With an increase in hate crimes against Muslims in India in recent years, some fear the world’s largest democracy is becoming dangerously intolerant under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan reports.
It happened just days before the first phase of voting in the Indian elections.
A Muslim trader in the north-eastern state of Assam was leaving work when he was accosted by a mob.
Shaukat Ali was surrounded by the group, forced to kneel in sludge as he was attacked.
“Are you Bangladeshi?” one man shouted, questioning his Indian citizenship.
“Why did you sell beef here?” asked another as he jabbed his finger at Mr Ali.
Instead of stepping in to help, the crowds that gathered filmed the incident on their mobile phones.
‘An attack on my entire faith’
A month later and Mr Ali is still struggling to walk. I met him at his home, a short drive from the market, surrounded by lush verdant countryside and rice fields.
As the 48-year-old sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes filled with tears as he recounted the horror of what happened.
