Communal Tension Is 'Nothing New' as India Has Seen It Since the 7th Century, BJP Politician Claims

Since April, India has witnessed a number of communal clashes across the country. Recently, the United Nations also took cognisance and said they hoped that the Indian government would work together and ensure peace between the communities.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician, C.T. Ravi, has claimed that India has been witnessing communal tension in the region since the 7th century, suggesting thus there's nothing unusual in what's happening nowadays.

"Communal tension is nothing new. Is this the first time it is happening? It started from the first attack on India in the 7th century, not from today," Ravi, the BJP National General Secretary who is the party's Goa-in-charge, told reporters on Wednesday.

Ravi, however, did not specify if he was talking of any particular incident of the 7th century. According to US historian Will Durant, the first Muslim attack in the subcontinent was a passing raid upon Multan, in western Punjab (664 AD), which would later become part of Pakistan.

He noted that India is seeing such incidents because a few faiths in the country have no tolerance (for others).

"Some people try to create communal tension. There are some intolerant faiths. They have no tolerance. They do this," he said.

The BJP politician's comment came at a time when several incidents of communal violence have been witnessed in different parts of the country, and controversies have sparked over Hijab-wearing at educational institutes and other issues.

Earlier this week, clashes broke out between Hindu and Muslim communities in the Jodhpur District of Rajasthan state, in which 16 people were left injured.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's spokesperson also spoke about the recent violence in Jodhpur.

He expressed hope that the communities would work together and that the Indian government would ensure that everyone could go about their activities, including celebrations of the festival, peacefully.

In April, communal clashes erupted in some states during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami. In most places, violence began when large processions of Hindu devotees passed through Muslim neighbourhoods, allegedly playing incendiary music to infuriate the Muslims.

Ravi hails from Karnataka, a state which has been witnessing a huge debate on the wearing of hijabs by students in classrooms. The court has banned students from wearing the Islamic scarves in their classrooms.

Apart from the opposition targeting the federally ruling BJP on these incidents, last month US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said that his government was monitoring a "rise in human rights abuses in India".