• Following last week's violent Hindu-Muslim unrest on Thursday, India's Haryana state began bulldozing more than 300 homes and shops owned by Muslim residents. Six people were killed during the outbreak of violence, including Muslims, Hindus, and members of the police guard. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)
• Early last week a Hindu procession traveling through the Nuh district was allegedly attacked with stones, sparking violent skirmishes that spread into the nearby city of Gurugram. As a result, vehicles, businesses, and a mosque were burned and damaged. Reuters (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• There has been ongoing violence between Hindu and Muslim worshipers since 2015, spurred on by national and regional electoral success of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Reuters (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• The Vishwa Hindu Parishad group and its youth association the Bajrang Dal — both linked to the BJP — allege that Nuh's Muslims initiated the violence. The Muslim community, which has a population of nearly 280K, says the violence was instigated by an anti-Muslim video posted on Facebook earlier this year. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)
• Similar demolitions took place in the Uttar Pradesh state in June 2022 after Muslims took to the streets in protests against anti-Islamic comments made by BJP officials — many of those involved had their homes demolished as a result. CNN (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained largely silent as the violence ratchets up in areas where his party has a majority and holds power. The violence has neared civil war, even resulting in a no-confidence vote in Parliament this week. Associated Press

Pro-establishment narrative:

• The BJP has loudly denounced any derogatory behavior on the basis of religion. The party backs these strong statements with action, as evidenced in the suspensions and experiments that have occurred within the party over rogue and insulting comments. Opponents of Modi should not be weaponizing sad incidences of political violence for their own gain, they should be joining the BJP in rebuking them entirely.
  Reuters (LR: 3 CP: 5)

Establishment-critical narrative:

• While Modi is touring the world spouting rhetoric about democracy and touting his economic prowess, his domestic policies paint a different legacy. He and his party have incited Hindu hatred toward the country's more than 220M Muslims. Modi has allowed more than 50 anti-Muslim rallies in populous city centers to occur that are often organized, led, and attended by party representatives. As long as Modi is in power, Muslims will continue to live in fear of the 'democracy' that he promotes.
  Washington Post (LR: 2 CP: 5)

Nerd narrative:

• There is a 50% chance that India's rating in the Freedom in the World Report will be at least 65 in 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
  Metaculus (LR: 3 CP: 3)