The coming islamic partition of India and what can be salvaged

[G.Subramaniam]

Hindu Case: In Salahabad area the house of Yadav family was looted and one person was killed. This has provoked violence. Mahendra, a Dalit activist see it as a conspiracy. He sees a clear effort of making Adityanath being made as a leader of Hindus and Mulayam Singh as protagonist of Muslim. Many Dalit shops have been looted and their business was target mercilessly. A large number of Dalit and backward social activist at the moment have openly blamed Mukhtar Ansari and Mulayam Singh Yadav as the real villain in this game. Dalit here allege that since the Muslims by and large were shifting their loyalty to BSP, such a split was eminent. The worst hit Dalit area has been Rauza where shops of Khatiqs and Chamars bore the brunt of violence. Khatiq as mentioned were meat seller and Chamar had leather business. One social activist who did not want to be quoted mentioned that Muslim feel ‘empowered’ with Mukhtar and therefore do not really care for the administration once they get signal from him. Many of the activist feel that Mukhtar was in fact not responsible for the riots and he was by best trying to avoid the riots. They also alleged that Mukhtar became victim of the well-orchestrated plan of the bigger groups trying to spread their wings in the area. Many feel that there was no political gains for Mukhtar in these riots while other rebut the charges saying that it was a matter of politics and every actor in this was looking for his own constituency of future.



There is another twist that a large number of shops owned by Dalits and backward in the city areas are owned by the Muslims who pay a meager rent of those areas, which are prime location areas. Therefore, resentment against the Muslim and Dalit tenants respectively was reflected in many areas where shops had been burnt. Hindus now feel that the Muslims are amassing weapons and that the riots can break out any day while Muslims clearly feel that the Hindus have gobbled all the money meant for riot victims. Muslims have also lost faith in the police force though they seem to be happy with current administration.



Where was State: For 72 hours there was no law and order in Mau says Shree Ram Nikumb a noted social activist here who was threatened by the Sangh Parivar for not working among the Muslim. Nikumb says that he gave shelter to two Muslim families. It is another matter that Nikumb live in a Muslim dominated locality and has very cordial relations there. The district magistrate and other authorities did not work in coordination resulting in media frenzy reports of ‘massacre’ of Hindus. As happen during the communal disturbances, the authorities do not act on a simple administrative issue and later presume that Muslims are the originator of the violence. The result is police and paramilitary forces become mute to retaliating ‘Hindu’ mobs incited by the political interest groups. For example one may feel that that in the main city the violence might have involved both the Hindus and Muslims and both the communities or their gangsters targeted financial and commercial interest of each other but how come the Muslim localities became target and no police action taken against the rioters. It is equally shocking that these Muslim localities are surrounded by Dalit bustees and nothing had happened to these bustees clearly those who attacked the area knew about these and had planned very well on the issue.



The Hindu groups were ready to spread all kind of rumor that administration is totally under the knees of Muslims or say Mukhtar Ansari, who happens to be the local Member of legislative assembly. One does not know what Mulayam Singh Yadav and his secular brigade think of this but definitely Mau is a big blot on his political career.





Conclusion:



It may look a small incident in comparison to Gujarat but the state must not forget that this incident has the potential to trigger communal disturbances in entire Poorvanchal. We must not ignore the fact that Poorvanchal today is under constant observation of international agencies. Dalits are asserting themselves and still we hear regularly deaths in the name of hunger, and other diseases. The Status quo is being threatened in this region of ‘revolution’ caged into the upper caste mindset. Poorvanchal is trying to get out of the upper caste feudal nexus and the more it does so the caste polarization would pose threat to both the Muslim interests and Hindu interest groups. It is basically a denial to Dalits who are exploring their own leadership and refusing to be under either the upper caste Hindu leadership or Muslim feudal leadership. The state must act as protector of the people and not allow such gangs taking leadership of both Muslim or Hindu communities. It is also time for communities to understand the dangers of communalism for the fight of two gangs must not take the shape of communal battle. People must not feel that since the gangsters are not hurting them directly, therefore they become idols or their heroes. Any effort to gain from this by the Hindutva gangs must be exposed in the similar way as Mulayam’s projection as a protector of Muslims. Muslims or Hindus, both must think that the state has to fulfill its responsibilities and both the chief minister and his government are not doing any favour if they are protecting the law and order. The upcoming communal violence bills must contain stringent measures against instigating communalism by political parties. Their recognition must be seized and police officers and district magistrates must be warned of dismissal from the services if they buckle under political pressure. They must be seen working to uphold the secular principles of the state. Time has come to seriously ponder over the representation of minorities and Dalits in our police, paramilitary and administrative services. The more we delay this issue and run away from the reality, bigger will be challenges. The forces would be communalized. We need an egalitarian, secular force and police administration and without participation of Muslims, Christians and other minorities including Dalits, it would always be exploited by the majority community sentiments. Meanwhile, civil society, social organizations, academics should focus on bringing the different communities together and talking of their differences and issues to iron them out otherwise the gang war in Poorvanchal would always turn into a communal affair, damaging peace and communal harmony of the region.







* Poorvanchal : Eastern Uttar Pradesh consisting of district Banarase, Allahabad, Ghazipur, Mau, Azamgarh, Deoria, Kushinagar, Sonebhadra, Gorakhpur etc