Bhubaneswar: A Muslim youth transporting cattle was allegedly forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and killed on the outskirts of Balasore town in what is the latest example of the increasing violence against minorities in Odisha.Balasore, which is represented in the Lok Sabha by former Union minister and BJP stalwart Pratap Sarangi, remains a highly sensitive area from where incidents of targeted assault on members of minority communities have been reported in the recent past.Early on Wednesday (January 14) morning, a Muslim youth named Sheikh Makandar Mohammad was driving a van loaded with cattle and was chased by a group of alleged cow vigilantes.Fearing for his life, Mohammad, who actually worked as the vehicle’s cleaner but was driving it at that hour because the driver had gone to sleep, drove the van at breakneck speed. The vehicle skidded off the road and overturned with Mohammad, a resident of Astia village in Balasore, receiving grievous injuries.However, he was surrounded by the mob chasing the vehicle. They not only beat him thoroughly but allegedly also made him chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Gau Mata ki Jai’. A patrol van that arrived at the spot rushed him to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment.Balasore Sadar police station in-charge Ajay Kumar Murmu said that the vehicle’s driver managed to flee but that efforts were on to trace him. Police have registered two cases – one of cattle theft and another of mob lynching – in connection with the incident.“We don’t know where the vehicle was coming from yet. We apprehended five persons, of whom three have been forwarded to court,” said Murmu, who said that the accused made Mohammad raise slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.The case of mob lynching was filed after Mohammad’s brother Jitender filed a complaint with the police.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 in the town’s Regent Market area. At least 12 persons reportedly sustained injuries in the resultant clashes that forced the authorities to impose prohibitory orders and suspend internet services for 24 hours.Brijesh Kumar Ray, deputy inspector general of the Western Range, told a news channel that police acted promptly and tried to pacify agitated people on both sides. “There have been no major injuries to anyone,” said Ray.However, sources said that the situation in the area was still tense, with authorities keeping a close watch.In fact, incidents of communal tension began being reported in the state soon after the Mohan Charan Majhi-led BJP government took oath in May 2024. Communal clashes were reported from Balasore within a week of the Majhi government’s installation, with the entire town being brought under curfew.Since then several incidents of attacks on minorities have been reported from different parts of the state, but the focus has always been on Balasore, which has a sizable Muslim population and is considered among the most communally sensitive areas of Odisha.Both Muslims and Christians have been soft targets for the self-styled votaries of Hindutva who foment trouble sometimes to prevent alleged attempts at religious conversion and sometimes to protect cows.In December 2024, two tribal women were tied to a tree and beaten up in Balasore district after being accused of trying to convert a Hindu man to Christianity. A mob led by a man who raised furious slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ surrounded the women and even smeared their faces with cake. Police acted only after a video of the incident became viral.In June last year, two Dalit men in Ganjam district were tonsured, beaten up and forced to crawl on their knees with blades of grass between their teeth on suspicion of cattle smuggling. They were also forced to drink drain water.The victims said they were transporting two cows and a calf in an autorickshaw for the marriage ceremony of one of the men’s daughters when they were caught by a group of self-styled ‘cow protectors’ and accused of cattle smuggling. The mob allegedly demanded money from them and beat them up when they refused to pay.Similar incidents have also been reported from other parts of the state. On December 22 last year, street vendors selling Santa Claus hats and Christmas gift items in Puri were abused and bullied by a group of youths who told them to leave the town immediately on the grounds it was the land of lord Jagannath where nothing connected with Christian faith could be tolerated.In the same month, a migrant Muslim labourer from neighbouring West Bengal was fatally assaulted by a group in Sambalpur town. A similar attack on a Muslim hawker from Murshidabad took place in Ganjam district in November last year after he refused to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The mob that attacked him branded him a Bangladeshi ‘infiltrator’.Decrying the trend of attacks on minorities in the state, former Biju Janata Dal MLA Latika Pradhan said: “Odisha was a state known for communal harmony, but its secular image has taken a serious beating under the present regime with incidents of attacks on minorities on the rise.“We should not forget that lord Rama belongs to everyone and protecting animals including cows is also everyone’s responsibility. It is not the exclusive privilege of a particular community. So anyone attacking others in the name of religion or cow protection is committing a crime, which must be stopped. This is a disturbing trend. Unfortunately such elements are now feeling emboldened and indulging in senseless violence.” Congress spokesperson Amiya Pandav condemned what he described as the cowardly behaviour of so-called Ram bhakts. “To lynch someone in the name of cow protection is a heinous act and cannot be tolerated. Unfortunately Odisha as a whole and Balasore in particular is witnessing such incidents. We have seen several incidents of attacks on Christians and Muslims,” he said.