For two days in late May, several television channels ran breathless coverage of events outside Poonam Cluster 1, a cooperative housing society in the Mira Road suburb of Thane district.
Hindutva activists gathered at the society gates. Some brought a pig. TV anchors spoke about “illegal qurbani”, and politicians weighed in. Social media amplified the images. The allegation was simple. That a gated residential complex had become the site of illegal animal sacrifice, and Hindutva groups had rightfully intervened.
