthan in 2017, a Hindu brutally killed a Muslim worker and shared a video of the victim being killed and then set on fire. It was not clear if the two alleged tailor killers had links to a terrorist organization, but the Indian Interior Ministry sent a team from the counterterrorism service to Rajasthan for investigation. So far, state police have not charged the two arrested with terrorism. The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a key Muslim body, condemned the killing in a statement calling it “barbaric”. “There is no room for justification for violence in Islam,” he said. Rajasthan’s chief minister Ashok Gehlot has promised a swift investigation into Lal’s murder. “Again a call to all to keep the peace,” Gehlot said in a tweet.
