Mainstream WeeklyTwo bright young scientists, Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacharya from Colorado Boulder’s University have abandoned their promising careers in the United States of America (USA) for experiencing intolerable "food racism" in the Anthropology Department of the University for heating Aditya’s lunch tiffin containing ’Palak Paneer’ in the department’s microwave, a common practice among all staff members, because one staff member found the smell of Palak Paneer too ’pungent’,
Urmi Bhattacharya, in sympathy with Aditya, reacted sharply to this ’food racism’ and two days after the Palak Paneer incident she and two other Indian students brought Indian food in their lunch tiffin. She was accused of "inciting a riot." And while fellow students supported them the official response to their pleas was not just unsympathetic but critical, forcing them to abandon their career and return to India.
Early morning of January 14 a Muslim youth named Sheikh Makandar Mohammad driving a van carrying cattle presumably for the usual rural cattle market in Balasore, was chased by slogan shouting cow vigilantes to the point of the van skidding and overturning. The poor man already grievously injured in that accident, was pulled out of the van and beaten to death by the vigilantes all the while making the dying man raise ’Jai Shri Ram’ and ’Jai Gau Mata’ slogans This young man was merely the cleaner of the vehicle while the driver was sleeping inside the van and fled soon as he saw the murderous Hindutva mob.
On the complaint of the assailants the Balasore Police in fact lodged first report against the dead man and the absconding driver charging them with carrying cattle for cow slaughter when till last reports came in the police did not know exactly from where the cattle were being ferried to which destination. But the mere fact that a van carrying cattle with a Muslim driving it was enough provocation to assume the intent of cow slaughter and kill the man on the steering wheel.
Later, on the complaint of the brother of the deceased the Balasore police did register a case against a couple of cow vigilantes as well and rounded up three persons.
"Barely 24 hours had passed after Mohammad’s lynching when communal strife erupted in western Odisha’s Sundergarh town following rumours about the alleged sale of beef at a meat shop, presumably run by a Muslim, in the town’s Regent Market area", reported The Wire. Odisha has a very small Muslim population and therefore hardly ever witnessed any anti-Muslim sentiment, leave alone violent mob fury against a smattering of Muslim populace, till the BJP came to power in the 2024 elections.
The January 13, edition of The Indian Express carried as an anchoron page 8 the report how Aditya Prakash and Urmi Bhattacharya abandoned their dream of a bright academic career in the US because they couldn’t take anymore the racial discrimination currently prevalent in the US of Donald Trump. Urmi said what happened to them is in keeping with the changes sweeping the US after Donald Trump return to power. And that, when the two won a civil law suit against the Colorado Boulder’s university with a handsome $ 200,000 compensation and damages entitling them to return to the US and continue their academic pursuits.
The same page of the Express also carried a flyer at the top which reported that the walima/wedding reception of an inter-faith couple in Shahjahanpur of Uttar Pradesh was forced to be abandoned by the parents of the groom because the Hindu Jagran Manch, an offshoot of the numerous Sanghi vigilante groups, found the distribution of the invitation cards for the reception with the names of the bride and her parents "provocative." The report mentioned that the couple had gone through a court marriage five months earlier in Delhi and this was just a reception for the couple coming home for the first time because both the boy a pharmacist, and the girl live and work in Delhi.
Rajesh Awasthi the Braj Prant Vidhi Pramukh of the Hindu Jagran Manch led the protest dharna at the Kotwali police station seeking registering an FIR against the organisers of the walima alleging that "The decision to hold the reception in Shahjahanpur was a calculated attempt to provoke and taunt the community (read the Sanghis). Anyway, the Police promptly reached the venue of the proposed party and cancelled the event. Why? Because some Sanghis felt provoked by the holding of a reception for an inter-faith marriage