The Anjuman Jama mosque in Gurugram's Sector 57 now lies abandoned. Approximately 10 police officers stand guard in front of the concrete structure, which once accommodated up to 450 worshippers but is now reduced to a heap of debris and ashes.
This mosque, among the few places of Muslim worship in Gurugram, a predominantly Hindu suburb of India's capital, New Delhi, faced an attack on the night of July 31, allegedly by a Hindu far-right mob.
During the attack, the assailants set the mosque on fire, claiming the life of Mohammad Saad, a 22-year-old deputy imam who was inside at the time. This incident occurred mere hours after deadly communal violence erupted in the neighboring Nuh district of Haryana state.
Mohammad Faheem Kazmi, an interior designer who regularly prays at the mosque, expressed his horror at the situation, remarking that this attack seemed to be in retaliation for the events in Nuh.
In Nuh, at least four people, including two policemen, lost their lives during a Hindu religious procession organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, two Hindu far-right organizations aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Clashes ensued when some Muslim men intervened in the religious procession, leading to violence.
In response to the unrest, authorities in Haryana deployed additional troops, implemented a curfew, and suspended internet services. However, residents reported that these measures did not prevent Hindu mobs from attacking Muslim-owned businesses, roadside eateries, properties, and places of worship not only in Gurugram but also in nearby towns like Sohna.
Shops in Gurugram's Sector 70A and Sector 66 were set on fire on Tuesday evening, while Bajrang Dal members held a rally in Bahadurgarh city, Haryana, chanting hateful slogans like "Desh ke gaddaron ko, Goli maaro saalon ko" ("Shoot the traitors of our country"), a chant that BJP politicians widely used against Muslims during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019 and 2020.
Discussing the violence on Tuesday, Gurugram Police Commissioner Kala Ramachandran told Al Jazeera that "some kiosks were damaged in arson." She clarified that the men they apprehended were not immediately associated with any specific group, but an ongoing investigation is underway.
The offices of companies such as Google and Deloitte are situated merely a few kilometers from the sites of violence in Gurugram, a city known as the "millennium city" for attracting multinational corporations and hosting upscale shopping centers.
These disturbances come a month before global leaders are scheduled to arrive in New Delhi for a Group of 20 (G20) summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not addressed the violence, which occurred a day after a railway security officer killed one of his colleagues and three Muslim passengers, an incident that many perceive as a hate crime.
