By Mehebub Sahana and Shahnawaz Ahmad Wani for Twocircles.net
The recent lynching of Mohammed Junaid, a 16-year-old from Haryana, has not only shocked the Muslim community of India but all the people who believe in human values and human rights. People of minority community are inconsternation and perturbation, fearing about their future and security in India. When Mohammed Akhlaq was lynched in October 2014 under the central government, there were a lot of opinions. Apart from TRP drama on national news channels regarding presence and absence of cow meat at Mohammad Akhlaq’s house, the NDA government tried to prove that lynching Mohammad Akhlaq is indirectly a collective good as eating beef is related to sentiments of majority community. Unfortunately that too was defended on national media. Mohammed Akhlaq’s lynching was seen in the backdrop of UP elections, but Muslims in general forgot the after effects.
A mockery of our national flag happened when villagers tried to project Sisodia, one of the accused in the Dadri lynching case as a martyr and draped his body with Indian national flag. The atmosphere of intolerance is well planned and finely executed among the masses of majority of people in India, and there are multiple reasons for this rising intolerance likeVarious BJP and RSS leaders have consequently blindly endorsed these inherently divisive ideologies, and the NDA government has purposefully spearheaded contentious policies on them. Junaid’s lynching is an example of orthodox mindset adopted by most of Hindu goons. In the past, Muslims were lynched for carrying beef or cows but now people with radical mindset are openly promoting their belief that Muslims are beef eaters and there is no issue in harming or even killing them. The mob which attacked innocent boys had called them beef eaters and anti-national or pro-Pakistan and then stabbed them to death.
A visit to Khandawali, Junaid’s village, on the occasion of Eid showed how deep hatred has been sown in the minds of the people by the current BJP government. We were told how the attack on Junaid was preplanned by the mob, as he and his brothers were not allowed to disembark from the train at Ballabgarh station. The murderers instead stabbed him on another station so that they can run away easily without being caught. The family of Junaid was in trauma, and hence we spoke to the village residents to understand the gravity of the situation. While talking tosome students in Khandawali village who were studying in Delhi and use the same train route on a daily bases, we were told that they had been facing such abuse from communal people and had in fact, learnt how to deal with these people. When asked “how you deal with them”, they replied that they simply paying no heed to them. When asked how such people recognize Muslims, their answer was by cap on head and sometimes while talking on phone and we say Asalamualakum. These students said they have noticed the rise in communal abuse after the BJP come into power.
One of the village heads of the village, a Dalit, said the Dalit community was with their Muslim brothers sharing their pain at this time. He added that Dalits and Muslims live in harmony and respect each other’s faith. He also blamed the present BJP government for such incidents. He also mentioned that if we will not support our Muslim brothers this time, next time this incident may occur with one of us. So we are ready to provide support to fight against the injustice. We also came to know that Khandawali village is inhabited by Dalits, upper-caste Hindus and Muslims. The sarpanch of the village is an upper-caste Hindu. Dalits are showing full sympathy with Muslims, but none of the upper caste Hindus visited Junaid’s family, including the Sarpanch. This reveals the mindset of pro-BJP and RSS people.
Some Dalit women also stated to us that they too are scared to visit in trains. The upper caste Hindus treat them differently.
We also had conversation with Dalit students, one of whom is an engineering student. He said that to mark a protest against the death of Junaid, he and his friends were also wearing black bands.
The family, of course, is in shock and the village is tense. The locals said that they had not celebrated Eid the way they had in the past. Although Haryana government has paid financial compensation of Rs 5 lakh, they have failed to nab the murderers. Most of the villagers want justice for Junaid, although they know that the damage done this time might not heal in a long, long time.
Mehebub Sahana is a PhD research scholar in the Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. Shahnawaz Ahmad Wani is a PhD research scholar in the Department of Bioscience, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.