Moradabad

On Saturday, templegoers were met with tags that read: “F— Modi, Hindustan, and Moradabad.”

Hindu residents of the posh TDI City – an upscale residential bloc in the northern city of Moradabad – began protesting on Tuesday night after news of the sale became public.

Anti-Muslim hate speech incidents have surged, with a majority reported from states ruled by the BJP – Moradabad is also located in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.

Tanvir Aeijaz, professor of politics and public policy at Delhi University, says the incident in Moradabad "shows that religious polarisation has sunk in, that it's working at the ground level".

This is not the first time Muslim residents have faced backlash in Moradabad for buying homes in a Hindu-majority area.