In Guna city, Muslim families spend sleepless nights under siege as Hindu extremists chant hate slogans, pelt stones, and demand home demolitions

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Fear gripped the Muslim community in Guna, a city in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state, as Hindu extremist mobs roamed the streets Sunday night, chanting anti-Muslim slogans and pelting stones at Muslim neighbourhoods.

Families stayed locked inside their homes, lights off, children trembling in fear, unable to sleep the entire night. Outside, the air echoed with hatred as the mob terrorized Muslim-majority areas with impunity. Tensions began a day earlier, on April 12, during the Hindu festival of Hanuman Jayanti.

A procession led by local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gabbar Kushwah was taken out without official permission in the Colonelganj area. As the procession passed a mosque during evening prayers, participants played provocative songs and raised inflammatory slogans, sparking violence.

Instead of holding the unauthorized Hindu procession leaders accountable, police launched a one-sided crackdown on Muslims.

Under political pressure from the BJP government, authorities arrested several Muslim youths, while those who provoked the violence walked free.

Atish Faruq, the muezzin of the mosque where the disturbance began, told local media, “Stones were pelted by people participating in the Hindu procession. That is what triggered the violence.”

The situation worsened 24 hours later. Groups of Hindu men returned, targeting Muslim neighborhoods across the city.

“It is a very dark situation here,” one resident said on the condition of anonymity. “People are unable to sleep due to constant fear. Hindu mobs threw stones and raised anti-Muslim slogans. Miscreants from outside the city are brought in to disturb communal harmony. Meanwhile, police are arbitrarily arresting innocent Muslims.”

Far-right Hindu groups have since taken to the streets, demanding that the BJP government demolish the homes of Muslim residents—a pattern that has become a hallmark of state-backed collective punishment in recent years.

The attacks on Muslims continued into Monday, as masked men stormed Muslim neighborhoods and vandalized homes and shops.

“They came while abusing us,” one Muslim woman told local media.

“They vandalized our property and shattered everything… Police detained our men — who will protect us now?”

Over the past decade, Hindu religious festivals in India have increasingly been weaponized against Muslims.

Under the guise of celebration, radical groups use festival processions to provoke Muslim communities—blaring hate-filled slogans near mosques and inciting violence.

Police and local administrations often respond with one-sided crackdowns, arresting Muslims without evidence and bulldozing their homes under fabricated allegations.

The incident in Guna adds to the growing list of cities where religious violence is no longer spontaneous but systematically orchestrated—fueled by impunity, political patronage, and deepening anti-Muslim hatred.