In a research paper published in the Journal of Health Sciences, it was found that Muslims were at a higher risk of anxiety in India compared to Hindus. The paper also found that factors like age, education, media exposure, and gender are also significantly associated with mental health problems.
Pooja Priyamvada, a mental health researcher and suicide prevention activist based in New Delhi, also explained how factors like gender, class, and religion play a major role in determining the mental health of an individual.
She believes that mistrust between Hindus and Muslims, together which make up nearly 94 percent of the country’s population, has grown so much now that it can even be felt in personal interactions.
The alleged role of mainstream media and the government in spreading hate has been highlighted in particular by rights activists in India.
“This, in turn, leads to a deepening of mental distress,” Sharjeel Usmani, a Muslim student activist from Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, explained. Usmani further added that the problem of mental distress is so complex among the Muslim community that many people don’t even realise how acutely they are being affected by things around them.
MUSLIMS EXPOSED PHYSICAL AND MENTAL VIOLENCE
In the Indian states of Assam and Tripura, the persecution of Muslims by army forces and Hindu racist gangs has reached horrendous proportions. The persecution of Muslims by the racist organization "Hindutva" gangs and India's paramilitary forces is increasing day by day in the states of Assam and Tripura, where the Muslim population is concentrated in northeast India. In the region where the Muslim population is being wiped out, Indian army forces and Hindu terrorist gangs are forcibly evicting Muslims from their homes, plundering mosques and looting shops.