In the past few days, activists on Indian social media circulated a video of a group of Hindu extremists storming a public school in the southern state of Karnataka, to protest against allowing Muslim students to perform Friday prayers inside a classroom.
Local media reported that the school allows its students to perform congregational prayers inside a classroom on Friday of every week.
“We have been praying every Friday since the school reopened two months ago, and we have obtained permission from the school principal to pray inside a classroom,” India Today quoted a student as saying.
In a statement to the newspaper, the school administration denied “that it had given the students permission to pray, and that they did it on their own,” adding that it was surprised after a call from an Indian official.
The newspaper “India Today” lied to the school director, and reported that it had contacted other sources who confirmed that the school director had given permission for his students to pray so that they would not have to leave it on Friday in order to pray.
It is noteworthy that many Indian states have witnessed over the past few months, events and attitudes rejecting the presence of Muslims in the country.
Hindu extremists who embrace Hindutva ideology have vowed to harm Muslims if necessary to make India “a Hindu-only nation”, while India’s leaders have done nothing amid rising anti-Muslim sentiment in the country.
