Role of the security forces in the conflict:

Table – 1: Number of people killed

Table – 2: Number of persons injured

In all, 81 persons, including women and children were killed and 214 persons were injured in the Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur in the year 2024, as reported in the 5 newspapers monitored by the CSSS – The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu, Inquilab and Sahafat.  Among the 81 killed, 19 were from Meitei community, while 15 were from Kuki community, 12 were security personnel, and 4 were Hindu migrant workers. Community of the rest 31 persons was not reported. Among the injured, 65 were from Meitei community, 1 injured was from Kuki community, 40 injured were security forces and the community of 106 injured persons was not reported. Two migrant Hindu workers were also injured. While some Meiteis were injured from gunfire from the hills in Kangpokpi district on the bordering villages in the valley, most were injured during protests in the Imphal Valley and in Jiribam district due to firing by the security personnel. Both – Meiteis and Kukis were killed in the conflict, and at least one Kuki woman was raped and brutally assaulted. Kuki militants’ fire on Meitei villages appeared to be with the intention to disturb the “peace” to force political negotiations around their demand of separate administration. At times, they appeared to be revenge killings.

Several houses and vehicles were burnt down, including those of unarmed members of both communities, and that of the MLAs in the valley. Five churches, a fuel pump and 272 Kuki houses and 62 Meitei houses were burnt during the year 2024. Till date, 258 people have been killed and 386 religious places have been vandalized. There are 60,000 internally displaced persons living in inhuman conditions in relief camps. 39 persons are missing since the conflict. It is also noteworthy that the CM Shri Biren Singh condemned attacks on Meiteis, he seems to have maintained silence when Kukis were killed or injured.

While no efforts worth the name were made to resolve the ethnic conflict in Manipur, 90 additional companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were deployed. With these deployments, the total CAPF deployed in the state totalled 288 – 165 companies of CRPF, 104 of BSF, 8 of RAF, 6 of SSB and 5 of ITBP. These are in addition to the deployment of Assam Rifles, which is under the Army’s operational command. With more than 60,000 armed CAPF in addition to the state police, for a population of about 3 million, Manipur must be the most militarized state in India after J&K. This level of violence has led to very high levels of polarization of the two ethnic communities. Lt. General (Retd.) Rana Pratap Kalita stated that polarization along ethnic lines has spread to government officials and police. According to him, there was easy availability of weapons and sustained misinformation by all stakeholders. The Manipur Police with overwhelming majority of Meiteis allegedly favour their community. There is one incident though, in which one Meitei ex-serviceman who was specially appointed, was suspended when the force led by him in Jiribam district fired on protesting Meiteis, leading to the death of a Meitei. Security personnel also had to pay a heavy price in this conflict.

There was a huge conflict between the Meitei police commandos posted in Kuki dominated Moreh town bordering Myanmar, in January 2024, and the Kuki community. The Kuki women agitated against posting Manipuri police with Meitei commandos in which several people were killed. CSSS had prepared a detailed report on this conflict. Likewise, the Assam Rifle are alleged to be partisan towards the Kukis. However, when we talked to the Commandants of the Assam Rifle, they not only denied the allegation, they also provided data suggesting that more Kukis have been at the receiving end of their bullets, arrests, and seizure of weapons than the Meiteis.

The approach of the state towards the conflict seems to be limited to attempts to suppress it, without making any serious attempt to find a resolution. Either the Biren Singh led BJP state government has no solution, or perhaps aims to derive political benefit from the conflict, viz., strong consolidation of Meities, which form nearly 54% of the state’s population and inhabiting in the valley. The valley elects 40 out of 60 MLAs in the Manipur state legislature. However, the strategy does not appear to have worked as in the Lok Sabha elections, both the MPs elected from the state belonged to the Congress Party. The Meiteis also seem to be running out of patience for non-resolution of the conflict for over 19 months. The Meiteis are also suffering losses in the conflict. The attack on houses of the MLA, including the BJP MLAs, ministers and the CM, shows the frustration of Meiteis. Also, the Conrad Sangma led NPP, a coalition partner of NDA, with 7 MLAs withdrew their support to the Biren Singh Government, although it did not lead to the fall of the BJP led government, as the BJP has majority in the state legislature on its own. Eleven BJP MLAs did not attend the meeting called by Biren Singh and were served show cause notices.

No justice to the victims:

The wheels of justice are moving extremely slow. 42 SITs have been constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate 3,023 FIRs filed. In all, 11,892 FIRs had been filed. However, they were later consolidated into 3,023 FIRs. According to the information shared by the CM and reported in The Times of India on 1^st August 2024, 11,133 houses were burnt and 4,569 others were destroyed in the conflict. Farmlands belonging to 5,554 farmers had been hit. Till 18^th December 2024, according to a report in The Hindu, chargesheets had been filed only in 192 cases of heinous crimes pertaining to rape, sexual offences against women, arson, loot and murder, which constitutes only 6% of the cases investigated. Till November 20, 2024, 742 suspects had been identified, after examining 11,901 witnesses. 574 persons have been charge-sheeted, while 384 persons had been arrested. The SITs have seized 501 weapons and 13,464 ammunitions out of about 6,000 weapons ‘looted’ from the police, most of them in the valley. Although charge sheet has been filed, trial had not begun till 18^th October in the case of two Kuki women mass raped and paraded naked on 4^th May 2023, the day after the conflict began.

Growing power of the armed militants:

This level of conflict has strengthened the armed militants on both sides of the divide. The communities do not trust the security apparatus of the state to protect them. This has led to sprouting of bunkers manned by armed community volunteers to ensure no one from the ‘enemy’ community intrudes into ‘their’ area. Arambai Tenggol, a militant Meitei organization has armed itself with the help of over 6,000 arms ‘looted’ from the police armoury and others it might have obtained from across the border. State police apparatus seems to indulge them and look the other way in all their illegal actions. Arambai Tenggol even abducted Additional Superintendent of Police and vandalised his home and property after he arrested 6 members of the militant outfit on 27^th February 2024 (ibid). The militant organisation issued summons to all the MLAs, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs to assemble on January 24^th, 2024, at Kangla Fort in Imphal, and they were made to take an oath that they would work for the interest of the Meitei community and their demands, including delisting of the Kuki community from the ST list, deportation of Kukis, withdrawal from the SoO agreement with Kuki militants and other such partisan demands (ibid). That the elected representative could not have disobeyed the summons shows how powerful these armed militants have become.

The Kuki armed militants also command similar obedience from the community. House of Michael Lamjathang Haokip, a BJP spokesperson in Churachandpur, belonging to Thadaou tribe, was burnt down in August by Kuki ultras, after he asserted that the Thadous are not within the Kuki family and wanted reproachment with the Meiteis. The guns of Arambai Tenggol and Kuki ultras terrorise, have eliminated, all moderate voices within their respective communities, and none in the Kuki and Meitei communities can go against or dissent from the positions taken by the militants.

The doctrine which prevailed in the conflict was that of deterrence, and not justice. Security of the community, according to this doctrine, lies in inflicting equal, if not more, damage to life and property of the rival community in order to deter them from attacking one’s own community. In Jiribam district, the cycle of revenge killing was more apparent. 22 persons were killed in Jiribam alone in 2024. Unarmed members of both the communities were targeted by armed groups to ‘send a message’ to the armed militants of the rival group and to demonstrate their prowess. The state appeared too weak to uphold democracy, protect the citizens and run the writ of democratic institutions and seek to do justice. The state found extremely challenging to ensure transportation of essential goods from the valley to hills and vice versa, in spite of heavy presence of armed security forces. The Meitei police commandos posted in Moreh town had to be flown by helicopter to avoid transporting them through Kuki dominated territory. Assam Rifle commandant told us that he had to remove his uniform and put it in his bag as he was approaching the checkpoint monitored by Meitei militants. Another AR commandant was asked to produce his ID card issued by the army which he took it as an insult to his post and refused to do so for checking by (Meitei) civilians. However, the negotiation took a long time for him to be allowed to proceed without showing his ID.

The issues that triggered violence were:

1) Demand of the ‘integrity of Manipur’: while the Meiteis staunchly defend the ‘integrity of Manipur,’ the Kukis were equally firm about their demand of ‘separation of administration’, which they defined as creation of a Union Territory with legislature as the only solution to the resolution of the conflict. The exchange of population now having been complete, and no Kuki left in the valley, they are strong votaries of separation of state.

2) Claim over the Thangjing hill range in Churachandpur district: while the Meiteis have their sacred deity and perform pilgrimage in Thangjing hill range according to their Sanamahi faith, the Kuki National Front renamed the place as Thangting, and put up a gate declaring it as “Thangting Camp of the Kuki National Front – Military Council”. The intention was to reclaim the hill exclusively and prevent pilgrimage by Meiteis.

3) ST status of both the communities remained contentious. The Arambai Tenggol administered oath to elected representatives from the valley that they would work for the withdrawal of ST status of Kukis. One of the Meitei demands is that they should be enlisted as a Scheduled Tribe community as otherwise they are confined to about 10% of Manipuri territory in the valley, and do not have right to own land in the hills. The Kukis and Nagas are opposed to their demand.

4) There were accusations of partisanship of security forces, and consequent reliance on armed militants to protect the community. Posting of Meitei police commandos in Kuki dominated Moreh town became very contentious. The police commandos had killed three Kuki women, even though not a single Meitei living in Moreh was killed on 3^rd May, when the conflict had started. Similarly, suspension of a Kuki head constable in Kuki dominated Churachandpur also triggered protests and violence. There is complete lack of trust on the Assam Rifles in the valley and similar lack of trust on the Manipuri police force in the hills.

5) Both communities nurtured prejudicial attitude towards and nurtured mistrust and hatred towards each other. Meitei community think that the Kukis are intruders and illegal immigrants, which would be proved by preparing NRC. Being illegal immigrants, they should be deported. Kukis are alleged by them to be narco-terrorists, growing poppy. Although, according to Vrinda, a former IPS officer residing in Imphal, everyone is involved in the poppy trade, and drug was promoted by the Indian state in the 1970s and 80s to get the youth hooked and dissuade them from join the separatists and armed militants demanding independence of Manipur from the Indian state. The Meiteis also accuse the Kukis of nurturing a desire for Zalingam or greater home land for Kukis. For the Kukis, the Meities would deprive them of their homeland, grab land their hills, grab their jobs, livelihood, and funds for the development of the hill districts.

Neither the Meitei armed organisation – Arambai Tenggol, patronised by some ruling party politicians, nor the Kuki armed militants seemed to be gaining any ground in this conflict. The Kukis have not been able to move any further in their demand of separate administration, nor the Arambai Tenggol and Sanamahi extremists have been able to gain more hegemonic position over the Kukis than they already were in – attaining ST status to buy land in the hills, monopolise state jobs, get Kukis deported from the state. None party in the conflict seemed to have moved an inch towards their objective. Both are tiring each other out. These levels of conflict are harmful to both communities, and indeed, to human society and to the country in general. The Central government and the government of Manipur have to undertake serious and urgent efforts to establish and facilitate a dialogue between the two communities and resolve the conflict. It is their Constitutional responsibility and duty. Representatives of both the communities must also realise that these levels of conflict cannot be sustained and are self-destructive. Conflict fatigue does not seem to have set in. The marginalised and poorer sections in both communities are suffering more. Civil societies, human rights organisations must also take initiatives to promote a dialogue between the two communities at various levels. The state needs to create jobs for Kukis and the Meiteis. There is imbalance in development of the Valley and the hills, which need to be addressed in terms of infrastructure like roads, educational institutions, universities, health infrastructure, including multi-speciality hospitals, markets for agricultural produce, financial infrastructure etc. The hill district area councils need more autonomy, regular functioning, and higher budgets for development of the hills. These could be the first steps.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

Related:

Divided & strife-torn Manipur: intensified violence, abdication by state & union governments, demands of accountability from BJP MLAs

Fresh violence grips Manipur: Clashes in Jiribam and widespread protests after rape and brutal killings

“Leaked Intelligence report” on alleged Kuki militants entering Manipur from Myanmar sparks panic, later retracted by authorities

The post 2024: Peace, a distant dream for Manipur appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the fateful day of January 26, 2018, residents of the Badu Nagar, a predominantly Muslim area, had organized a flag hoisting ceremony at Veer Abdul Hamid Chauraha, scheduled at 10 a.m. In preparation for the event, they made enthusiastic arrangements, setting up chairs, inviting schoolchildren, and had invited a chief guest. This marked the first time the Muslim community organized the flag hoisting ceremony at Veer Abdul Hamid Chauraha, as traditionally, such events had been held in schools. Interestingly, this initiative followed orders issued by the Uttar Pradesh government urging Muslims to display their loyalty by holding celebrations of Independence day in madrassas and videograph the same.

On that day, youth from the Sankalp group organized an unauthorized bike rally and insisted on passing through the Muslim-dominated Badu Nagar and Veer Abdul Hamid Chauraha during the flag hoisting ceremony. According to videos viewed by the authors, around 10 a.m., a group of 60 to 70 bikers arrived at the Chauraha carrying saffron flags, ironically named “Tiranga Yatra” by the bikers. The Chauraha, is situated in a very narrow lane, through which not more than a bike can pass at a time. They were chanting slogans such as “Hindustan mein rehna hoga to Vande Mataram kahana hoga” and “Radhe Radhe,” which were seen as provocative and exclusionary, targeting a specific religion rather than promoting the spirit of Republic Day. On entering the Chauraha, the bikers demonstrated aggression and triumphalism as they were passing through Muslim inhabited neighbourhood. The residents who had assembled enthusiastically out of patriotism for the flag hoisting, refused to chant these communally motivated slogans and instead raised their own chants of “Godse murdabad.”

The video footage that these authors were shown, shows the youth from the bike rally aggressively demanding that the chairs set up in the narrow lane for the ceremony be removed, so that the bike rally could pass. The organizers of the flag hoisting ceremony reportedly invited the youth to join the ceremony first, after which the chairs would be cleared. However, one of the youths in the rally pulled out a stick and attacked a resident, as seen in the video. This incident marked the beginning of the violence that erupted in Kasganj that day.

The fact-finding team was told that the bikers regrouped after being dispersed momentarily when more residents from the area showed up. This time there were more youth on the Tehsil Road, and they were armed with pistols and sticks. They started attacking the Muslims on the road and vandalised their shops. In the ensuing violence, Chandan Gupta received bullet shots and one Naushad was shot in the leg. There were no allegations even from the Hindu side we interacted with to the effect that the residents of Bapu Nagar forced the youth to say ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ or wave Pakistani flags. From the interactions with different stakeholders, it was evident that there was no planning of communal riots by the residents of Bapu Nagar who were immersed in the preparations of the flag hoisting. There was no information to the residents of Bapu Nagar that a “Tiranga Yatra” would be passing through, and it is difficult to fathom that they would have planned and prepared for the “attack”. Such an allegation appeared to us as an afterthought.

During an interaction with us, Sushil Gupta the father of the deceased Chandan Gupta, shared that his son was very active in helping the poor, particularly through blood donation. Chandan had donated blood three times, with all three donations going to Muslim recipients. Sushil Gupta also did not mention any Pakistani flags during the conversation. He expressed his surprise at how Chandan had ended up in the rally in the first place, suggesting that Chandan did not have any personal enmity with Muslims.

Upon reviewing the FIRs and speaking with some of those arrested, the authors found significant shortcomings in the police investigation. In the FIRs filed by Hindus against Muslims, the names of the accused are clearly mentioned. However, in the FIRs where Muslims are the victims, no names of the accused are provided, and the names of the Muslim shop owners or the shops that were attacked are also not listed.

Most of those arrested appeared to us to be innocent Muslims who were detained arbitrarily by the police. They were simply on the street when the arrests took place—some had stepped out to close their shops after the violence, while others were buying daily essentials like milk. Among the arrested individuals was a Muslim youth with a 70 percent disability, as well as a senior citizen whose wife passed away while he was incarcerated.

Salim who was one of the accused convicted in the case in fact had a strong alibi. His brother Shamim showed the fact-finding team a video which shows that Salim who is a reputed businessman in Kasganj was in a flag hoisting programme in a school at around 10 am on the same day. The other shopkeepers had vouched for his good character. It is important to note that Sushil Gupta filed the FIR about his son’s death after more than 13 hours of his death, naming 20 Muslim residents including Salim. Sushil Gupta was not present at the spot where the incident took place. His naming the 20 Muslims in the FIR that was filed belatedly appears to be from here say evidence.

Human life is invaluable, and the loss of life—regardless of caste, religion, or gender—is always tragic and deserves justice. These authors are not privy to the court proceedings and evidence before the court while convicting the accused in the case and do not express any opinion on the finding of the Court.

This case also holds particular relevance in the current political climate, where it has become a norm rather than an exception for Hindu right-wing groups to organize numerous yatras, some of which have no basis in Hindu tradition, yet insist on passing through Muslim-majority areas to establish their hegemony and to humiliate and provoke the Muslim community by raising objectionable slogans targeting them, including the Muslim women. The political objective of the rallies is not to unite all Indians, but to establish Hindu supremacy, asserting dominance over public spaces, including those in the Muslim neighbourhoods. There is a clear and undeniable attempt to marginalize the Muslim community. Unfortunately, these shows of strength and domination, coupled with the state’s actions—such as demolitions—often result in the loss of Muslim lives and property. In the process they can also claim the lives of Hindus. In the present case, Chandan Gupta was one such victim. These young people, who may not fully comprehend the consequences of their actions, are often manipulated by propaganda and an agenda that aims to “other” the Muslims. They are misled into becoming part of a xenophobic project that fosters hatred and violence.

One can only hope that the criminal justice system promptly investigates similar cases where Muslims have also lost their lives in communal conflicts. Justice must be delivered impartially, without discrimination. There are mothers grieving in Sambhal, Haldwani, and Bahraich, and countless Indians left homeless due to demolitions in Khargone, Bareilly, and many other places. Hatred drives societies towards darkness. It is for the judiciary to restore justice with fairness and impartiality.

The post Convictions in Kasganj communal riots by NIA Special Court appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the same occasion, Shri Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsangh Chalak (chief) of RSS, which led the campaign for construction of Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in place of Babri Masjid said, “Shri Ram is the most worshipped deity of the majority society and the life of Shri Ramchandra is still accepted as an ideal of conduct by the entire society. Hence, now the conflict that has arisen as for and against over the dispute should be ended” (Singh, 2024).

Both, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shri Mohan Bhagwat, emphasized on values of compassion, unity and inclusion and bringing all disputes and controversies pertaining to the construction of the temple to an end. Lord Ram was presented as unifier of the country. There can be no two opinions about what the Prime Minister and Bhagwat spoke. India needs to be united on the values of inclusion, equality and justice.

Lord Ram is worshipped for being Maryada Purushottam who stands for righteousness, justice and truth. One who upholds dharma, who chose to sacrifice his claim to the throne in order to honour his father’s promise and accepted 14-year exile in forest? Mahatma Gandhi and Kabir’s Ram had all the attributes that human beings must have. In his war against adharma, Lord Ram took everyone along, including smallest creature – squirrel.

However, contrary to these attributes, the Sangh Parivar converted the Maryada Purushottam’s calm and serene qualities into a symbol of a belligerent fighter, ready to shoot his arrow and used this image throughout their campaign for Ram Janmabhoomi Temple vilifying Muslim community and targeting them. Lord Ram, to them is an instrument to establish hegemony of one community over other.

“Jai Shree Ram” became a slogan of a war of Hindu nationalists against Muslims forcing their targets to chant it if they wanted to escape atrocities and violence being inflicted upon them. This became a slogan of Hindu nationalist processions entering minority inhabited areas to assert their power and establish their domination with belligerent intentions. It also became an instrument to tease the political opponents of the BJP and provoke a reaction, as they did with Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. These war cries have never appeared like religious chants. Is the Sangh Parivar now sincere about their offer to end all disputes and revert back to hold Lord Ram as symbol of righteousness, compassion, justice and truth? If the answer is in the affirmative, it would be welcome and all disputes would end. However, the track record of the BJP led government does not inspire confidence that this will actually happen.

The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism has documented instances of violence that accompanied Ram Navami processions in 2022 and 2023, and the “shaurya” yatras in Muslim inhabited areas and organized under the pretext to collect donations for the construction of the Ram temple.

The intention of those in these processions to assert their power and domination over the minority community and the areas inhabited by them was evident from their conduct, behaviour and preparations.

The partisan behaviour of the BJP ruled states in inflicting collective punishment on the minority community did not seem like the state was inspired by the Maryada Purushottam and observing its maryadas – the laws and the Constitution of India.

We revisit of some incidents documented by the CSSS teams what unfolded during Ram Navami processions in recent years. The Prime Minister and Shree Bhagwat chose to remain silent over such behaviour in the name of Ram by the Hindu nationalists and did not remind them about what Lord Ram stands for. Lord Ram, was transformed into a tool of mobilization leveraging the sentiment of Hindu pride against a constructed adversary—the Muslim community.

The processions organised by the Hindu nationalists were often equipped with various weapons, such as swords, rods, trishuls, and sticks, in violation of the conditions upon which administrative permissions for such events are granted.   The politically motivated Hindu nationalists would often deviate from the permitted route of the procession and meander into minority inhabited areas looking for trouble and shouting political, and even abusive slogans.

In Ujjain for instance, during the procession of Ram Navami, the slogan, “Baccha baccha Ram ka, chachiyon ke kaam ka” rented the air. The subtle meaning of the slogan implied sexual relation between the progeny of Ram (Hindu men) and Muslim women. In Koderma (Jharkhand), those in Ram Navmi processions are seen in a viral video dancing ecstatically and abusing Muslims using the worst anti-women expletive in chorus. These processions are accompanied by loud and even deafening DJ vans and halt outside the mosques for a very long time during their prayer time. This stands in stark contrast to the traditional processions of Ram Navami organised by the residents of specific neighbourhoods that are also traditionally welcomed by the minorities and offered snacks and drinks.

In the Ram Navami procession in Vadodara organised by Hindu right wing in 2023, the participants of the procession shouted slogans, “Hindustan mein rehna hoga to jai shri Ram kehna hoga” and “hum aayenge toh nazar niche Karni padegi”. The participants in the Shobha Yatra vandalised the Dhuldoyawad Masjid and Hazrat Kalu Shahid – Balu Shahid Dargah. They also shouted the aforesaid slogan.

The provocative and demeaning slogans during Ram Navami processions and loud DJ music, serves as a deliberate strategy to incite and provoke the Muslim community into some sort of a reaction. Given the abusive slogans, loud music in front of mosques for long period, it is not possible for the community to restrain every Muslim from reacting. The participants in the processions use even a minimal reaction from Muslims to such provocations as a pretext for launching violent attacks on the Muslim residents.

The years 2022 and 2023 witnessed a staggering 28 communal riots directly linked to Ram Navami processions. Disturbingly, the state apparatus, instead of quelling the violence, aid and abet the rioters by either being silent spectators or actively using force on the Muslim community.

Police actions in the aftermath of these riots have been widely perceived as one-sided, resulting in the disproportionate arrest of Muslims, a significant number of whom are innocent. Their homes are raided. In Vadodara, Muslim women were assaulted. The local administration demolish the homes of Muslims as witnessed in Vadodara, Himmatnagar, Khambhat, Ujjain, Indore, etc. The properties owned or occupied by Muslims are declared as “illegal” and demolished without following the due process of law, and without notices, hearings etc.

“Jai Shri Ram” once a benign greeting now has become a war cry. The invocation of “Jai Shri Ram,” culturally an innocuous salutation, has undergone a transformation into a rallying cry with ominous connotations.

This evolution is underscored by the haunting imagery of Tabrez Ansari, who was tied to a pole amidst a jubilant crowd cheering. The assembled mob, comprised of men, women, and children, demanded that the injured Tabrez chant “Jai Shri Ram.”

Despite his compliance, Tabrez succumbed to grave injuries inflicted upon him during a lynching perpetrated by the mob. In another incident, Shahrukh Halder, a madarsa teacher, was beaten up and thrown off a moving train for refusing to say “Jai Shri Ram”. There are other such incidents where this chant was used to humiliate and kill non-Hindus.

Such an instrumental use of Lord Ram by those in the Ram Navmi processions organised by Hindu nationalists and their belligerent behaviour has not come from nowhere. It is the essentially politically-motivated, Hindu nationalist ideology, as propagated by the Sangh Parivar that misrepresents and distorts history wherein the Muslim rulers are presented as oppressors of Hindus who were out to destroy the Hindu culture, demolish their temples, forcibly convert the Hindus and sexually assault Hindu women. That is why the Prime Minister once asserted that Hindus were enslaved and colonised for over a thousand years. The Prime Minister also asserted once, contrary to facts, that all terrorists are Muslims, subtly associating terrorism as an instrument rooted in Islam. The BJP leaders, including the Home Minister Shri Amit Shah in Bihar, asserted that if the party loses elections there will be celebrations in Pakistan – a country, which the Hindu nationalists are taught to treat as an enemy state. This subtly establishes that Indian Muslims are loyal to Pakistan and that country is where they belong. Muslims are often called upon to migrate to Pakistan. It is the persistent vilification of Muslims as enemies of Hindus that has misled those under the influence of Hindu nationalist ideology and made them violent towards Muslims. In order to end the conflict, a Ram temple in Ayodhya alone would not be sufficient.

What we need is that the Hindu nationalists learn truth from historical and cultural facts and respect the cultural, religious, ethnic, linguistic and social diversity of the country.

Will the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya inspire the Hindu nationalists to reconcile, accept, and adhere to truth?

Will it inspire them to overcome their ideologically constructed resentment of Muslims? Will they learn from Lord Ram his serenity, calm, adherence to truth and not be attached to power and hegemony?

All communities and peoples need to do so. We hope that the Prime Minister and Shri Bhagwat condemn instrumentalisation of Lord Ram as a symbol of hegemony and exclusion as manifested during the Ram Navmi processions in the past.

References:

Indian Express. (2024, January 22). Retrieved from Indian Express: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pm-modi-ram-mandir-speech-highlights-9121495/#:~:text=%E2%80%9COur%20Ram%20has%20arrived%20today,centuries%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20PM%20Modi.&text=Prime%20Minister%20Narendra%20Modi%20Monday,PM%20Modi%20said%20in%20Ayo

Singh, A. K. (2024, January 21). Times of India. Retrieved from Times of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ayodhya-reconstruction-an-occasion-to-move-on-end-the-bitterness-bhagwat/articleshow/107026633.cms?fr

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There were 20 communal riots, in which one person died, and 16 incidences of communally motivated mob lynching in the year 2021, according to the data monitored by Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) using a limited methodology, viz., scanning five newspapers published from Mumbai – The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu, Inquilab and Sahfat. This methodology is not very exhaustive but yet gives a significant peek into communal violence.

It is to be noted that the State has stopped publishing its reports on communal riots and mob lynching under the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which reports substantially a greater number of communal riots. The actual number of riots and mob lynching might be several times than those reported in the newspapers scanned by the CSSS as is revealed from the statistics collected by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in the previous years. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India has stopped publishing the statistics regarding communal violence. The statistics pertaining to communal violence are revealed only as a reply to the starred question in the Parliament.

When we compare the number of communal riots and communally motivated mob lynchings in the year 2021 with those in the year 2020 as reported in the previously mentioned newspapers, we find that there is a decrease in the number of incidents of mob lynching – 16 in 2021 as against 23 in 2020. At the same time, there was an increase in the number of communal riots in the year 2021 to 20 from 10 communal riots in the year 2020. Even though the methodology followed by the CSSS in its monitoring of communal violence is not comprehensive given the limited resource, it does indicate the national trends. The CSSS also undertakes field visits to study the communal incidences and find out facts. While this increase in the number of communal riots is worrisome, the communal violence in 2021 ensures a steady, albeit slow, march towards realising a “Hindu raj” (Hindu state that enforces select authoritarian mode of culture, rituals and mythology of a section of Hindu elite) thereby undermining democracy and secularism.

The march towards Hindu raj is not only through physical violence through communal riots and incidences of mob lynching. The steady transformation of democracy in India to a Hindu raj is achieved through a triple strategy – 1) physical violence by non-state actors; 2) hate speeches and hate crimes that continuously reinforce and deepen communal identity popularising communal prejudices; and 3) creating a legal architecture and institutional structure that enable the executive arm of the State to privilege a section of Hindu elite and discriminate against others. All the three methods work in tandem and complement each other in demonising those whom the Hindutva political ideology considers as “foreign” communities and seek sanitization of the social space – of their sight, their memories and their heritage. Physical violence instils fear of those who belong to other communities, the fear of those belonging to other communities creates a conducive environment to internalise stereotypes and prejudices of the ‘other’ and communal prejudices prepares ground for a discriminatory and undemocratic legal architecture. Communal violence is a broader concept that encompasses all the three instruments – communal riots and mob lynching (physical violence), hate speeches; and legal instruments to persecute the so-called foreign communities. In this paper, we propose to examine all the three aspects of communal violence in the year 2021.

According to CSSS, communal violence is much broader than merely communal riots- it traces state action and ruling ideology leading to violent state laws and hate speeches. Thus, while communal violence includes physical violence in the forms of communal riots and mob lynching, it is not limited to this. Communal violence encompasses discriminatory laws and policies, domination of particular supremacist ideology promoting Hindu religion and related symbols in public spaces, hate speeches leading to construction and reinforcing of mega narratives and hate crimes based on religious identity. These aspects of communal violence appeared amplified in 2021. This report unravels these aspects which manifest themselves in heritage politics, hate speeches and discriminatory legal architecture. We will look into these in details in the sections below.

State promotion of Hindu iconography and heritage:

The State expenditure on the Hindu iconography has increased considerably. We cannot quantify the increase in expenditure as we have included for the first time this head for monitoring. Some numbers represent the budget allocated, while others represent the expenditure incurred as the event is over. The actual expenditure might be higher, as we have taken only from the newspaper reports.

Article 27 of the Indian Constitution states: “No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination.” Article 27 ensures that the State maintains equidistance from all religious establishments and institutions, even though Article 25 gives all persons in India freedom of conscience and religion to profess, practice and propagate religion of their choice, subject, of course to certain limitations. It is principle of neutrality. The BJP always vehemently protested expenditure by the state on Haj subsidy and salaries to Madrasa teachers or imams and rightly so.

The tables below give the expenditure on religious festivals, religious events, temples, temple corridors, and welfare of temple priests and staff, pilgrimages sponsored by the state to Hindu temples. The expenditure statement also does not include the amount spent on travel and security of the Prime Minister, chief ministers or other state officials, expenditure on worship and other sundry expenditures. Not all taxpayers may agree to promotion of only one, or any religious institution. Therefore, such expenditures clearly seem to be in violation or Article 27 stated above.

Table – 1

Creation of infrastructure for tourism is one explanation given for this expenditure. This begs a question: Are there no non- Hindu heritage sites that would also qualify State expenditure?

Hindu Mythology

Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, a state ruled by the BJP, has repeatedly and publicly justified promotion of Hindu culture. In one of his statements, he said that secularism was the biggest threat to India’s tradition getting global recognition. He has sworn to protect the Constitution of India and act without fear or favour in accordance with the Constitution, whose Preamble declares India to be a secular State.

While illustrating his efforts to make Ramayana popular at the global level, he said, “There are seven holy cities of Sapta Puri, which are considered as the holiest Hindu Teerths, out of these, Ayodhya, Mathura, and Kashi are within Uttar Pradesh. It is a matter of pride for us that a workshop has been organised by the Department of Culture in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs. It should be our endeavour to stage Ramleela all over the world.” (Indian Express, 2021)

The selection of heritage which is sought to be promoted points towards the bias of the government as to which heritage it considers as representing India.

Hindu temples

In the year 2021, massive amount of taxpayers’ money was allocated to sponsor building of Hindu temples or sites related to Hindu mythology. For instance, earlier in 2021, government of Uttar Pradesh passed a budget of 300 crores for the construction of Ram Janmabhoomi temple and access roads to the Ayodhya Dham. In December 2021, the Prime Minister of India himself inaugurated the massive Rs 900 crore Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi and justified it by saying, “(It) will be a glorious reflection of the rich cultural and historical heritage of Kashi.” As per the state government sources, total Rs 451.90 crores were spent to purchase the surrounding properties and rehabilitating over 1,100 families (Bajpai, 2021).

In Puri, Odisha, the Puri Heritage Corridor is planned at a whooping cost of Rs. 800 crores. The project includes redeveloping major portions of the holy town and in the vicinity of the temple for visitors and tourists. Naveen Patnaik, CM of Odisha had also announced a Rs. 200 crore package for the development of Sambalpur’s Maa Samaleswari Temple scheduled to take place in February, 2022. In the 2021-22 Budget, his government announced an allocation of Rs. 742 crores for the development of Jagannath and Lingaraj Temple (Bhubaneswar). There have also been announcements of support for temples in Mayurbhanj and Kendrapara (Mohanty, 2021).

The Telangana government extended Dhoopa Deepa Naivedyam scheme to temples located in twin cities from the financial year 2021-22. In addition to this, the government has allocated Rs. 720 crores for the temple development, welfare of Archakas and temple staff in the state, which is Rs. 220 crores higher than the previous year’s allocation. According to the Endowment Department officials, over 7,000 temples in the city will benefit from this (Kartheek, 2021).

This is also indicated in the essay by Corinne Leferve which comments on the policies of heritage conservation and promotion in India from 2014 to 2018, by studying the Swadesh Darshan Scheme (SDS) and the Adopt a Heritage scheme (AAH). The essay describes how the non-Hindu heritage sites are ignored and maximum state funds are spent on Hindu heritage sites. Lefevre argues that Indian vestiges associated with Islamic and Christian cultures are marginalized in state-funded heritage conservation and promotion projects. He also illustrates the argument by giving relevant figures how promotion of one type of heritage is meant to crush, by virtue of its gigantism, the non-Hindu elements of India’s built landscape (Lefevre, 2020).

Expenditure on Festivals:

Table – 2: State expenditure on Hindu religious festivals and events

The state government of Karnataka incurred an expenditure of Rs. 5.42 crores for the festivities in Mysuru, Srirangapatna, Chamarajanagar and Arkalgud on the occasion of Dasara (The Hindu, 2021). In 2021, UP government organized grand ‘Deepotsav’ to celebrate Diwali. On the occasion of Deepotsav, out of 12 lakh diyas, 9,51,000 earthen lamps were lit on the bank of the river Saryu in Ayodhya while 50,000 diyas were lit at the site of the Ram temple and the rest were lit in other temples across the state. Additionally, laser show, 3D holographic show and fireworks were also organised. During his speech at the Deepotsav, CM Yogi Adityanath said, “This is the fifth Deepotsav of Ayodhya. There was no discussion of Deepotsav in the city before five years but our government came and decided that if we want to bring “Ram Rajya” then we will have to organize events like this.” (NDTV, 2021)

Boost to Hindu Pilgrimage

For the creation of Hindu Rashtra, the right-wing insists on the unity of all Hindus by constructing a common enemy. Thus, attempts are consistently made to co-opt Adivasis into the Hindu fold. They are made to believe that they are actually Hindus and their gods too are from the Hindu pantheon. This ideology reflected in the policy of Gujarat state. State Tourism Minister Purnesh Modi in the state of Gujarat announced that a financial aid of Rs 5,000 will be given to each tribal who undertakes the pilgrimage to ‘Ram Janmabhoomi’ in Ayodhya. He added that the financial aid is in line with similar assistance doled out for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Sindhu Darshan and Shravan Tirth Yatra (Dhar, 2021).

Similarly, the Union Ministry of Finance sanctioned Rs. 325 crores to the Uttarakhand government for Kumbh Mela 2021which took place at the peak of the second wave of Covid 19 in India. Ironically, the When asked about the feasibility of holding the Kumbh Mela even as the Covid-19 pandemic was raging across India claiming a large number of lives, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Tirath Singh Rawat, said, “I invite all devotees across the world to come to Haridwar and take a holy dip in the Ganga during Mahakumbh. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.”

Keeping the above scenario in mind, one can’t help but juxtapose this policy with the one related to Kanwar yatra which have also become procession marked by intense violence. It would help to recall the state preparations for the Kanwar yatra over the recent years. In 2019 alone, around 8,000 security personnel, including Rapid Action Force (RAF), Border Security Force (BSF), and Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) units, snipers (as per the pattern followed during the Kumbh Mela), drones and helicopters for aerial surveillance were deployed by the Yogi Adityanath administration in UP. Rose petals were showered from the helicopters on four crore devotees who were crossing the 130-km Delhi-Haridwar highway in the state. The expenditure on the flower petals was Rs. 20 lakhs and Rs. 17 lakhs were spent on the helicopters (Lakhani, Sharma, & Bhatnagar, 2019). Incidentally, in 2018 too, the UP government spent over Rs. 14 lakhs to hire a chopper to shower flower petals on the devotees (Sharma, 2018). In 2021, during the Covid second wave, the UP government earlier allowed the Kanwar yatra to take place despite other states not opening their borders and banning the yatra. However, later it was called off by the state government after the Supreme Court ordered to cancel the yatra warning it could give rise to a spike in the Covid-19 cases.

Public Expenditure on other Hindu symbols

The UP government has announced that it will start an ambulance service exclusively for cows across the state with 515 ambulances. The Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh spends crores of rupees annually on the maintenance of cow shelters in the state. The Yogi Adityanath administration had allocated Rs. 647 crores in for the maintenance of cow shelters in the state (Times of India, 2021). Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “A change has been noticed in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, state funds were spent on boundaries of kabristan, today the money is spent on redevelopment and beautification of temples,” hinting at how public spaces are being turned into arenas of competitive communalism (Verma, 2021).  

Related:

Communal Riots in 2020

Locating the Role of State and Changing Nature of Violence

India: The new Lynchdom

What caused the Anti-Muslim Riots in Sri Lanka

Ayodhya Dispute: Supremacy of Constitution or Faith?

The post Communal Violence in 2021 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Introduction:

In the previous section of this report, the authors highlighted the heightened structural violence in India which is contributing to intensifying communal violence. Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) brings out annually comprehensive reports on communal violence- consisting of structural violence, physical violence, attitudinal and symbolic violence, to understand the emerging patterns and trends.  As pointed out in section I of the report, in 2020, physical violence in the forms of the number of communal riots compared to previous years has reduced. In 2020, the communal riots were down by 60 percent as compared to the number in 2019. In 2020, India witnessed 10 communal riots claiming 59 lives as compared to 25 communal riots in 2019 claiming 8 lives as per the media reportage (Engineer, Dabhade, & Nair, 2020). There might be more than 10 riots but here the focus is on the riots reported in 5 newspapers monitored by CSSS.  In fact, there are new patterns emerging in communal riots which are insightful in understanding the decline in the number of communal riots.

In 2020, the major riots that took place in North-East Delhi in February and Ujjain, Indore and Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh are the telling signs of the times we live in. The patterns in these riots point towards the over-reach of the authoritarian State in targeting the Muslim community. Earlier, the institutionalised riot system (IRS) was carefully constructed where riots were engineered and orchestrated at available trigger points. There was comprehensive planning and extensive political mobilisation to trigger a riot. However, there was still some fear of prosecution and investigation into the communal riots, however weak and biased against religious minorities. But the state was not as blatantly and officially involved as witnessed today. The state no more pretends to be impartial. The Hindu nationalist groups are freely instigating and fuelling communal riots targeting the Muslims like in Madhya Pradesh. They are fearless and enjoy political impunity. The state is actively persecuting the Muslim community- demolishing their houses as seen in Ujjain and Chandankhedi village.

The communal riots thus though fewer in number in 2020 are not an indication of declining communal tensions and communal sentiments. There is consolidation of communal identities and greater political mobilization of Hindu nationalists who are overcome with naked hatred for Muslims and unapologetically baying for the blood of Muslims as seen in the Delhi riots. The state is facilitating this targeting by not only not taking any effective action against the perpetrators but also itself persecuting the religious minorities with the single intent of reinforcing their inferior position in the now frail Indian democracy. The result is greater impunity to perpetrate violence against religious minorities, its normalization and religious polarization.

Methodology:

The findings of the report of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism are based on the reportage of the prominent newspapers- Mumbai edition of Indian Express, Times of India and The Hindu, which are English newspapers and Inquilab and Sahafat which are Urdu newspapers. Previously, the reports contained useful figures and statistics on communal riots published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The NCRB figures in comparison to the CSSS figures were always higher given the wider access of NCRB to information in the police stations across the country. The numbers provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs occasionally too were substantially higher than the CSSS numbers. However, for the past couple of years, the NCRB has not published the data on communal riots, and data was put out in the public domain by the MHA recently. This makes any comprehensive comparison impossible, and the only available source, is the reportage in the media.

Region wise breakup of communal riots:

Northern India was a hotbed of communal riots in 2020. Out of ten communal riots that were reported in the 5 newspapers monitored by the CSSS in 2020, five communal riots took place in northern states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Two communal riots took place in the southern states of Telangana and Karnataka. One riot took place in the western state of Gujarat, one in the North- eastern state of Assam and lastly one in Eastern state of Jharkhand.

The higher number of communal riots in Northern India is unsurprising given its proclivity to communal tensions. For many years, Uttar Pradesh had the dubious distinction of being the state with the highest number of communal riots. However, in 2020, the hotbed of riots has been the two states of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. The riots in Delhi which lasted for over three days and covered different areas of Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Shivpuri were in response to the anti-CAA protests. The riots in the state of Madhya Pradesh- Ujjain, Indore and Mandsaur took place due to the aggressive donation collection drive by Hindutva organizations to build the Ayodhya temple at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid after the Supreme Court verdict clearing the way to construct the temple. The Northern states have been simmering with communal issues built on propaganda of “love-jihad”, the Ayodhya temple and the suspicions of cow slaughter. It is worth noting that the Ayodhya judgment has paved the way for a number of Hindu nationalist organisations claiming multiple sites where there are now Mosques and Dargahs across India to have been temples in the past stoking communal tensions. The Hindu Mahasabha in the past have demanded handing over sites in Kashi and Mathura to Hindus and threatening organizing rallies to mobilise support if this demand is not met (Awasthi, 2020).

The riots in South India are reflective of the persistent efforts and consequent processes to polarize and instigate communal feelings in the region to make political and electoral inroads. One riot took place in Bhainsa in Telangana and another in Benguluru in Karnataka. Bhainsa has been a communally sensitive area with a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims with a history of tensions and riots. The last major incident of communal violence took place in October 2008. Violence had broken out during the Durga Devi immersion procession which had left three dead. In the west, one riot took place in Khambhat region of Gujarat. Interestingly, Khambhat has been communally sensitive for a few years now- witnessing communal riots every year for the past few years. In the east, Jharkhand too has simmering communal tensions encouraged by the politics of polarization. Assam has always been at the precipice of communal violence with the processes of NRC leading to fear, unrest and uncertainty.

Triggers:

There has been a shift in the communal discourse on a whole which also reflects in the triggers of communal riots in 2020. The causes in the past have been not starkly communal in a sense that smallest inter-personal conflict was given a communal twist and instigated violence. The role of the Institutionalized Riot System and its working was palpable in the past. The IRS system put in place carefully to engineer riots when the smallest of opportunity presented itself can be seen waning. In 2020, the riots have taken place in the form of a direct contestation facilitated by the state. Hate speeches are increasingly allowed to be raised by those in constitutional positions without reproach or any penal action. Another prominent trend is that social media is increasingly used to fan communal flames by posting inflammatory materials which can hurt the religious sentiments of a particular religious community. Equally, social media is used to politically mobilize youth to participate in communal violence. Thus social media still remains an important instrument in the ecosystem of communal tensions.

Let us briefly look at some of the important triggers:

Hate Speeches of Political leaders and constitutional authorities:

To begin with, the Delhi riots were a direct result of the hate speeches of political leaders and a violent ecosystem made conducive by the state. The police and Hindu nationalists were given a free hand to crush the anti-CAA protests in Delhi (reference). The Hindu nationalists encouraged and emboldened by the impunity and political patronage openly given to them indulged into political mobilization and targeted Muslim communities in North East part of Delhi. The violence was an expression of hegemony to crush the political assertion of religious minorities which manifested in the form of anti-CAA protests all over the country.

The Delhi Minority Commission report has in its report cited the incendiary speeches of BJP leaders like Kapil Mishra. The report also finds a mention of the speech of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah in the build up to the Delhi Assembly elections where he called upon the voters to press the voting button with so much force and anger that the protestors at Shaheen Baug feel the current. February 8 ke subah, parivar ke saath, 10 baje se pehle kamal ke nishaan par button dabainge?… Aur mitron, itni zor se dabana woh button ki current se hi sham ko woh Shaheen Bagh waale uth kar chale jaayein (On the morning of February 8, will you, along with your family, press the lotus symbol before 10 am… and friends, press the button so hard that its current forces the protesters at Shaheen Bagh to leave the place by evening).”

The report also cites the speech delivered by Yogi Adityanath during the election campaign for the Delhi elections. He asked voters to install a BJP government in Delhi, which would promote all religions, but added that where “boli” (words) don’t work, “goli” (bullet) does.

It also assessed some of the damage caused during the riots through witness testimonies, while also detailing the police response. “In some cases, police merely stood as onlookers while the mobs engaged in looting, burning and violence. In others, they explicitly gave a go-ahead to the perpetrators to continue with their rampage… A few accounts state how police and paramilitary officers even escorted the perpetrators safely out of the area once the attack was over. In some cases, police escorted victims also to safety,” the report alleged.

Instigating Slogans and rallies by Hindu Nationalist Groups:

The trigger for the riots in Madhya Pradesh was the rallies by the Hindu nationalists in Ujjain, Indore and Mandsaur. The rallies were organized to collect donations for the construction of the Ayodhya temple. The rallies openly witnessed provocative sloganeering by the participants which was derogatory towards the Muslims. For instance, in Ujjain the slogans included, “Baccha baccha Ram ka, chachiyon ke kaam ka,”. The slogan is laden with sexual innuendo towards Muslim women and roughly translates as, “All Ram’s children are useful for aunties. (Singh, 2021)”.It was alleged that in response to the slogans, the Muslim residents of Begumbaug started pelting stones on rallies. The rallies in all the three locations were laden with sharp weapons.

Social media:

In Karnataka, riots were triggered by a “derogatory” social media post uploaded by P. Naveen Kumar, nephew of Pulikeshi Nagar Congress MLA R. Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy. As word spread in the community, a crowd of nearly 200 persons gathered outside the DJ Halli Police Station demanding his arrest. Simultaneously, as many as 1,000 people gathered outside the house of Mr. Srinivasa Murthy. Both sides of the mob turned violent, demanding Mr. Naveen Kumar be handed over to them.

Other triggers:

In Baksa, Assam, unidentified arsonists entered the Kalpani Jame Masjid in Salbari and allegedly set fire to religious books. When this incident came to light, there were large scale agitations with members of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union and the All Bodo Minority Students’ Union in the middle of a sit-in outside the mosque. The Salbari area has a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Local residents alleged that the Kalpani mosque had been the target of miscreants since the final NRC was published. Thus, communal tensions have been simmering in this area like in other areas of Assam arising from the discriminatory and divisive process of NRC.

In Gumla, Jharkhand, clashes erupted on April 7, when some locals thrashed Anis Ansari, a resident of Basia Road, for loitering around a pond. The locals believed that a few outsiders were moving around the locality to spread the virus. Around 8 PM, another group armed with sticks and torches took to the streets in protest against the attack on Ansari. The group spotted a few tribals and attacked them.

Thus, the role of social media, the increasing incitement by Hindu nationalists through aggressive rallies, anti-minority narrative constructed by political leaders and mindful deliberate targeting of the religious minorities are the triggers for communal riots in 2020. These are quite blatant and the role of the State is more direct in inciting these riots.

Religion wise break up of deaths:

There were reported a total of 59 deaths in 2020 from 10 communal riots as compared to 8 lives lost in 2019. From these 59 dead, 42 were Muslims. In Delhi riots alone, 53 lives were lost, 38 of them Muslims. 4 more Muslims were killed in Bengaluru riots. There were 11 confirmed deaths of Hindus, 9 from Delhi riots, one from Khambhat and one from Gumla, Jharkhand. The religion of the rest of the victims is unspecified. Majority of the deaths were from Muslim community.

Religion wise break up of arrests:

Most of the arrests in 2020 communal riots have been from the Muslim community. In Delhi riots, there have been allegations of state protection to Hindus and arbitrariness in filing FIRs where there are reports after reports how the complaints of Muslim complainants were not registered or watered down. Though the police have claimed to have arrested 1300 people based on different FIRs related to the communal riots in Delhi, almost equal numbers from both communities (The Hindu, 2020), it is ironical that Muslims suffered disproportionately with suffering most loss of property in the wake of burning, looting and arson and also loss in terms of lives (38 out of 53). In Madhya Pradesh, the government invoked the draconian National Security Act to book 18 Muslims, including two women. In total, 28 were arrested in the three riots.

As holds true for the years earlier, in 2020 too, the Muslims were doubly victimised- while they suffered greater losses in terms of lives and properties, they were also persecuted and criminalised under draconian stringent laws like NSA and also at the receiving end of arbitrarily state action like demolition of houses and recovery of damages even before their guilt is proven.

Role of the State:

The State is responsible for equally protecting all its citizens and maintaining law and order without favor and partisanship. But the way communal riots have unfolded in 2020, it is alarming to see that the state has given up even the semblance of impartiality and being a protector. The role of the state has been largely that of a facilitator for the rioters and perpetrators. This argument has been supported by some of the prominent fact finding missions into the crucial incidents of communal riots in 2020.

Similarly in Mandsaur, Indore and Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, bike rallies were organized by Hindu nationalists groups including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal as part of fund collection campaign for construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. In Ujjain, it was led by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Ujjain’s Begumbagh locality, participants reportedly shouted inflammatory slogans and consequently stone pelting ensued. Not only did the police or administration not take preventive action or penal action against the participants of these rides, a day after the incident, the local administration went to the Begumbagh locality and demolished a house and damaged another in a curious bid to “remove illegal structures” in the area. According to District Collector Asheesh Singh of Ujjain, the demolition drive was meant to hurt “criminals who resort to such acts of stone-pelting” economically (Siddique, 2020).

In Indore, the participants of a rally allegedly tried to damage a mosque and read the Hanuman Chalisa outside the premises. In the Mandsaur incident, a group carrying saffron flags and raising slogans blocked a narrow lane near a local mosque, with some climbing on top of it and put a saffron flag atop, according to viral videos from the scene. Similar rallies took place in other parts of Madhya Pradesh between 25th to 30th December, most without the requisite permissions. Again no punitive action was taken even in such cases while NSA has been invoked against innocent Muslims.

In Delhi riots, there are reports by Amnesty and BBC pointing towards police brutality and complicity in targeting the Muslim community (BBC News, 2020). While the blood thirsty rioters went for the Muslims for three days- killing them, looting their properties, setting them on fire, the police aided the rioters. The police didn’t respond to the pleas for help from the victims. According to Amnesty and BBC, there are videos where the police is seen beating up a Muslim man who succumbed to his injuries. The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) said Muslim homes, shops and vehicles were selectively targeted during the rioting. The DMC report recommended an impartial probe into the Delhi riots. The Chairperson of the DMC, Zafarul Islam Khan was booked under the pretext of sedition after this critical report. Khan had posted on Facebook and twitter where he spoke about Muslims being targeted in Delhi riots. This was deemed “provocative” and seen as causing “disharmony”.

These actions of the state which are favoring the majority community and targeting the minority communities betray the steady hollowing out of the democratic institutions and constitutional system of check and balances to ensure equal protection of every citizen before law.

Conclusion:

Though the number of communal riots reported in media monitored by CSSS shows a sharp decline in 2020, communal violence has not declined by any means. Communal riots have become an instrument to victimize the religious minorities by the state itself by blatantly targeting the religious minorities. On the one hand, there is a distinct consolidation of religious identity and polarization along religious lines due to discriminatory laws and policies of the State, on the other hand, communal riots are instrumentalized to persecute the religious minorities under draconian laws like NSA, incarcerating them for long duration and also demolishing their houses arbitrarily. Also the state failed to protect the victims during communal riots when the minorities were freely targeted by the Hindu nationalists enjoying political patronage and impunity. The constitutional safeguards are most blatantly disregarded and all democratic mechanisms subverted to perpetuate violence and discriminate against religious minorities, taking India down the tunnel of lawlessness and authoritarianism.  

Related:

Hate Speech spreads like wildfire in Karnataka
CJP in Action: Bringing hate-mongering news media to justice

The post Are low numbers of Communal Riots in 2020 a mere deception? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests have triggered a wave of reflection on the social relations, prejudices and hierarchies in the society we are living in. However, there are oppressive structures like caste which require similar condemnation but there is no outrage in India similar to what we see in the US. In the previous article, we concluded that the plight of the Muslim community in India is akin to the African-Americans and argued that the police brutalities faced by both the communities are similar if not worse. The Dalits in India too have been historically oppressed, brutalized and marginalized by the caste system, an inhumane structure which has stood resilient in the face of laws and changing times. The brutalities and oppression of the Dalit community has been sustained due to the complicity of the Indian state’s bureaucracy and caste based institutions.

The situation of Dalits in India is akin to the African-Americans in the US in a number of ways. Both are historically suppressed and practically treated as second class citizens in their respective countries. Racial segregation backed by legislations like “Black Codes” and “Jim Crow laws” made segregation in housing, education, public transport, public parks, theaters, pools, cemeteries, asylums, jails and other public spaces legal in the US until only a few decades ago. This resulted in a segregated and hierarchical citizenship. The Manusmriti in India, though not legally enforceable, has been the moral code which guides the upper caste elite in their attitude and behavior towards the Dalits in day to day life and relegate them to second class citizen status. The upper caste control economic assets and social and cultural capital; they are predominant in the bureaucracy and therefore can achieve more than what “Black Codes” and “Jim Crow Laws” achieved. The Dalits were not allowed and are still not allowed in many cases to draw water from public wells and enter temples. The Dalit children were and are made to sit separately in many schools and drink water from separate utensils. Inter-caste marriages between  a Dalit and an upper caste still leads to honor killing of the Dalit spouse.

The African-Americans in the US and the Dalits in India have been exploited for cheap labour, forced to take up hard menial work with less than subsistence wages. Dalits are still forced to engage in manual scavenging or take up menial jobs which are considered “impure” by the upper caste Hindus. This was starkly demonstrated in the Una incident where 4 Dalits were publicly flogged and lynched. Dalits, mostly landless, are forced to work on the agricultural lands of the upper caste Hindus at very low wages. The democratic polity and the Constitution of India, which guarantees equality and abolishes untouchability, have utterly failed in achieving social and economic equality and usher in meaningful equal citizenship. Violence against the Dalits is an everyday occurrence unlike episodic violence against the Muslims. The upper castes seek to control the body (through unpaid or lowly paid physical labour and sexual assaults on Dalit women), mind (through imposition of feudal cultural traditions and customs and denial of educational opportunities) and soul (through religious beliefs and Manusmriti) of the Dalits.

Physical violence; age old cultural traditions and religious beliefs are usual weapons of oppression. If these do not work, then village’s upper caste institutions kick in to isolate and suppress the Dalit communities in their villages and make them submit to their will by holding caste panchayats and village panchayats and issuing a call to upper castes to save their ancestral honour and social order and impose a socio-economic boycott on the Dalits. That means not to employ Dalits in their farms or homes, not to sell any provisions from their shops and not to allow them access to transportation allowing them to get out of the village. To further humiliate the community, Dalit women are paraded naked on donkeys in the villages.

Even in the year 2019, two Dalit children, a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, were beaten to death for defecating in the open in Bhavkhedi village of Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh. Most Dalits in the village reportedly have no toilets at home and thus have to go out in open for defecation. Similarly the family had to often wait near the local hand pump before being allowed to take water (Ghatwai, 2019). Again in 2019, Sanjaybhai Ranchhodbhai Parmar from Mota Kothasana village in Mehsana alleged that the caste Hindus gave him death threats and forced him to shave off his moustache, considered as a symbol of manliness, beat him up and made him apologize to them. A video of him apologizing to the youths went viral (Indian Express, 2019). In Jambhe village in Mulshi taluka of Pune district, an owner of a brick kiln allegedly made a Dalit labourer eat human excreta following an argument at the work place (Haygunde, 2019). In February 2020, a Dalit army soldier was attacked in his wedding procession because he was riding a mare – a symbol of prestige and prerogative of the caste Hindus. Despite the police protection, stones were pelted at the Dalit procession demanding equal dignity and rights in Banaskantha district of Gujarat (Indian Express, 2020).

Two Dalit youth were beaten up in Nagaur district of Rajasthan under the pretext that they had committed “theft”. In the video of the incident circulated, a group of men were seen thrashing the youth with rubber belts. One of the victims was stripped and held down, and a screwdriver dipped in petrol was inserted into his anus. The perpetrators of the crime could be heard laughing in the background (Mohammad, 2020). Even the onslaught of Covid-19 pandemic didn’t halt the atrocities. A Dalit family was allegedly attacked by three persons for not switching off the lights at 9 pm on 5th April as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The victims alleged that the accused used casteist slurs and told them to keep their home lights switched off for the whole night. Besides the complainant, his son and daughter and five other family members sustained injuries (Scroll.in, 2020). Evidence, a Madurai based NGO, conducted a survey during the lockdown period and found that in the month of May 2020, in Tamil Nadu alone, 25 incidents of atrocities against Dalits, including two murders were reported (Times of India , 2020). Most of these cases related to the honor killings wherein, Dalit men were targeted for marrying caste Hindus.

Caste violence has intricate linkages with sexual violence faced by Dalit women routinely in their daily lives. Dalit women remain invisible and their problems are relegated to the periphery in this wider struggle of the Dalit community to gain recognition. They are perceived as “properties” available for sexual gratification for the men of the upper caste Hindus. They are molested and violated with impunity at farms owned by upper caste men where they work and at wells when they go to fill water. The custom wherein the newlywed bride has to spend the first night with the upper caste landlord is not fully eradicated. The Dalit girls in some villages are married off to the village deity (Yellamma in one such case). They are then raped by the priest of the temple and upper caste worshippers of the deity, ultimately forced into flesh trade in the city. The sustenance of the institution of caste in fact depends on the control on the sexuality of women – both Dalit women and upper caste women. But Dalit women have multiple marginalizations owing to caste and patriarchy. This is also a way to establish power over the bodies of Dalit women and in turn the whole community.

Of the 5,775 offences registered in India under the SC/ST Act in the year 2017 wherein Dalits were victims, 3,172 (55%) were related to “intentional insult or intimidation with intent to humiliate”. There were 47 cases of land grabbing related to Dalits; they faced social boycott in 63 cases; and they were prevented from using public spaces in 12 cases (Tiwary, 2019). While the data is three years old, there is no reason for us to believe that the situation has changed for the better. In fact, the upper caste mobilized in large numbers to reverse the meager affirmative action of the state for Dalits like the SC/ST Act and demand reverse affirmative action in their favour like reservations for their caste members in employment and educational institutions. The Marathas in Maharashtra, Jats in Haryana and the Patels in Gujarat are examples of such mobilizations. Their mobilization led to consolidation of their political clout and consequent atrocities on the Dalits.  

In the next part we would examine why there is no outrage in spite of such inhuman brutalities against Dalits in India.

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