On social media, Hindus have urged each other to acquire weapons and attack Muslims. The son of the victim demands the death penalty for the perpetrators.
In the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, authorities fear religious violence will erupt over the murder of a Hindu man.
Two Muslim men killed a Hindu tailor in Udaipur on Tuesday and filmed the act. Apparently they also tried to cut off the victim’s head.
In a video posted online, the suspects introduced large knives and said the act was revenge for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. They also threatened the Prime Minister Narendra Modia.
In the video, the men referred to a case in which a former spokesman for the Hindu nationalist BJP in India had made comments about a prophet in May that infuriated Muslims in India and abroad.
Two suspects have been arrested. They are being questioned by the Indian central government authorities. Several politicians and Muslim organizations have condemned the act.
Chief of Rajasthan Police ML Lather said at a news conference on Wednesday that the suspects had contacts with a representative of the Pakistani organization Dawat-e-Islami. According to Lather, the homicide is being investigated as a terrorist act.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman has denied the suspects’ links to the Pakistani organization.
Social media incites violence
The murder has infuriated the Indians. Social media is inciting retaliation against the Muslim minority.
Rajasthan police have banned crowd gathering and cut off internet connections in places in the state to prevent the video from being distributed.
In Hindu Telegram groups, members have called on each other to acquire weapons and attack Muslims. Groups have also discussed the possibility of a crowd infiltrating a police station where the suspects are being held.
The Hindu nationalist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or VHP, has called on people on social media for a nationwide protest against Islamist terrorism.
The VHP said Muslims have repeatedly upset the feelings of members of India’s majority religion.
– You should fear the day the Hindus start responding to the insults, senior member of the VHP Surendra Kumar Jain rumbled with a video uploaded to social media, according to news agency AFP.
Authorities are investigating the suspects’ connections
Minister of Home Affairs of India Amit Shah said on Twitter that the investigation into the murder has been transferred to federal police.
According to Shah, the authorities are thoroughly investigating whether the act is based on an organization or connections abroad.
Rajasthan State Police Representative Hawa Singh Ghumaria told reporters Reuters on Wednesday that a homicide has shocked the whole of India.
“We have been given strict orders to prevent any protests and demonstrations aimed at condemning the murder,” Ghumaria told Reuters.
Underlying the controversial comments of a former BJP spokesman
Udaipur, with a population of about half a million, is one of the major tourist destinations in the desert state of Rajasthan.
Representative of Udaipur City Government Bhawarlal Thoda told Reuters that the attackers had incised a tailor in the head and throat after he had been taking measurements from another suspect.
According to Thoda, the tailor had previously been arrested because a Facebook message had been published on his phone in support of a former BJP spokesman who had insulted Muslims. Nupur Sharmaa.
The victim’s son denied Reuters that his father had published remarks insulting other denominations. The boy demands that the perpetrators be sentenced to death.
Sharma made offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in a televised debate in May. The comments sparked violent protests and diplomatic conflict in India as several Islamic countries demanded an explanation from India.
The BJP set Sharm aside from the post of spokesman and expelled him from the party. The BJP also issued a bulletin in which it said it respected all religions.
Prime Minister Narendra Mod’s Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, came to power in India in 2014.
Human rights organizations and some foreign countries have accused the party of discriminating against its Muslim minority in India. There are about 200 million Muslims in India.