The Perpetrators Of The Clashes Shouted At Jai Shree Ram When Protesting For Ramadan Prayers At The Campus Courtyard, India Will Take Strict Action

Illustration - (DOK Freepik)

JAKARTA - Authorities in western India conducted an investigation after far-right Hindus were suspected of carrying out attacks on foreign students while holding Ramadan prayers on the courtyard of the University of Gujarat campus. Two people have been detained by the police following clashes that broke out on Saturday, March 16. A number of students who held prayers came from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan. "About 20-25 people came and asked why they were praying here and should have read it at the mosque," police commissioner Ahmedabad GS Malik told reporters quoted by CNN, Monday, March 18. "There was an argument between them, stones were thrown, and their rooms were damaged by people from outside.” At least two foreign students were injured, according to India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The state government is taking firm action against the perpetrators," spokesman Randhir Jaiswal posted on social platform X. The incident is the latest case in a series of communal clashes that make headlines in a democracy of 1.4 billion people, which is increasingly polarized according to religious lines under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government. An eyewitness told CNN that students were praying when a group of people came and repeatedly told them to stop, shouting Hindu slogans. "One of the students got up and slapped one of the group members," said a student at Gujarat University, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, told CNN. "After that, a larger group came and started throwing stones.” The viral video, purportedly about the incident, shows people throwing student dormitories with stones and damaging vehicles. Another video, a man chanted "Jai Shree Ram (hail Lord Ram)," a Hindu slogan that has been a strong call for Muslims in recent years. Another video shows a student slapping a man wearing a Safron scarf, a color associated with Hinduism. CNN was unable to independently verify the video. Speaking to the regional news channel of the capital of Gujarat, an Afghan student said about 15 people were praying for the month of Ramadan. "Three people came shouting' Jai Shree Ram," he said. "After a while, they came back with at least 200-250 people throwing stones... They damaged bicycles, laptops, our phones... We were insecure. We asked the university to move us to a safe place.” Another student told Gujarat First News that the university had given them permission to pray on campus. Deputy Chancellor of Gujarat University Neerja A. Gupta confirmed the clashes broke out between two groups after several foreign students were injured. "Investigations are being carried out," he told reporters. "Some videos went viral and the police tried to investigate the trigger point.” Analysts have repeatedly raised concerns about rising intolerance in the world's largest democracy and fear that interfaith tensions will escalate as Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) push for people's policies but divide ahead of next month's national elections. In January, communal tensions escalated in western Maharashtra state, with three quarrels reported between Hindus and Muslims, according to local police. In a separate incident in the central Madhya Pradesh state, a group of far-right Hindus was seen waving a Safron-colored flag over a Christian church. The two incidents came one week after Modi inaugurated Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque destroyed by hardline Hindus about 30 years ago, sparking a wave of deadly sectarian violence that has not been seen in India since its bloody division in 1947.

A prominent Muslim MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, criticized Saturday's violence in Gujarat, calling Modi and top officials in his government. "Unfortunately. When service & religious slogans only appear when Muslims carry out their religion peacefully, "it says on X." When you become very angry just because you see Muslims. What is this, if not mass radicalization? ”