Tensions rising across India among Hindu majority boil over in Kashmir state assembly a week after man is killed following beef-eating rumours

Politicians from India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party in Kashmir kicked and punched an independent member of the state assembly on Thursday for hosting a party where he served beef.

Inside the Indian village where a mob killed a man for eating beef Read more

Bharatiya Janata party members beat Rashid Ahmed, a Muslim, in the assembly soon after its session began. Television footage showed Ahmed hitting back at a BJP member while officials intervened to separate the fighting lawmakers. Other opposition politicians came to Ahmed’s aid and later staged a walkout.

The ruling party politicians were angry over a party hosted by Ahmed the previous night where beef was served. Hindus consider cows to be sacred, and slaughtering the animals is banned in most Indian states

Differences have deepened within Kashmir’s ruling coalition, with the BJP demanding a ban on slaughtering cows and selling beef. Since the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, took office last year, hardline Hindus have been demanding that India bans beef sales. Most beef sold across India is buffalo meat.

There has been outrage across India after a 50-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death by a mob last week over rumours that his family had eaten beef for dinner.