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There has been a renewed intensification of violence and hate propaganda directed against Muslims. Not that it had ever really stopped. It would be difficult to think about a period during the last 12 years that could honestly be described as free from anti-Muslim hatred and violence. Yet, there are moments when this hostility gathers itself into something like a storm. 

For the past two weeks, gangs of men and women, all Hindu, have been moving openly through parts of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, raising slogans that call for the annihilation of Muslims. The administration appears to have decided that this is merely the natural expression of Hindu anger and has therefore chosen to look away.

Hindu YouTubers have multiplied like an epidemic. They travel from one locality to another, manufacturing and circulating hatred against Muslims. They stop Muslims in the streets, force conversations upon them, provoke them, and often assault them. Madrasas are being sealed. Notices are being issued for the demolition of Muslim homes.

The murder of a Hindu teenager in Ghaziabad by a Muslim teenager has now become the latest occasion or excuse for a fresh campaign of hostility against Muslims. The accused, a boy named Asad, was promptly killed in what the police describe as an encounter.

Also read: In Khoda, Nobody Knows Why Surya and Asad Fought. That Hasn’t Stopped a Communal Narrative From Taking Hold

The people of India know very well how encounters are conducted. They also know how remarkably often they end with the accused dead and the police personnel involved escaping without even a scratch. In this case, too, we are told that Asad tried to flee and opened fire on the police, and they had to fire at him in self-defence. That firing caused his death. 

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