Unidentified gunmen assassinated the Indian Muslim politician, Baba Siddiqui, in a shooting in the western city of Mumbai.
Indian media reported – citing police – that Siddiqui (66 years old) was shot while leaving the office of his son, a member of the Indian Parliament, Zeeshan Siddiqui.
The authorities announced the death of Siddiqui, a member of the Indian National Congress Party, in the hospital to which he was taken following the attack.
The police forces arrested two of the three gunmen involved in the assassination of my friend – who was a member of Parliament for three terms – without revealing the motives for the assassination.
India lives under the influence of ongoing sectarian and religious tensions. A Human Rights Watch report earlier cited 10 reasons for the doubling of violence against Muslims in India, most notably the escalation of hate speech during the Prime Minister’s campaigns. Narendra Modiespecially in media close to the government.
She says that out of the 173 speeches Modi has delivered since last March 16, 110 of them contained anti-Muslim statements and accused the political opposition of working to promote the rights of Muslims, and senior politicians have adopted an approach to justify violence towards Muslims.