Attempt to Incite Communal Riots by Hindu Mahasabha Members Foiled by UP Police

Mohd. Naushad Khan citesAmar Ujala’s report which claims that members of the Hindu Mahasabha allegedly killed cows to provoke communal violence but Uttar Pradesh Police arrested the miscreants and foiled their plan to incite communal riots in the state. He also writes that at least 15 separate incidents of communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims…

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Mohd. Naushad Khan

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Mohd. Naushad Khan citesAmar Ujala’s report which claims that members of the Hindu Mahasabha allegedly killed cows to provoke communal violence but Uttar Pradesh Police arrested the miscreants and foiled their plan to incite communal riots in the state. He also writes that at least 15 separate incidents of communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims were reported from six states: West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

After Ram Navami, communal tensions flared up in a number of towns in West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. In the meantime, a terrible case of cow slaughter in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, has come to light as claimed by Uttar Pradesh Police. Amar Ujala’s report claims that members of the Hindu Mahasabha allegedly killed cows to provoke communal violence. Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested them and foiled their plan to incite communal riots in the state.

As per the report, the slaughter was carried out at the new Gupha in the Gautam Nagar of Agra’s Etemad-ud-Daula police station area. Sanjay Jat, the national spokesman for the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, has been identified as the primary suspect in the police’s accusations that the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leaders conspired to carry out the cow slaughter. There are also claims that some organisation employees took part in the plot. Jat, on the other hand, refutes the charges and maintains that he and other officials have been wrongfully accused and that their only prior knowledge of the incident came from hearsay. He said that the Mahasabha would look into the situation and try to set up a meeting with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Earlier, polarisation attempt was made through violence, arson, stone pelting and anti-Muslim slogans and it has become an emerging trend during Ram Navami processions. Violence erupting during Hindu festivals is becoming the new normal. It appears that weaponising of religious processions is being done for polarisation aimed at reaping political benefit, keeping in mind forthcoming elections in states and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In April, 2023, at least 15 separate incidents of communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims were reported from six states: West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Three people have lost life and several were injured. West Bengal has remained the hotbed of such violence in the last five years.

In April 2022, clashes were reported from 10 states during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations, with similar instances of stone pelting and arson. Communal violence was reported from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra over several days.

In Bihar, absconding Bajrang Dal leader Kundan Kumar, the organiser of the shobha yatra and convenor of Bajrang Dal, has been arrested by the Bihar Police over RamNavami violence in Bihar Sharif. According to SP Ashok Mishra, a total of nine houses of accused were impounded and so six people have surrendered, the remaining three people are still on the run. This action of the administration will send a strong message to the miscreants who work to take the law into their own hands during the disturbance.

Violence during Ram Navami processions reminds us of a foreword from former Supreme Court judge,Justice Rohinton Nariman in a report, ‘Routes of Wrath: Weaponising religious processions – communal violence during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti’, released by the Citizens and Lawyers Initiative. 

Justice Nariman, in the foreword, said, “Given the Preamble and the Fundamental Duties chapter of the Constitution of India, it is of primary importance to sensitise the police force in all the states of India to these constitutional values and fundamental duties of the citizens. This can be done by first informing them that Muslims situated in India are Indians. It is important to emphasise that Indian Muslims are not a homogeneous group of people but are divided into any number of sub-groups having cultural identities identical to other Indians consisting of different religious groups.”

“Once this basic fact is drilled into the police force in all the States, things could become much better. Also, some way must be found to stop political interference with the functioning of the police in all the states. All this should ensure a new beginning on the long and hard road to achieving fraternity, which alone ensures the dignity of every individual citizen of India and, more importantly, the unity of our great nation,” Justice Nariman added.

On Ram Navami clashes in India, the Islamic nations’ group condemned the violence against Muslims in several states of India. “The OIC General Secretariat (OIC) has followed with deep concern the acts of violence and vandalism targeting the Muslim community in several states in India during the Ram Navami processions, including the burning of a madrasa and its library by an extremist Hindu mob in Bihar Sharif on 31 March 2023,” the OIC statement said. The OIC General Secretariat called upon the Indian authorities to take strict actions against the instigators and perpetrators of such acts and to ensure the safety and security of the Muslims in the country.

In Bihar, there were communal tensions during the festival of Ram Navami in at least four districts of Bihar, with Bihar Sharif in Nalanda – the district where the chief minister Nitish Kumar is from, experiencing the worst of it. More than a dozen stores and godowns were burned down at Bihar Sharif, just 70 km from Patna, in addition to the more than 100-year-old Madrasa Azizia, which had a library of 4,500 books.

Prof Ram Puniyani, former IIT professor, social and human rights activist, said, “The large section of media has presented the story of these Ram Navami processions being stoned and so the consequent violence, the nature of aggressive slogans, the well-armed participants, the provocative acts in front of mosques are generally underplayed or missing from these narratives. Last year also there were such incidents of which the one in Khargone drew attention. In this case on the pretext of stone throwing 51 households of minority community were bulldozed by the state with the BJP Government in power.”

On the emerging trend, Prof.Puniyani said, “The nature of celebration of Ram Navami has seen a drastic change during the last few years. The processions are taken out with youth waving the naked swords, this year one was spotted with a pistol. There is loud music and slogans abusive to Muslims are shouted in gay abundance. The route of the processions is another interesting part of the tragic tale; they generally ensure to pass through the Muslim majority area, irrespective of whether there is permission for that or not. Attempts to throw Gulal on the mosques are the minimum, the attempt to climb the mosque and hoist saffron flag on the mosque is fairly mandatory.”

Prof.Puniyani further said: “In West Bengal, where the mayhem was created by the processions, while BJP leadership is blaming Mamata for going soft on Muslims CM Mamata Banerjee stated, “Religion never condones unrest, religion speaks of peace… This was BJP’s plan to create riots. Yesterday, the BJP did it in about 100 places in the country. The Howrah incident is very unfortunate. We repeatedly said the procession should not take that route. However, criminals entered with guns, petrol bombs, bulldozers and various other things, and attacked where minorities live…  This was done by BJP, Hindu Mahasangh, Bajrang Dal… and the different names that they have. They attacked directly and intentionally.”

Prof.Puniyaniopined: “While the media focuses on the stone throwing, it totally remains silent on provocative slogans, open display of arms. Post-Independence there have been Judicial inquiries in cases of violence provoked by processions. Advocate Chander Uday Singh in his prologue to the detailed report by the ‘Citizens and Lawyers Initiative’, which looks into the sharp spike in events leading to communal violence during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in April 2022 gives an account of major processions and the violence which followed the processions. Report confirms that the processions involve targeting Muslim places of worship or Muslim-majority localities. Few major examples will give us the deeper dynamics of these processions.”

Noted social and human rights activist, John Dayal said, “While religious groups – any faith – ought to have the freedom to take out processions, hold prayer meetings involving large numbers of people, or have other mass celebrations, there can be no excuse to inconvenience other people, and certainly no reason at all to indulge in violence. These in fact are inherent in government and police regulations, and even in the Supreme court directive that there should be no noise, loudspeaker or fireworks, after 10 pm, or municipal regulations regarding animal sacrifices for some Hindu groups and for Muslims during Bakr Eid.”

Dayal added, “In practice, however, in many states there seems to be a nexus between the police and civic authorities with one community in particular where procession routes, loud music or other noise, and the carrying of arms, or batons, is overlooked. Recent studies have in fact shown the cynical and deliberate manner in which religious festivities are being used to confront and coerce minorities, especially the Muslim.  There is no earthly reason why organisers and police cannot sit down and plot a route in any city to avoid going past a mosque or aQasba or residential area.

“That confrontation happens so often speaks eloquently of the political planning and conspiracy behind it. The effort is to polarise communities as much as possible and consolidate further the already powerful vote bank of the ruling party. The police and district civil authorities play into their hands of the ruling groups, said Dayal.