Police detains Iranian tourists for praying at temple near Taj Mahal

Police in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Uttar Pradesh’s Agra detained an Iranian Muslim family of tourists after they allegedly prayed near a temple on the grounds of the Taj Mahal. The tourists were heckled by Hindu extremists, who demanded to see their passports and questioned their “motives” for praying in a public place.

The tourists, a family of three, were released after the police recorded a video apology of them. 

Hindu nationalists in India have increasingly reacted with hostility towards any public expression of Muslim faith, from prayer to religious dress. 

Federal ministers deliver hate speeches against Bangladeshis across Jharkhand

In Jharkhand, federal ministers and BJP leaders have claimed that “Bangladeshi infiltrators” and “Rohingyas” are marrying tribal women to seize their land and use them as proxies to gain influence in the area. Human rights groups and media outlets have found that such claims are false. 

Federal ministers Rajnath Singh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, delivered hate speeches linking Jharkhand’s socio-economic issues to “Bangladeshi infiltrators.” They falsely accused the opposition of betraying the tribal community and attempting to reduce them to a minority. 

Hindu extremists disrupt Christian organization’s event in Chhattisgarh 

In Chattisgarh’s Ambikapur, Hindu extremists disrupted an event organized by a Christian group, the Rashtriya Christian Morcha, accusing the organizers of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity. 

The organizers claimed that despite having legal permission for the event, police snatched microphones and cut wiring cables to forcibly stop the event.