Global HEALTH SECURITY: COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACTS - RISING ISLAMOPHOBIA IN INDIA: EXPLOITING THE PANDEMIC?

Communal tensions in India have heightened as right-wing Hindu nationalists exploited the Hindu-Muslim divide to hype up threats from COVID-19 and foment hatred against the country’s sizable Muslim minority. The vilification of Muslims could further hamper India’s response to COVID-19 while institutionalised Islamophobia could damage the country’s pluralistic heritage.