Is India’s growing hardline nationalism giving Hindu majority a licence to kill?

A lawmaker from India’s ruling party called the Taj Mahal a blot on Indian culture, saying in October that the famous tourist site had been built by Muslim traitors. In November, another party member offered a bounty for the heads of two people involved in a film featuring a Muslim sultan. Then, this month, a labourer was hacked to death and set on fire while his alleged attacker ranted against Muslims.

The series of incidents has reinforced fears that anti-Muslim sentiment has hardened in India in the three years since a Hindu nationalist party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power. Some say it has reached a point where Hindu extremists believe they can get away with murder. Others worry that hardline Hindu leaders want to rewrite the country’s rich Muslim history.

While there have long been religious tensions, there is a sense the stakes have risen under Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP maintained its hold on Modi’s home state of Gujarat in elections this week, although with a reduced majority.

In a tweet this month, Muslim lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi questioned whether Modi is a leader for all religions or just Hindus.

“Remember that you have taken oath on Constitution,” he wrote.