The Indian government has registered a protest with Bangladesh over the mob lynching of two Hindus—Deepu Chandra Das in Mymensingh and Amrit Mandal in Rajbari. In its communication, the government cited a report by the Association of Hindus, Buddhists and Christian Unity Council, which claims that more than 2,900 incidents of killings, arson, and land encroachments targeting minorities have taken place since the interim government assumed power in Bangladesh.
India has also advised Bangladesh to ensure inclusive elections, expressing concern that Sheikh Hasina, who has taken refuge in India, may not be allowed to participate. In the previous Bangladeshi elections, the second major political force, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by the late Khaleda Zia, boycotted the polls citing doubts over their free and fair conduct. At that time, India chose not to register any protest or reaction.
Meanwhile, on 17 December 2025, Ram Narayan Baghel, a labourer from Chhattisgarh, was mistaken for a Bangladeshi and lynched by a mob in Kerala’s Palakkad district. On 9 December, Angel Chakma, an MBA student from Tripura, was mistaken for a Chinese national and lynched to death in Dehradun. In reality, since the Modi government came to power in 2014, there has been a sharp increase in xenophobic and hate-based mob killings across India.
On 28 September 2015, 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in Bisahda village near Dadri in Uttar Pradesh over allegations of slaughtering a calf. On 18 March 2016, so-called cow vigilantes killed 32-year-old Mazlum Ansari and 12-year-old Imtiyaz Khan in Latehar, Jharkhand, while they were transporting cattle; their bodies were hung from a tree. On 1 April 2017, Pehlu Khan, a 55-year-old dairy farmer from Nuh, Haryana, was killed in Alwar, Rajasthan, despite carrying official documents certifying the cattle as milch animals. On 29 June 2017, Alimuddin alias Asgar Ansari was beaten to death in Jharkhand on suspicion of possessing beef. On 10 November 2017, Ummar Khan was shot dead by cow vigilantes in Alwar.
On 13 June 2018, Sirabuddin Ansari (35) and Murtaza Ansari (30) were killed in Jharkhand’s Dullu area on allegations of cow theft. On 20 June 2018, 45-year-old Qasim was lynched in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, following rumours of cow slaughter. On 20 July 2018, 31-year-old Rakbar Khan was lynched in Alwar on suspicion of cattle smuggling. On 11 April 2019, a Christian man was lynched to death in Gumla, Jharkhand. On 16 May 2019, in Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir, 50-year-old Naeem Ahmad Shah was shot dead by cow vigilantes; his family later stated that he was not carrying any cattle at the time.
On 23 September 2019, a tribal man was killed in Khunti, Jharkhand, on suspicion of selling beef. On 16 April 2020, two sadhus and their driver were lynched in Palghar, Maharashtra, after being mistaken for thieves. On 4 June 2021, Mohammad Shera, a 50-year-old truck driver, was shot dead in Mathura on suspicion of cattle smuggling. On 12 June 2021, 28-year-old Sarat Moran was beaten to death in Assam’s Tinsukia district, and on 14 June 2021, Babu Bheel was lynched in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. On 16 February 2023, Nasir (25) and Junaid (35) were killed in Bhiwani, Haryana. On 10 June 2023, Lukman Ansari (23) was lynched in Nashik, Maharashtra.
In August 2024, several such incidents took place: Aryan Mishra, a Class XII student, was killed in Faridabad after being mistaken for a Muslim; Sabir Malik, a migrant worker from West Bengal, was killed in Charkhi Dadri on suspicion of consuming beef; and 72-year-old Haji Ashraf Munyar was killed in a train in Igatpuri, Maharashtra, over similar suspicions. On 11 August 2025, Suleman Khan Pathan was killed by his own Hindu friends in Jamner, Maharashtra, for visiting a café with a Hindu woman. On 5 December 2025, Mohammad Athar Hussain, a 55-year-old cloth vendor in Nawada, Bihar, was brutally tortured merely for being Muslim and later died in hospital. In similar ways, hundreds of Indian citizens have fallen victim to hate violence. Recently, vandalism by right-wing groups during Christmas celebrations was reported across several parts of India, even as the Prime Minister was visiting a church. Was he unaware of these incidents?
These events compel us to ask: what kind of society are we building? Since Narendra Modi and Amit Shah came to power, a politics of hatred against Muslims and Christians has been systematically promoted for electoral polarisation, emboldening violent majoritarian tendencies. Over the past few years, the narrative of “intruders” has also been aggressively pushed. We have reached a point where a labourer from Chhattisgarh in Kerala or a student from Tripura in Dehradun is seen as an outsider. How many more lives will be lost to sustain a politics that claims nationalism while thriving on exclusion and fear?
The demolition of settlements of so-called “Bangladeshis,” forcible pushbacks without proper inquiry, and even the mistaken deportation of a pregnant Indian woman—later reversed by a Supreme Court order—were bound to provoke reactions across the border. Narendra Modi once justified the 2002 Gujarat violence as “reaction to action.”
Is it surprising, then, that when mosques are destroyed in India, temples are targeted in Pakistan and Bangladesh? If Muslims and other minorities are subjected to communal violence in India, how can Hindus in neighbouring countries remain unaffected?
Some may argue that minorities have faced persecution in Pakistan and Bangladesh long before such violence escalated in India. But if we view those injustices as wrong, should our response be to replicate them here, or to offer an example of communal harmony that might, over time, exert a sobering influence beyond our borders?
If we genuinely want Hindus to live safely in Bangladesh, and if official expressions of solidarity are not merely aimed at appeasing a domestic vote bank, then violence against minorities in India must stop. There is no alternative.
As long as Muslims and Christians continue to face communal attacks here, what moral authority do we have to demand protection for minorities elsewhere? If we want Deepu Chandra Das and Amrit Mandal to be safe in Bangladesh, we must first ensure the safety of Pehlu Khan and Mohammad Athar Hussain in India.
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Sandeep Pandey is Secretary General of the Socialist Party (India). Faisal Khan is Convenor of the Hindu-Muslim Ekta Samiti of SP(I) and revived the Khudai Khidmatgar movement in India
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