Violence & fanaticism: Plight of Muslims, Christians in India Article by TRT World

The Turkish television company TRT World has published an article about the oppression of religious minorities in India. Caliber.Az reprints a shortened version of the piece.

“In February this year, a mob of around 200 people stormed a church service in the city of Bikarer in India’s Rajasthan, beating worshippers with iron rods. 

Instead of pursuing the attackers, the police chose to question the victims. Church members later said they feared retaliation and declined to file complaints.

Fear has become a daily companion for India’s Muslims, Christians and Kashmiris. 

Muslim neighbourhoods in India have experienced demolitions, police raids, detentions, and rising harassment. Christian communities report attacks on churches and intimidation during prayer gatherings. 

A combination of political consolidation of Hindu nationalism (also known as Hindutva), and the expanding use of state machinery to enforce majoritarian dominance has, particularly in the last two years, produced a marked rise in extremism, public hatred and discriminatory state action.

The ruling Hindu nationalist party BJP has been in power in India for over a decade now. But why are we witnessing an escalation in minority vulnerability right now, and what political and ideological forces are driving this?

Routine hatred and bigotry

Experts say the present surge in extremism is not a spike but a consolidation.

“What we are witnessing today is not an episodic spike in hate speech, but the full maturation of a long-running ecosystem that now operates with near-total impunity,” Raqib Naik, executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), tells TRT World. 

“Anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry have become part of the everyday fabric,” he says.

According to Washington-based research group India Hate Lab’s (IHL) tracking, 2023–25 saw sharp escalation in open calls for violence, coordinated digital campaigns targeting Muslims and Christians, state-enabled punitive demolitions reinforcing majoritarian aggression. 

Instances of hate speech against minorities in India increased 74 percent in 2024, with incidents ballooning around last year's national elections, as per one of IHL’s recent reports.

The alarming rise was "deeply intertwined with the ideological ambitions of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the broader Hindu nationalist movement," the report stated.

IHL said 80 percent of hate speech incidents last year occurred in states governed by the BJP and its allies.

Climate of fear

The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF) rights watchdog recorded that more than two Christians are attacked each day in India; the group recorded a sharp rise in attacks in the past decade: 834 incidents were recorded in 2024, while 2014 saw only 127.

And these are just attacks that made it into official records. Many possibly never do.

“If this trend is not stopped immediately, it will threaten the identity and existence of the Indian Christian community in its motherland,” said AC Michael, the UCF's national convenor.

He identified Uttar Pradesh in the north and Chhattisgarh in central India as “hot spots of viral hate, brutal mob violence and rampant social ostracisation."

The legal framework

Several of India’s 28 states, most of them ruled by the BJP, have enacted anti-conversion laws that Christians say are being weaponised by Hindu groups to target them. 

Some of these laws mandate that individuals obtain permission from local authorities before converting to another religion. Hindu nationalist groups routinely file police complaints against Christians under these laws, with police often registering these complaints swiftly, even without prima facie evidence and leading to prompt arrests. 

Simultaneously, other laws have targeted Muslims: One of them is the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which fast-tracks citizenship for undocumented migrants from the Muslim-majority countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – except if they are Muslim.

Bulldozer justice

According to a 2025 review by South Asia Justice Campaign (SAJC), several state and municipal authorities carried out demolitions, often referred to as “bulldozer justice”, in majority-Muslim areas, razing houses, shops, mosques, and graveyards in the name of “redevelopment” or “anti-encroachment.” 

Between January and March of 2025 alone, more than 7,400 homes were reportedly demolished across India, rendering over 41,000 people homeless; about 37 percent of those demolitions targeted Muslims. 

In February this year, a 168‑year-old mosque on Delhi Road in Meerut, with historical records dating back to 1857, was razed late at night to make way for a rapid‑rail corridor. Locals say no alternate site was offered.

Lawyers working on these cases say structures are often razed within hours of a notice, leaving communities little time to respond.

Hate normalised

Reports from rights organisations also note a surge in vigilante-style violence by Hindu mobs targeting Muslims. Authorities often turn a blind eye, with selective application of anti-terror and sedition laws.

Lynching incidents tied to these cattle-related accusations continue to surface periodically, with videos of assaults circulating on social media before authorities intervene. Rights groups say the pattern reveals a climate where vigilantes operate confidently, often expecting political protection.

Naik sees the situation for India’s minorities as “extremely alarming” as state policy merges with Hindutva.

“I worry how this will translate into further real-world harms for already vulnerable communities,” he says,” the article reads.