Two sons of Kanhayalal Telli, a Hindu tailor who was killed by two suspected Muslims after they filmed themselves killing him, carry a portrait of their father after a prayer meeting in Udaipur in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, India, June 30, 2022. REUTERS /Amit Dave
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UDAIPUR, India, July 1 (Reuters) – Two weeks before a Hindu tailor in India was hacked to death by two Muslims who filmed the act, he was briefly detained by police after a rival tailor accused him of an “inflammatory” Facebook post of the prophet Muhammad.
Kanhaiyalal Telli’s son told Reuters his father had reposted a Facebook post in support of the now suspended spokesman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu Nationalist Party, whose inflammatory remarks about the Prophet in a televised debate sparked national and international outrage in June. Read more
“My father was a very good man, he never had any problems with anyone,” Telli’s 20-year-old son Yash, whose head was shaved according to Hindu custom after the death of a parent, told Reuters. “Just reposting a post on Facebook and they killed it. Earlier, Hindus and Muslims lived peacefully together in this area.”
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Modi’s pursuit of a “Hindu First” agenda since coming to power in 2014 has contributed to communal tensions in India, a country with a horrific history of violence between Hindus and Muslims. Many Muslims, who make up 13 percent of the 1.3 billion population, complain that they feel marginalized by Modi’s policies.
A video of Telli’s killing in the northwestern Indian city of Udaipur, posted by his attackers, has gone viral on social media, shocking many in the Hindu-majority country. Fearing an outbreak of communal violence, local authorities banned large gatherings for a month and suspended internet services.
A few days after he was released from custody, Telly told police that some people were scouting his store and that he feared for his life.
In a police complaint seen by Reuters, he said he was aware that his photo had gone viral on Muslim community WhatsApp groups and that he had been given protection.
A police official said on condition of anonymity that two officers were deployed to the area after the complaint, but they “relaxed” when Telly did not open his shop for several days.
The tailor reopened his shop over the weekend, his son said, and was killed on Tuesday.
Two Muslims who brandished a meat cleaver while claiming responsibility for the Telli massacre and threatening Modi with the same fate have been arrested and face terrorism charges, police said. They worked in Udaipur, but Telli did not know them, his son said.
However, the video showed him looking unsuspecting as he used a tape measure to measure a bearded man’s chest just before he was attacked.
“FLUENT LANGUAGE”
In unusually strong comments, India’s Supreme Court said on Friday that spokesperson Nupur Sharma of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was “solely responsible” for creating the situation that led to the murder.
“She and her loose language set the whole country on fire,” said Justice Surya Kant, dismissing Sharma’s petition to consolidate the police complaints filed against her across the country into one. “Her outburst is responsible for the unfortunate incident in Udaipur.”
Political analysts and opposition parties say tensions between the two communities have begun to flare under the eight-year rule of Modi and the BJP.
The party says it works for everyone but does not believe in appeasing any community for votes. She urged people to remain calm after the incident in Udaipur.
Telly was reported to police by Muslim tailor Nazim Ahmed on June 11 in a complaint seen by Reuters, which said: “He has posted an obscene comment about the character of our prophet, which is why there is anger in our Muslim society. Legal action should be taken against the said culprit” for his “arson post”.
Reuters was unable to contact Ahmed as his phone was switched off. His shop opposite Telly’s was closed.
Police have barricaded the Muslim neighborhood where Ahmed lives and are preventing journalists from approaching his family.
Opposition politicians condemned Telli’s killing and sought swift justice, but also said the BJP had hurt Muslim sentiments by failing to press for legal action against its speaker.
Alka Lamba of the main opposition Congress party, which governs the state of Rajasthan, where Udaipur is located, said “the eight years of BJP rule have fed and sustained the monster of communalism”. Two BJP spokespersons did not answer their phones.
Telli’s wife Yashoda, with her face partially covered, blamed the police for her husband’s death.
“If the police had helped us, he would be alive,” she said. “He had to reopen the shop because our savings were running out. My husband was friends with everyone, including Nazim, so somewhere in the back of his mind he wasn’t that worried.”
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Additional reporting by Suchitra Mohanty in New Delhi Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
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