THE STATES

Riots and politics

The communal violence that has erupted in the wake of the Malegaon riots is seen as having been engineered by politicians in view of the coming local body elections.

ANUPAMA KATAKAM
in Dhule and Jalgaon

COMMUNAL incidents have disturbed peace in more than 16 villages in the Nashik-Dhule-Jalgaon belt in northern Maharashtra ever since riots claimed 13 lives in Malegaon, a powerloom town in Nashik district, on October 26. While the incidents in Malegaon are seen as the immediate cause of the latest round of disturbances, it appears that political rivalry, as was the case in Malegaon, is at the root of the problem. The timing of the riots is important, for municipal and zilla parishad elections are approaching.

PRAVIN KAJROLKAR
At Parola, one of the villages affected by communal incidents in Jalgaon district.

The police say that it is for the first time in nearly a decade, after the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, that communal tension has risen to such a high level in Maharashtra. Nashik, Jalgaon and Dhule districts have a history of communal violence. What is alarming is that some towns and villages in the Marathwada and Vidharba regions that were not known to be communally sensitive have now witnessed incidents of a communal nature.

According to P.K Jain, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order), the number of communal incidents in the first two weeks of November is the highest recorded in the State in a fortnight since the riots in 1992 in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition. Figures obtained from the State Police headquarters in Mumbai show that besides the 203 registered communal offences in Nashik district, there have been 47 registered communal incidents across the State since October 26. The police have arrested 1,400 people in the three northern districts in connection with instigating and causing communal tension.

However, Jain said that the incidents in the region were not all reactions to the Malegaon flare-up. "The series of incidents in such a short span of time could be perceived as part of a larger plan at work," Jain told Frontline. He said that there was reason to feel concerned. "The reactions we are witnessing now give us a feeling of uneasiness. Violence appears to flare up at the slightest provocation. For the past six months things have been simmering. What is more, incidents have occurred in areas that have no history of communal tension."

Jain says the international climate, national agendas and petty small-town rivalries are responsible for the current mood in varying degrees. "Tempers are running high. Miscreants are making the most of the situation, and we are on full alert for any eventuality." The Malegaon incident was only the trigger, he said.

Communal violence erupted in Malegaon (Frontline, November 23), 300 km north of Mumbai, after the police opened fire in a congested Muslim-dominated area. The trouble started after a scuffle between some State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) men and a couple of Muslim youth who were distributing outside the Jama Masjid handbills exhorting the boycott of American goods. According to eyewitnesses, the policemen, who were patrolling the area, snatched the handbills from the youth, and tore them up thinking that they contained anti-national propaganda. It is said that when the youth argued that the handbill did not contain anything offensive the police pushed them around. As the incident took place soon after Friday prayers when the area was crowded, people reacted by throwing stones at the SRPF men. Within minutes police reinforcements arrived, and the police opened fire. The violence immediately took on a communal colour, and the mob tore through the town burning and looting homes and shops. The Army was called out to contain the violence. Malegaon was put under curfew for almost two weeks.

Vicious rumours spread subsequently in the Hindu-dominated villages and towns around Malegaon, some as far away as 70 km. This provoked 40 incidents of communal violence in the districts of Dhule and Jalgaon.

This correspondent, who visited a few affected towns and villages on the Jalgaon-Dhule route, found that in some areas the reaction was immediate, while in other places it came a few days later. But the sequence of events and the modus operandi of the mobs were similar in every town and village. A mob of approximately 200 attacked shops and stalls on the main road of the village after midnight. The targets were all Muslim-owned establishments.

"They came after midnight," residents said. "They burnt shops, stalls and even homes. We only heard them. We were hiding as we were scared. We did not see who they were." The villages along National Highway 112 had the same story to tell. According to local residents, the mob entered the village beating drums, throwing stones and shouting 'Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhavani'.

PRAVIN KAJROLKAR
Zubaida Bi's roadside shop in Dhule that was destroyed.

The police say the attackers were all young men. In some cases one shop on a street or a single house in a locality was destroyed. "This was most probably the work of anti-social elements from fundamentalist groups, otherwise why would a mob target just one house?" says Kulwant Kumar, Jalgaon Superintendent of Police.

Qureshi Ameer, a resident of Parola, 60 km from Jalgaon, said that people were taunted into reacting to the Malegaon riots. In Parola two people were stabbed and about a dozen shops, a poultry farm and two homes were torched. Timber, construction materials and two-wheelers that were found in the path of the rampaging mob were either burned or smashed. Ameer says the village has a population of 30,000, of which 15 per cent is Muslim. "We did not react to the provocation. We know what happened in 1992 and we do not want a repeat of that carnage."

At Pachora near Jalgaon, a butcher's shop was torn down, five garages and an automobile spare parts shop on the main road were burned. The attackers arrived in the town on November 1. For three days from October 27, there were reportedly at least three cases of arson at Amalner and Badgaon. Areas surrounding Dhule city saw mobs destroying a madrassa, a roadside eatery and a garage. At Deola and Kulwan in Satana taluk near Malegaon, shops, godowns and vehicles were set on fire. In every case the attack took place after midnight. When asked who they thought were responsible for the attacks, the victims said that they were Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal activists. But some victims were hesitant to identify the group, saying that there was too much confusion and they were too scared to even look out of their homes. Sheikh Raza, whose house was burned, however, is certain that it was the handiwork of the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena. "The elections are coming up and they want the Hindu vote." He alleges that activists of these parties accused local Muslims of being pro-Pakistan, pro-Osama bin Laden. "We have nothing to do with Pakistan or bin Laden. I feel bad that innocent Muslims are being killed. My family has been here for four generations - we are Indians. Why can they not accept this fact? I will live and die here. So will the generations after me." But Raza is tired of all this. "How much more do we have to bear? We are scared. Anything can happen at any time. I don't think our people will take it lying down the next time." He also blames the ineffectiveness of the local police. Alleged police partisanship was an issue in Malegaon as well.

Says Zid Sheikh, a community leader in Jalgaon: "They keep mentioning Malegaon. Why can't they see that political parties are causing this communal tension? It has nothing to do with Malegaon. In fact Malegaon was also a victim of petty rivalries. This violence was not a spontaneous reaction. It was engineered. And more important, it was a one-sided attack. Moreover, there is a deliberate campaign against the Muslim community." Sheikh told Frontline that the police picked up Muslim youth at random accusing them of either causing communal conflicts or having links with fundamentalist groups. "A mat-maker in Yaval was taken into custody because they thought he had links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba," he said. "Muslims in the area are largely poor and have no idea of international politics. That they are persecuting us is obvious," says Sheikh.

Perhaps this fits in with the theory of there being a larger plan. Incidents of communal violence occurring in areas that never before had any communal problems could be perceived as indicators of this plan, as Jain says.

In the Marathwada-Nanded region there were rumours that local Muslims contributed Rs.60 lakhs to the Taliban in Afghanistan. This caused tension. In Parli Beed, a statue of Shivaji was found chipped. "Fortunately, the police caught the culprits. They allegedly belonged to the Shiv Sena," says an informed source. A case of communal violence was registered in Akola. Apparently someone had smeared cowdung on a tile that had the picture of a deity. Jain says it is hard to identify the culprits as they are just being mischievous. Nevertheless the reaction to such incidents creates enough antagonism.

The root cause of much of the problem is the municipal elections scheduled for December. According to Asghar Ali Engineer of the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism, in an area where Muslims exceed 15 per cent of the population, it becomes a sensitive area, particularly during elections. Neither the Bharatiya Janata Party nor the Shiv Sena has a strong political or economic platform. Given their track record and their nationalist agenda, it would not be surprising if they are behind creating tension, in view of the coming elections. The bottomline is that they need the Hindu vote. In the northern districts no party has a clear votebank.

Parola's Shiv Sena legislator C.R. Patil and a senior party member have refuted allegations of their party having incited communal violence. Patil told Frontline that the incidents were the common man's reaction to Malegaon. "People react when innocent people suffer. The Shiv Sena has done nothing to provoke communal tensions." Praveen Tagodia, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) international president, was arrested in Jalgaon on October 27.

The State government has been cautious about pinning the blame on any particular person or party. Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Chaggan Bhujbal told the media that a judicial inquiry had been ordered into the Malegaon incident.

Whatever the reasons for the attacks, it is the common people who suffer. Zubaida Bi lost her livelihood when her roadside eatery was burned. She feels like packing up and leaving but she has nowhere go. Ahil Sheikh's pan shop was destroyed. The house of Sayeed Mukhtar, a red chillis trader, was looted. His anger is directed at the administration: "Unless they have laws that severely punish these people, nothing will change. Invariably the guilty are set free. Therefore people do as they please. Nothing frightens them."

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh came under fire from the Congress high command over the Malegaon incident. He has since announced compensation and rehabilitation packages for all the people affected in Malegaon, but it appears that Deshmukh may have a much larger problem on hand in the coming months.