MOHAMMAD NAUSHAD KHAN analyses the Bijnor communal flare-up that claimed five innocent lives and rendered many others injured.
In less than a week, apart from many gruesome attacks by cow vigilantes in various parts of India, two alarming incidents flashed the gory tale of the past. One in the national capital and the other in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh, reminding us of Trilokpuri riots in Delhi and Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh. The method, the mechanism and the motives were, to a great extent, the same but sensible approach against the sinister design, this time, helped thwart the nefarious strategy aimed at repeating the horror of Muzaffarnagar riots.
On 16 September, five people died and several others were rendered injured in a group clash between Muslims and Jats following eve-teasing in Pedda village of Bijnor. Some leading newspapers reported exactly the opposite, without giving a second thought about the danger they were doing, which could have even flared up the situation beyond control as we had witnessed during the infamous Muzaffarnagar riots. It is the responsibility of the media to check and crosscheck the ground reality to placate a boiling situation rather than adding fuel to the burning fire. The onus thus lies on the fourth pillar to unite the society rather than to break and provoke with misleading reports. Initially, reputed dailies like Indian Express, Jansatta and Jagran reported eve teasing of a Hindu girl instead of Muslim girls by Jats.
Many people believe that swift and timely action by the police could have helped save the innocent lives lost during the communal clash. Some section of the media and right wing websites added fuel to the fire with their biased reporting and misinformation. Initially, the police and the administration failed to react to the situation the manner in which it was required to be done. Initial hours of the sequence of the events and lackadaisical response from the local administration proved beyond doubt that no lessons learnt from the past happenings, particularly after Muzaffarnagar riots.
John Dayal, writer, human rights activist and a member of the National Integration Council (NIC) of India and spokesman of the united Christian forum and past national president of the all-India Catholic Union told Radiance that in Bijnor the script was the same, the stage was similar and the protagonists identifiable. But it did not go beyond the death of five young men who were targeted, and the angry arson thereafter. Lessons need to be learnt. Western Uttar Pradesh is a tinderbox on a short fuse. Neighbouring Mewat in Haryana too. Utmost vigilance is required and crackdown on rabble-rousers, gau rakshaks and hate mongers is the need of the hour. Only this will prevent such incidents as the elections draws near.
As per reports available, just before the firing began in Pedda village of Bijnor, Anees Ahmed has claimed that he made a number of calls to the police control room, local MLA and local administration but nobody responded. Anees had called up the SSP, SP City, DM, and the MLA but none of them picked up his phones. And when they reached the spot, it was too late. Of late adequate security has been deployed, search operations are on, and all precautionary measures are being taken. Internet has been jammed so that anti-social elements cannot spread misinformation or post provocative pictures and stories. An inquiry has been ordered and compensation has been announced.
On twitter, Kavita Krishnan, a renowned social and human rights activist, has questioned: what does it say about the SP Govt. admin, that police didn’t respond to desperate calls by Muslims to… Furthermore, Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay award winner and also popularly known for Asha for Education and NAPM and PUCL and an internationally known peace activist, while speaking to Radiance said, “Akhilesh Yadav is good ‘compensation chief minister’, as he rushes to give handsome compensation to family members of any victims, especially of communal violence but he is unable to prevent the incidents in first place. He has proved incapable of maintaining law and order because the perpetrators of crime are not punished, communal incidents continue to take place. We only hope that he’ll control the situation in Bijnor and not let it snowball into something like in Muzaffarnagar.”
“Muslims are at the receiving end of most such incidents. In Bijnor it was a girl from the Muslim community who was being harassed and it was Muslims who died when the unprovoked firing took place. It is shame that Samajwadi Party is considered to be sympathetic towards Muslims,” said Pandey.
According to District Magistrate Jagat Raj, nine companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary and 3,000 UP Police personnel have been deployed as the precautionary measure and the situation is under control. Local administration is meeting with peace-loving people in order to restore normalcy.
However, Tasleem Rahmani, president of Muslim Political Council of India, told Radiance, “Yes, Bijnor was a deliberate plan. As per my information, some RSS people were visiting that village for the last few months but this bid was foiled by the administration and we should appreciate the administration for a swift action though some policemen were openly and directly involved. There is a lot of difference between Muzaffarnagar and Bijnor.”
In Bijnor unlike Muzaffarnagar, the incident took place only 4 km away from the main city while the city has a sizeable Muslim population and all adjoining villages too have a sizeable Muslim population. In this village itself there are about 60 per cent Muslim population. “While in Muzaffarnagar, the riot took place far away from the main city and selectively in those villages where Muslim population was smaller and belonging to weaker sections. I feel this is the main reason the administration took such a swift action otherwise the situation would not have been different from Muzaffarnagar,” said Rahmani.
The district administration is required to be on high alert because there may be further attempts to incite violence by spreading wrong information. And the chances of replication of Muzaffarnagar experiment cannot be ruled out completely. The state machinery also should be vigilant not only in Bijnor but elsewhere also because of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Ravi Nair, Director of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, while speaking to Radiance, said, “The killings in Bijnor are indicative that Hindutva forces would like to provoke many Muzaffarnagars in the run up to the state elections in Uttar Pradesh. It is unfortunate that a peasant proprietor caste in Western UP has been communalised almost completely in the last four decades.”
“This dominant community in Western UP until four decades ago was looked down upon by the Hindu upper castes. The Hindu upper castes, with a pernicious process of Sanskritisation, have made many backward castes and intermediate castes buy the mirage of the Brahminical Hindutva order. The Muslims in Western UP are at the receiving end of this new aggressive stance. The State machinery is no longer an independent arbiter in most instances,” said Nair.
Recently, the police department and the government has taken some good steps to ensure law and order in the state but it can only turn out to be effective if the law apparatus is used effectively, promptly and efficiently not only ahead of the election but even after elections. Let us hope people of Uttar Pradesh and the government machinery will respond to any such situation in a mature way and do not allow Bijnor or any other place to go the Muzaffarnagar way.