The Keshav Rai Patan town of Rajasthan’s Bundi District is situated on the Delhi-Mumbai Highway. The population of Muslims out of the total 35000 population in the town is 7000. Last year, a clash between two youth resulted in communal riots that caused one-sided loss to the Muslim community. In that case 40 Muslim youth were arrested with none from the other side.
Recently, on July 20, a Bajrang Dal Town Chief Dara Singh was murdered in the nearby district Kota. The real culprit is still not known, however the police have arrested two Muslim youths belonging to Kota, in this connection. According to the police, the two young men, said to be history-sheeters, have accepted having murdered Dara Singh. As per the information received, Dara Singh was also a history-sheeter who ran gambling and was a liquor contractor. Recently, he had purchased a stone mine also. The Bajrang Dal had rewarded him for playing a key role against Muslims during the previous riots by appointing him as the town chief.
On second day of Dara Singh’s murder, when his body was brought to the town, the Sangh Parivar called for a strike and their activists began forcing the shopkeepers shut their shutters down in their familiar way. They ransacked the small cabin shops belonging to the Muslims, situated on the main market circle, set them ablaze and looted them. They attacked about 12 cabin shops. A matador van and a tent house (Bharat Tent House) were set on fire and a clinic of a Muslim doctor, situated 4-5 kilometres away in village Leserda was also attacked, furniture wrecked and the clinic set afire. The police have arrested 8-10 people for ransacking and smouldering.
The gravest situation in the whole episode is that the Hindus have resorted to boycott Muslims in the town. The milkmen have stopped supplying milk to the Muslims and not only denied selling vegetables to them but also shifted the market away from Muslim locality. The kirana vendors have stopped selling goods to the Muslims. The worst circumstances are being faced by the daily wage workers as the Hindus have denied them giving work. Thus they have made life miserable for the Muslims.
The prominent people of the town have met the district collector and handed him over a memorandum demanding help in making the situation normal. The Collector has assured them to make alternative arrangements for providing milk. About a week has passed, but the situation has not much changed. The market is still not fully opened and the Muslims are living in a condition of terror. The Sangh Parivar is trying to connect the murder of Dara Singh with the last year’s communal riot.
A positive aspect of the whole episode is that, the attitude of the police and administration, so far, is unbiased.
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