Hindu-Muslim tensions in India: Hindu residents force Muslim couple out of new home

A Muslim couple in India were forced to sell their newly purchased home after protests erupted from Hindu residents who opposed having Muslims in their neighborhood, adding to the Asian country’s rising Hindu-Muslim tensions.

Protests started Tuesday night in an upper-class residential bloc in the northern city of Moradabad after the sale became public.

“We cannot tolerate a Muslim family living right in front of our local temple. This is also a question of the safety of our women,” a resident said in a video that has since gone viral in India and caused much outrage.

“We want the sale to be revoked and are asking the administration to cancel the registration of the house in the name of its new owners,” she added.

On Friday, three days after the protests started, Dr. Ashok Bajaj the owner of the house revealed that after mediations the Muslim couple had agreed to re-sell the house to a Hindu family.

Bajaj told BBC that he had sold the house to a Muslim couple who are both also doctors and that their families had known each other for 40 years.

Hindu-Muslim tensions

India is notorious for its caste system and fractured settlements where segregated living based on religion has been the case for a long time. However, some say incidents involving violence and discrimination against the Muslim community have risen in the past decade with the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist government.

Moradabad is located in Uttar Pradesh, governed by Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.