Communal tension broke out in Telinipara, a locality in the Indian state of West Bengal on May 12. A small squabble on May 10 escalated to a full blown attack on Muslim households and businesses in the area, with first degree arson, brutality and violence all culminating in a decimation of the Muslim community.

On Tuesday, May 12, a large mob descended on the locality and violence ensued, but targeted solely at Muslim owned property. Innumerable amounts of petrol bombs were used, as well as hurling stones at the people who were there. The police and fire brigade were called and locals allege that they were deliberately slow to respond, taking over an hour and a half to arrive, and even then only 10 officers answered the call. When reinforcements actually did arrive, the majority of the damage had already been done.

Photo by Himadri Ghosh

Hindu owned homes, shops and vehicles were left untouched, whilst Muslim owned property were torched to the ground. The curious case of one home which only had one side burned was explained by the fact that it was inhabited by a Hindu family, and the explosion from the home next door, a Muslim home, caused the damage. In an eerie likeliness to the Kristallnacht which befell the Jewish population of Germany over 70 years ago, today Muslims face similar problems in India.

The nation is led by the BJP party, a Hindu nationalist group who are unapologetic in their hatred for Muslims, turning a blind-eye to violence and harm that they face. In keeping with this, Locket Chatterjee, the BJP Member of Parliament representing the area, is seen in a video on Twitter claiming Hindu homes were also burnt and that this violence was self-induced. Other publications in India claim that Hindus were in danger, and these actions were in direct retaliation to this.

It is clear to see, however, that Muslims face immense challenges in India, with targeted attacks like these becoming increasingly frequent and hatred towards them is stirred up by those in power. This attack was only a small example of what is currently taking place in India.