Posts on social media and local newspaper clippings allege a conspiracy to change the name of the area from Gautam Nagar to Islamnagar, stoking and provoking a Dalit-Muslim divide.
UP under Adityanath continues to simmer with the communal cauldron recently exploding in central UP’s Kasganj, not far from Aligarh. Now it’s back to Amroha district in western Uttar Pradesh, not far from the nation’s capital, Delhi. Some newspaper clippings attached here as also linked to Facebook posts that are efforts to provoke a Dalit-Muslim clash in Gautam Nagar. The posts on social media allege that the boards naming the locality “Gautam Nagar” are being changed to “Islam Nagar.’
Repeated ‘stories’ of ‘forced conversions’ of Dalits to Islam in this locality with a 42 per cent Muslim concentration of population are being used to provoke and stoke communal tensions. The UP police, if aware of this, should take adequate steps, in advance. These posts are being made ‘viral’ on social media. ”42% होते ही ‘शांतिप्रिय कौम’ दलितों पर मौत बनकर मंडरा रहा है! जिग्नेश *** और बकैत पांडे, यही चाहते थे न तुम?” (“With a 42 per cent majority, this community looms like a death warrant over Dalits”.)
The posts are typically inflammatory, “Now the lives of Dalits living in Gautam Nagar are under threat and a so called ‘peaceful community who’s population has increased to 42 per cent is threatening to change the name of the locality from Gautam Nagar to Islam Nagar.”
Then these posts abuse those among secular politicians and young Dalit leaders who have taken a stand on communal harmony and unity. “बकैत पांडे याद है तुम्हें, तुमने पूछा था कि भारत में अल्पसंख्यक यदि बढ़ ही जाएंगे तो क्या होगा? आज तुम्हारे कलेजे को ठंड़क तो खूब मिल रही होगी! कश्मीर, करैना, मुर्शिदाबाद आदि के बाद अब गौतमनगर में तुम्हारे सपनों का देश बन रहा है! (“Bankait Pandey you had been asked what happens if the population of the minority increases? Today you will be satisfied: your dreams are coming true in Kashmir, Kairana, Murshirdabad and now Gautam Nagar.”)
माया-*** से लेकर जिग्नेश ***, और *** गांधी से ‘पेटि**-पत्रकार’ जैसे दलितों के तथाकथित हमदर्द ‘शांतिप्रिय कौम’ के टुकड़ों (अरबी-आईएसआई फंडेड ‘पाक-मनी’) पर पलते हैं ताकि दलितों का खून पीया जा सके और उन्हें ‘शांतिप्रिय कौम’ में धर्मांतरित कराया जा सके!” (Maya..and Jignesh…, from Gandhi to –journalists, all the friends of this ‘peaceful community’ are funded on Pak money are happy that Dalit blood is sucked through conversions)
The posts go on to abuse the Muslim community for its stand on the Khilafat movement and also abuse it for its stand in Malabar, distorting history completely.
Finally these posts and articles completely ridicule efforts at Dalit-Muslim unity, be it secularists, socialists, Ambedkarites and taunt the Muslim community in the name of being ‘peace-loving.’
In Kasganj recently, the social media had a hand in fomenting violence further. There is a huge responsibility on the UP Police’s Cyber Cell, too. There should be an effort to get to the facts on the ground and curtail these efforts to stoke passions.