Muslims abandoning homes and shops in North Indian town

NEW DELHI, India – Muslims in a northern Indian town have been forced to leave their homes and abandon their livelihoods following a warning by a Hindu group.

According to reports, about a dozen families have fled Purola, a small town in the northern Indian district of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand state.

Notices were pasted on their houses and stores asking them to leave the town.

Fearing for the safety of his family, even a Muslim leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was forced to leave his home.

Mohammad Zahid, who is district chairman of the minority cell of the ruling BJP, was the owner of a clothing store.

As reported by the Indian news website The Quint, he was forced to leave his home and business on June 7.

“I felt scared for my family, so we left,” he told the news website. 

He told the news website that one could imagine the extent of the threat because he even being a leader of the BJP had to leave for safety.

“If a BJP post holder is feeling threatened, who is safe then?” he asked. 

He had joined the BJP hoping that if something ever happened, they would stand by him, but that did not happen. 

Communal tensions flared when two youths were caught with a minor girl in the city on May 26.

At the time, it was said that the boys were Muslims and had kidnapped the Hindu girl. However, it later emerged that one of the boys was a Hindu.

However, the protesters smashed stores belonging to the Muslim community and forced them to lower their shutters.

Posters were put up on these stores in the name of Hindu Raksha Abhiyan asking them to leave Purola by June 15.

Of Purola’s 5,000 residents, between 150 and 200 are Muslims who own 45 stores.

They are mainly engaged in the trade of clothing and furniture.

According to reports, the local administration watched as vandals destroyed stores, pasted posters, and threatened people to leave Purola.

Later, the police took up a case against unknown persons. However, no action has been taken against the perpetrators yet.

Numerous videos have also surfaced, not only attempting to spread hatred against the Muslim community but also praising the residents of Purola “for “driving out the Muslims.”

In December 2021, in a meeting of Hindu seers in this state, speakers had called for the genocide of Indian Muslims.