By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
For Moradabad, Hindu-Muslim communal riot is a pattern, which now has become inextricable part of its history, present and future. So much so, that the western Uttar Pradesh town, which was established by Murad, the son of Mughal emperor Shahjahan, has now become a byname for communal clashes. There have been more than a dozen communal violence of small and big intensity during last thirty years.
Religious tempers on both the religious sides are always high. You can never be sure about communal riot here. It can happen any time. It just requires a provocation, which might be entering of pigs in the Eidgah, as it was in 1980, which was followed by a huge communal riot; the provocation can be the route of the Eid Miladun Nabi (celebrations of the Prophet’s birth day) procession, as it happened in the case of communal clashes in February this year; it might be the controversy over route for kavadiya pilgrims as was the case for communal clashes which happened last week or it might be over the alleged desecration of Quran in July this year.
In order to analyze the phenomenon of communal riot in Moradabad and reasons and motivations behind it, I talked to common people on the streets of Moradabad, and also the radical elements in both the communities-the stakeholders of any communal riot.
Every riot has its genesis in the last riot because, the residue of the last clashes serve as a spark for the next communal disturbances. Muslims in Moradabad see the communal clashes which broke out two weeks back, as an extension of the violent confrontation between the police and the community after the alleged desecration of Quran in an incident which took place on July 6 at in Arahlatnagar Bagah village on the outskirts of Moradabad city.
While talking to Muslims amidst the relaxed curfew, I felt a palpable sense of anger against those, the community thought responsible for the desecration of Quran which included the police, administration and Hindus in general; because there was a feeling that because the local Hindus didn’t come out against the police, the police had the tacit support of the majority community.
Murtaza Iqbal, a local journalist with an Urdu daily, Aag told this correspondent that in reaction to the alleged disrespect shown to Quran, Muslim mob had attacked the police in which the SP, who was fatally attacked, had to get more than 25 stitches on his head. The mob also burnt police vehicle and had almost taken the local area in their administrative control.
Iqbal said that never in the history of India had this kind of incident taken place where a Muslim mob had attacked a police station and taken the control of an area. It was because of “Talibani dictates” of the local Muslim groups, pushed and manipulated by the local leaders of Samajwadi Party, Iqbal added.
Interestingly, when I made further enquiries, it turned out that the claim of Quran desecration was “made up.” The actual matter was related to sexual assault of a Muslim woman by another Muslim individual and there was a complaint against him, after which the police had gone to investigate in a particular house where the accused spread the rumor that police had desecrated Quran. Soon the “rumor spread like a wild fire in the jungle” and people took to the streets.
“It was all made up by that person who was accused in the case of sexual assault in order to distract the attention of the people. You will be surprised to know that the community believed the version of a 12 years old girl, who alleged that she had seen the police showing disrespect to the holy Quran,” said Fareed Shamsi, a local journalist with IBN 7.
The severe attack on the police by the Muslim mob had angered the police, which started acting in vendetta, arresting more than a dozen members from the minority community, several of them even minor, said Akhlak Ahmad, a human rights activists associated with Association for the Protection of Civil Rights (APCR).
“Wasn’t this immature on behalf of the local Muslim leadership to provoke the religious tempers of Muslim against the police which resulted in huge confrontation between the police and the local Muslims in Arahlatnagar?” I asked this question to the Syed Masoom Azad, the Shahar Qazi of Moradabad and Murtaza Iqbal, both of whom were seated side by side at Azad’s residence.
“Indeed it was not only immature but also wrong and that’s precisely why we had condemned the attack on the police and the way entire episode occurred and the way it was handled,” said Azad and Iqbal almost in one voice.
Azad and Iqbal told me that initially the reaction to the allegation of desecration of Quran was not violent and situation was getting back to normal. But few religious group with vested interests started mobilizing people, visiting door to door and distributing pamphlets. On the whole, a huge campaign was built up by these “Talibani elements” who were probably a prop up of the Samajwadi Party, asking Muslims to take an “unprecedented stand against the police so that they didn’t dare to dishonor Quran again.”
Iqbal blamed local religious groups for provoking religious sentiments which caused huge destruction and prompted “illegal arrests” of several innocent Muslims.
“But why should we tolerate such attack on our religious scriptures? Shouldn’t we teach a lesson to the police so that they don’t have the courage to dishonor Quran all their life?” asked Tufail, a youth in his twenties, who was sitting in the same room but was silent till now out of respect for the Shahar Qazi.
The fact that the fringe and loony elements in far away Arahlatnagar Bagah village, had managed to convince a youth in Moradabad city, represented a disturbing sign. Iqbal accepted the fact that indeed there was religious aggression among Muslims in Moradabad but he considered this as a reaction to an “equally militant religious stand” by the Hindu Right in Moradabad. He alleged that Muslims were repeatedly told that if they didn’t follow certain dictates then Moradabad will be “turned into Gujarat.”
“The fire of religious aggression has been spread among both Hindus and Muslims here and their social, political and religious leadership is responsible for that,” added Iqbal.
Iqbal, who has more than thirty years of journalistic experience, made a very important insight. He said that every time there was some communal tension, the administration acted in a very partisan manner which led to a very strong sense of resentment against it. The fringe elements among Muslims in Arahlatnagar, manipulated this very resentment.
“The resentment is so big that Muslims here still remember how the police acted in biased manner when the riot of nineteen-eighty happened. Some religious groups with their own vested interests, which are in some cases aligned to political parties, manipulate this very resentment to create communal clashes and mobilize votes in favor of a particular political group,” added Iqbal.
But the phenomenon of communal riot in Moradabad can’t be seen without the politics of riot motivating this monster, particularly in the wake of the coming assembly elections. It’s not the common Muslim or Hindus on the streets, who benefit from the riot, in fact they are the worst sufferers.
It was the Samajwadi Party which during the alleged desecration of Quran, pushed and exploited Muslims’ resentment against the local administration to mobilize people on communal lines. At the same time the Hindutva groups like Sarvadaliya Hindu Sabha, are trying to communalize the city in a bid to mobilize the Hindu votes.
“The recent communal clashes represent the BJP’s preparations for the coming assembly elections,” alleged Shamsi.
But Roli Arora, wife of the district chief of Shiv Sena, Virendra Arora, refused to accept this categorically denying any involvement of Shiv Sena in the communal riot.
“Muslims are angry with the administration and the local police, and not with the local Hindu population. If you look closely at the way communal clashes originated in the city, you will find that this resentment in the community had a important role to play in the riots. Yes I can accept that there are political groups, wanting to mobilize the votes on communal lines before the assembly elections, but we don’t do this,” added Ms. Arora, a former advertising professional with Amar Ujala.
It’s not the end but just a beginning for the communal riots in Moradabad, as Iqbal said that the city will remain tense because the assembly election is scheduled early next year.