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Muslim-Hindu violence in Uttar Pradesh helped India’s Modi take power. Six years on, peace could kick him out
- Muzaffarnagar, in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh, was rocked by sectarian riots in 2013 that left 62 people dead and nearly 50,000 displaced
- The violence helped propel Narendra Modi’s BJP to power, but six years on the communities are uniting – and see the party as a common enemy
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By the time the Jats came to murder his family, Mohamed had already escaped.
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The day before, a call to arms had come from the local Hindu temple: kill all Muslims and “chop them into pieces”. Mohamed and his mother spent that night fearing for their lives, before security forces evacuated their home the next morning.
On a previous night, his mother had seen their long-time neighbours sharpening knives and swords in a courtyard outside.
The village of Lank, where the now 38-year-old Mohamed Gayur Saifee lived, was one of the worst affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 that saw violent clashes between the region’s Hindu Jat and Muslim communities.
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His cousin, 22, and an uncle who was too frail to flee his home were among the 42 Muslims killed in the communal violence that erupted over three days in September that year – 20 Hindus were also killed and an estimated 50,000 people were displaced.
Various reasons have been given for why the riots started. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) local branch were later charged with fanning the flames of hatred by calling for revenge after the deaths of two Hindu men in an altercation with Muslims.
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