India is known as the land of Buddha, Nanak, Kabir and Gandhi. But does the India of today do credit to these names? One shudders to open the pages of a newspaper these days which are full of the distressing news of demonstrations, gheraos, strikes, tear-gassings, lathi-charges and firings from one end of the country to the other. It appears the country is in the grip of mini civil wars. (Radiance, 1 Feb 1981)
India could not free itself of curse of communalism even more than 60 years after Independence. It has been getting worse year after year. There has been not a single year in post-Independence period, which has been free of communal violence though the number of incidents may vary. The year 2002 has been one of the worst years in this matter, right from the beginning as the Gujarat carnage began in the very beginning of the year.
It seems communal riots have become a permanent feature of our national life. Not only does a communal riot end up in loss of lives and property, it divides and polarises the society and gives rise to vicious political debates. The outburst of communal riots from 1947 till now in this country resulting in the murder of lakhs of innocent Muslims and burning of thousands of Muslim shops and houses is only one link in an apparently endless chain. Most of the riots start with brick bating and end with gunshots resulting in loss of life and property. (9 Oct 1966)
Radiance has always emphasised the importance of communal harmony. It covered in detail communal riots occurred all over India. Radiance analysed the problem and not only wrote editorials, leads and fact-finding reports but also put forth some suggestions before people and administration as well. (‘How to Check Communal Riots’, 11 June 1967)
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a riot as “disorder, tumult, disturbance of the peace, outbreak of lawlessness, on the part of a crowd.” Riot means collective violence. (Radiance, 28 June 1970)
MOTIVES BEHIND COMMUNAL RIOTS
The majority community is made to think that Indian Muslims are ‘traitors’ and ‘pro-Pakistanis’; hence the urgent need to teach them a lesson. It is well-known that there exists a group in India for whom the very existence of Muslims and Muslim culture in this country is a permanent eyesore. These people have publicly suggested the forcible emigration of Muslims in exchange for Pakistani Hindus, or at least the forcible evacuation of Muslims from all the border areas. (Radiance, 1 Oct. 1967)
Communal riots are not caused spontaneously and are rarely caused by religious animosity. They arise due to conflicting political interests, which are often linked to economic interests. (Radiance, 24 May 1964) There is a significant change in the pattern of communal riots since the 1990s. Communal riots that took place from 1960s to 1980s followed a particular pattern. They mostly occurred in urban towns which are either industrial belts or trading centres with the economy largely based on a particular occupation. Most of these places had considerable percentage of Muslim population whose political or economic interests clashed with those of Hindu brothers. Moreover, major riots occurred when the Congress was in power. Riots in this phase might have occurred in villages or rural areas like the Bihar Sharif riots, but they have often remained unreported.
Since 1990s political equations had been changed. The decline of Congress and the emergence of BJP as a strong political force resulted in shifting the patterns of communal riots. In this phase communal violence is a result of the manipulation of religious sentiments of people by Hindu right-wing organisations for political gains. The Mandir-Masjid issue was politicised and consequently Babri Masjid was demolished unlawfully. It was the political stunt of BJP to consolidate its vote bank. From 1960s till 1980 local factors played an important role in the emergence of riots, but since the late 1980s this trend seems to have changed as communal violence has always occurred when the BJP has vented to expand its base. The most recent case is that of Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining areas in U.P. We may see this whole phenomenon as the handiwork of BJP and its workers, even MLA and MPs.
CAUSES OF RIOTS
A lot of literature has been written and studies conducted on the issue of communal riots in India. But authors of these studies are often labelled as ideologically coloured rendering their work unacceptable by ‘other’ ideological camp. Hence, it’ll be an informative and revealing exercise to see, direct from newspaper reports, what causes these communal riots.
Once Mr. Vajpayee cited a government study of 23 riots which in his opinion showed that Muslims had started 22 of them and proved, to his satisfaction, that they were the aggressors. Be it noted that even he conceded that Muslims suffered more in riots. Was it, then, a death wish that drove Muslims to starting riots? (Radiance 28 June 1970)
Riots start over some individual incidents. The Jabalpur riot of 1961 began over the rape of a Hindu girl by a Muslim boy. (28 June 1970) In the year 2002 the riot took place in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala on 3 January. The clashes occurred on the question of eve teasing. The whole region came in the grip of violence. Recently the Muzaffarnagar riot also began over a girl. Can anyone say that the individual offender was the instigator of a riot? If so, why don’t riots take place over other rape cases?
Think for a moment that from sunrise to sunset thousands of individual Indians insult, annoy, intimidate and assault each other. Sometimes offenders and victims are of the same religion. Yet, not in all this kind of cases do riots erupt. A riot erupts when a crowd identifies itself with one of the individuals and goes to work. It is not the individual offender but those who by poisonous propaganda create a foul atmosphere and thus promote the crowd identification with the individual case. Who are really starters of riots? (Radiance 28 June 1970)
The second cause of ‘Riots’ may be procession. In India, Mr. Justice Madon remarked in exasperation remarked: “Processions in one form or another, particularly by way of a demonstration or a protest march or ‘morchas’, have become a regular feature of one’s daily life, dislocating traffic, preventing other citizens, tired after day’s hard and honest work, from going home at a reasonable hour and causing anxiety to the police and the law and order agencies.” (Radiance, 20 May 1979)
In Aligarh (1978) a person was stabbed in a cinema hall. A procession was led demanding the punishment of the murderer but violence erupted when the procession was crossing the Muslim populated area. (Radiance 15 Oct. 1978)
In April 1968 a Ramnaumi procession was taken out by the Hindus at a village Auditand of Hazaribagh. While the procession was passing through the village mosque, some Muslims objected to its alleged slow movement and threw brick-bats on the processionists. The Hindus also threw brick-bats which were followed by a clash between the two communities. (Radiance 28 June 1970) In this way in Azamgarh (1971) the dispute began over the Dusehra procession, while Muslims were praying in a mosque. When the processionists reached the mosque, they started raising inflammatory slogans. When some Muslims objected to shouting of slogans near the mosque, the processionists started throwing stones at them and Muslims also replied with stones. (Radiance, 10 Oct. 1971)
Brick batting on a student’s procession urging that Urdu be made the second official language of Bihar was the bone of contention. An anti-cow slaughter procession ended in a communal riot. (Radiance, 9 Oct 1966 & 15 June 1969) Several clashes took place during processions of victorious candidates in election. (Radiance, 13-19 May 1990)
Here the question is why Muslims object to playing of music by a passing procession in front of mosque? It is during the regular prayer time, which does not usually exceed 15 minutes, and then there is some sense in asking the Hindu brothers to silence their drums while their procession is passing through a mosque.
Why the Hindu brothers insist on taking their processions through a particular route when they know that it strikes a terror in the mind of Muslims and prompt them to object to it? Can’t they as well take another route which would in no way affect the religious character of the ceremony they may be performing? (Radiance, 6 Nov. 1977)
If the practice of taking out processions cannot be given up till such time as sanity prevails on both the communities, the sensible course would be for a few prominent persons of the other community to join the procession and march hand in hand with the processionists. What a sight it would present to the Muslims waiting in their locality not with the stock of bricks and stones on roof-tops and lathis in their hands behind closed doors, but with cooled water (sharbat) to serve the processionists passing along their houses and vice-versa.
Rumours are also the forceful cause of communal violence. Rumours are spread by communal forces in the society. In March 1964 in Rourkela riot uproar was created that a Muslim had given poisoned bread or biscuits to the refugees and one boy had vomited after taking food. This led to the major incident and beating up of one or two Muslims. Yet investigations showed that the alleged poisoner was a Hindu. This truth never reached the public and rumours continued to spread. One another spy-scare was spread that such and such Muslims have transmitters and are sending news to Pakistan. When some tension had been built up, a scare was spread that the Muslims have amassed a dump of lethal weapons and are preparing to attack the Hindus. Yet at the same time manufacture of lethal weapons started by Hindus. After that scattered attacks on Muslims started in different parts of the township. Villagers have reported that some persons went into the rural areas and told the Adivasis that the government wanted all the Muslims finished out and Government will pay Rs. 100 for killing of one Muslim.
In Gorakhpur riot (1965) a Muslim weaver was carrying yarn on a bicycle in mohalla Piperpur. He accidentally knocked at a Hindu boy. When this boy cried, his kith and kin sprang up and showered abuses and one of them slapped on the face of a cyclist. The cyclist shouted for help, and this developed into a scuffle as crowds collected and both the communities exchanged brickbats. The police came and dispersed the crowd. In this way the communal clash ended. But soon the rumour spread that some Hindus were killed, many houses looted and burnt, their women molested. On the other hand a Hindi journal Bismil was carrying on inflammatory propaganda against Muslims. All these factors had their cumulative effect on rumour mongering. (Radiance 6 June 1965)
In Aurangabad riot (1968) the Jana Sangh’s Organiser spread out a rumour that “a stray cow was slaughtered by a Muslim”. “After that mobs bearing deadly weapons started wandering through the street of Aurangabad shouting the slogans of Allah-o-Akbar and Pakistan Zindabad”. The Organiser also wrote that houses were burnt, persons beaten, shops looted and even Hindu ladies were assaults and 15 Hindus were injured. This news was totally wrong. The truth was that the cow was accidentally injured when a Muslim was trying to chase it away from his shop.
Therefore to prevent the riots rumours mongers and newspapers which preach hatred ought to be severely dealt with. (Radiance 11 June 1967)
As far as Gujarat riot of 2002 is concerned, it began with burning the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express in which the kar sevaks were being brought safely from Ayodhya after the demolition of Babri Masjid. The kar sevaks, as usual, deliberately or otherwise, provoked Muslim vendors on Godhra station including dragging a Muslim girl towards the coach. There was no police on the station despite intelligence reports warning against communal violence.
It is alleged that a mob of 1,500 persons (mostly Ghanchi) Muslims collected and set fire to coach S-6. But it is a mystery as to who set fire to the coach. The forensic report says that the fire was lit from inside the coach, not from outside.
The VHP, the Bajrang Dal and BJP gave a call for bandh (Gujarat-wide strike) on 28 February and violent incidents started from the morning of 28 February, particularly in Ahmedabad. And before the sunset on 28 February more than 100 persons were killed in Ahmedabad alone. Most ghastly incidents took place in a place called Naroda Patia where 97 persons including women and children were burnt alive; women were raped in full gaze of public.
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR RIOTS?
Enquiry commissions which investigated into the communal riots in Mumbai (1992-93), Bhiwandi (1970), Tellicherry (1971), Ahmedabad (1969), Kanyakumari (1982) and Jamshedpur conclusively show the involvement of the RSS, Jana Sangh and the BJP.
The Justice Jagmohan Reddy Commission Report on the Ahmedabad Riots of 1969 says, “Here was not only a failure of intelligence and culpable failure to suppress the outbreak of violence but (also) deliberate attempts to suppress the truth from the Commission, especially the active participation in the riots of some RSS and Jana Sangh Leaders.”
Justice D. P. Madon Commission Report on the Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Mahad Riots of 1970 clearly says, “The organisation responsible for bringing communal tension in Bhiwandi to a pitch is the Rashtriya Utsav Mandal. The majority of the leaders and workers of the Rashtriya Utsav Mandal belonged to the Jana Sangh or Shiv Sena.” (Radiance 17-23 Jan. 1999)
Srikrishna Commission Report on Mumbai riots clearly blamed the Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray and Sena activists for the riots. About 9000 Shiv Sainiks attacked Muslims in an organised way. (Radiance 5-11 April & 23-29 Aug. 1998)
The Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party (R) has accused the Jana Sangh of “organising” the communal riots at Ranchi and Hatia. (Radiance, 8 Oct. 1967)
Dr. Mayaben Kodnani is the killer of 97 men, women and children of Naroda Patiya, a middle class Muslim suburb in Ahmedabad. Convicted on 29 August 2012 and sentenced on 31 August 2012 by a special court, the sitting BJP MLA and former minister of Narendra Modi cabinet will have to spend next 28 years in jail with other 31 co-conspirators-cum-killers. Witnesses have told the court that the lady distributed kerosene and swords to the foot soldiers during the riots. (Radiance, Sep. 2012)
ROLE OF POLICE & PAC
“Zalim, main bahut din se tere chakkar mein tha, Is zaalim ko goli maaro. Is ne yahan sab Musalmanon ko basaya hai. Yeh yahan ka pahad hai. Is pahad ko toro pahle.” These words don’t belong to any ‘goonda’ of a street, but to ACP of Delhi, who is considered to be a protector. (Radiance, 7-13 June 1992)
There have been thousands of communal riots, major or minor, since Independence, claiming thousands of lives and destroying properties worth crores of rupees, mostly of Muslims. In all such cases where curfew was imposed, it is during the curfew hours that most of the Muslims’ shops and godowns, etc. were burnt and looted. There is hardly a case of a Hindu property receiving damage in a curfew-bound area and during curfew hours. Is it any difficulty to trace the guilty? Quite obviously, the policemen on patrol duty in the locality, whose names are the easiest to trace, are guilty. But who has ever heard of any policeman, in all such hundreds of cases, having been punished?
In Jalda policemen were standing all the time doing nothing, while people were being butchered. In Raigarh riot the pillage was done in broad daylight under the nose of the police who did not interfere. Shops and houses were plundered with impunity and the high police officials passed on. (Radiance 10 and 24 May 1964)
In Ahmedabad riot (1986) the police was completely inactive as the looting, arson and killing were going on. Incidents took place right under the nose of big contingents of policemen who were behaving as mere bystanders. In some cases the police even directly instigated and abetted the rioters. In Ahmedabad alone about 42 persons including 13 children and women were burnt alive; more than 200 people were rendered injured, more than 200 were arrested under TADA. Several mosques, dargahs and worth lakh of rupees property were demolished and damaged. (Radiance, July 1986)
In Azamgarh riot the role of police was unimaginative. The rioters were allowed to escape to their villages under the protection of police. After the demolition of Babri Masjid the kar sevaks also escaped to their native places under the protection of police. (Radiance, 10 Oct. 1971 & 22 Oct. 2000)
In Meerut PAC rounded up 42 Muslim youth from the Hashimpura mohalla of the city, took them in truck to the outskirts, near Murad Nagar, in Ghaziabad district, where they were shot and their bodies were dumped in water canals. A few days later dead bodies were found floating in the canals. In May 2000, 16 of the 19 accused surrendered, and were later released on bail, while 3 were already dead. (Radiance 28 Nov.-4 Dec. 1999)
The 1980 Moradabad riots started when a group of Muslims pelted stones at the local police for their refusal to remove a pig from the local Idgah. The police responded with indiscriminate firing, which led to over hundred deaths. (Radiance, 31 Aug. 1980 & 2 Nov. 1980)
The Gujarat carnage is shocking in many respects. In the past also police are known to have sided with Hindus in communal incidents as mentioned above. But the Gujarat police took the cake for partisanship when they openly sided with the arsonists. There were instances when the police turned out to be greater tormentors than the rioters.
The following anti-Muslim policies were adopted by the police throughout India:
(1) To allow free will to Hindu communal vandals;
(2) To kill innocent Muslims including children, women and old persons brutally by unprovoked reckless firing;
(3) To arrest large numbers of innocent Muslims from their houses and even from the mosques, and involve them in false cases.
Conclusively, we may say that whenever the riots broke out, the police and the PAC on duty joined hands with the rioters and participated in looting and destruction. After imposing curfew also, several places of worship were destroyed and burnt. Due to this anti-Muslim attitude of police Muslim minority of the country has suffered a heavy loss of life, property and religious places. It should be prevented soon and extra efforts be made to ensure peace in society.
WHAT POLICE SHOULD DO
‘Prevention is better than cure’ – goes one of the most-used sayings. Like most other unwelcome scenarios, the saying goes well in case of communal riots. From any point of view, the best thing to do with riot would be to prevent it, and there is no better agent than the police force who can achieve it.
• The first step in preventing a riot is to detect the chance of its outbreak right at the beginning. And that needs a powerful and efficient intelligence system. Of all sections/ wings of the police force, the intelligence wing commands the highest level of importance and hence is the wing that needs to be the sharpest in functioning. The police intelligence wing must be on highest alert in not only the areas that are known to be prone to trouble or at times when some major developments are expected, but also on other areas and times as well.
• Another major step in riot-handling is preventing the riots from spreading to areas that are not affected.
• Police must become more people-friendly. The public should be the real master of police, and police should serve, not oppress, the public.
• Communal forces should not be allowed to have a ‘free run’ and must be forced down with ‘iron fists’ while taking care not to inflict injury to the feelings of any community involved. To achieve success in this direction, it will be better to develop a well-trained team of efficient and uncompromising officials who have proper knowledge of the social and communal pulses of the area.
WHAT MUSLIMS SHOULD DO
First of all Muslims do not forget that they are the Khair-e-Ummat and have been conferred with the status of Dai-ilal-Khair (preachers of virtues). Basically, they are the messengers of love, not of hate. They are the followers of the Prophet who is Rahmatul lil alameen (Blessing for mankind). They should constantly try to develop contacts with Hindu brothers and going closer to them should make them understand and appreciate what a true Muslim really is and make them value their friendship.
After all, God helps not those who do not help themselves. Communal Harmony and Tolerance have always been the hallmark of Indian society. Nevertheless, vested interests have tried to disrupt harmony for their Political Mileage since the pre-Independence era. In most instances, they have been successfully able to capitalise it.
At the same time it is also necessary that self-defence is a right acknowledged by religion, sanctioned by law, approved by morality and necessitated by time, so Muslims should be organised and trained themselves for self-defence. (Radiance, 19 Nov. 1978)
ROLE OF JAMAAT-ISLAMI HIND
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has spoken out against communal clashes, as it believes that violence not only impacts upon Muslims but on India as a whole and that these riots are damaging to progress.
During the Calcutta riots Maulana Muhammad Yusuf, then President Jamaat-e-Islami Hind appealed to the Indian Muslims not to be dejected or lose hope of their future. Their sufferings will surely bring fruits, and humanity will certainly stir up in the country. He also said, “It is the foremost duty of every well-wisher of the country to consider the situation with a cool mind and do everything possible to improve it.” (Radiance 22 March 1964) Leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami wrote letters to P. M. and C.M. during different periods of riots. During the Nizamabad riot the state president of A.P. wrote a letter to the C.M., demanding to take strong steps to the safeguard of innocent lives and property of victims and demanding financial support for the victims. (Radiance, 12 March 1967). During the riots of Ferozabad, Banaras and Aligarh in June 1972 the all Jamaat chief wrote a letter to P.M. and requested him to appoint an independent high-powered tribunal to investigate into the high-handedness of the police in riot affected areas. In a letter to P. M. he also urged to pay compensation to those who had suffered. (Radiance, 2 July 1972)
The Jamaat along with its students wing, Students Islamic Organisation of India, helped not only affected Muslims but also the Hindus. It provided compensation for all of them. The relief work was done by Jamaat-e-Islami West Bengal after the Calcutta riot. Rs 5,97,118.98 was spent on relief work, in which 26987 families were helped. (The detail Report of Relief work of JIH was published in Radiance, 10 Dec. 1964) In Gujarat about Rs. 60,68,249 was spent on relief work by Islami Relief Committee of JIH. (Radiance 19-25 May 2002)
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind always worked for lasting peace and stability in all riot-affected areas. In Assam alone about 350 houses were constructed in various villages of Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD). The cost of each house is about Rs. 85000. About 8 mosques and 500 houses were constructed and 14 mosques were repaired. Over 1100 hand pumps had been erected in the various localities. 45000 blankets distributed among 25000 families and woollen clothes for children and women were distributed among 10,000 families.
Makatib (religious schools) were run by the Jamaat in villages and students of junior high school were admitted to residential schools. Besides, hundreds of students of higher education were adopted by the Jamaat. The Jamaat provided livelihood for so many families.
Editor Radiance Weekly put forth some suggestions for Prime Minister’s consideration:
1. The pre-requisite of any implementation is the sincerity of action. Be it the raising of a riot force, or giving equitable representation to minorities in services, in the police, paramilitary forces or the armed forces, their economic upliftment or educational facilities, protection of their personal law or culture, sincerity is the sine qua non.
2. If the communal factor from the electoral politics is to be weeded out, the system of proportional representation is the best solution. Muslims and other minorities must be represented in various bodies on the basis of their population.
3. No arrests shall be made during riots without written orders of the Magistrate and the whereabouts of the arrested persons shall be notified.
4. Any search of a house shall be made only in the presence of two respectable persons of the community to which he/she belongs.
5. Any interrogation by the police shall be to the sight of the public and not behind closed doors.
6. Since the members of the majority community have expressed full confidence in the PAC, it shall be posted only in their localities. As for the minority community, only such paramilitary forces in whom it has confidence shall be posted in such places. Where there are stray houses of Muslims, they must be properly guarded from the onslaught of the PAC and the communalists.
7. All inflammatory speeches/writings should be immediately taken cognizance of and the culprits booked at once.
8. All Senas and religio-political processions must be banned forthwith.
9. The Ayodhya dispute must be expedited and solved amicably.
10. The victims have to be fully compensated for their loss of life and property and injuries inflicted upon their person from the Government exchequer. (Radiance 21-27 June, 1987)
At the end, all of us should understand that the common Hindu wants to live in peace with his Muslim neighbour. He has no personal grudge against him. But there are certain Hindutva leaders who constantly tell him that the Muslims are not really loyal to India, that they were the cruellest of rulers when they ruled over this country and that even today they are the only discordant note in the otherwise harmonious cultural life of India. They say all this in their public speeches, in their books and in their journals. It is the vicious propaganda which is responsible for promoting communal feeling in a section of the majority community. It is due to this propaganda that whenever communal trouble starts, ordinarily peace-loving citizens forget all the bonds of love and friendship that existed between them and their neighbours belonging to the other community. (Radiance, 21 March 1971)
Therefore it is the duty of Muslims to convey the message of Islam, the message of peace and try to make good relationship with their fellow countrymen.