Image: Twitter

The Deccan Herald reports how 12 persons were injured near the textile town of Kanpur According to police sources here, the trouble began when a ‘Ram Barat’ (a ritual during Dasara) procession was passing by a mosque in the Rawatpur locality in the town.Sources told the newspaper that members of the two communities indulged in heavy stone-pelting injuring several people, including a few police officers. Other reports say that it was six people were injured in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, in a clash during a Muharram procession says the Hindu , that saw members of two communities throwing bricks at each other and setting vehicles on fire, the police said. The incident occurred when the procession deviated from its fixed route. Perturbed, some members of another community started throwing stones at the procession in Parampurva, Inspector General of Police (Kanpur zone) Alok Singh said.Two cars and four motorcycles were set ablaze during the clash, he added.The police resorted to baton-charge to control the situation, the Inspector General said. In a similar incident in Ballia, nearly half-a-dozen people were injured, after members of two communities clashed over a petty dispute in the Sikandarpur area, an official said. The incident occurred on Saturday evening at a Durga Puja fair, District Magistrate (DM) Surendra Vikram said.

The depiction in the Asian Age is graphic: In Kanpur, two communities clashed over the route of a Tazia procession and the police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse the mob. Nearly half a dozen vehicles were set on fire and police outposts in Kalyanpur and Juhi localities were vandalised. Senior police officials rushed to the riot-hit areas and additional companies of RAF have been deployed.In Kaushambhi, an altercation between those taking the Durga idol for immersion and those taking the Tazia on Moharram took place and youngsters belonging to a community entered the house of a member of the other community and stabbed a brother and sister inside the house.

Additional security has been deployed in Manjhanpur area where the incident took place in the early hours of Sunday.In Ballia district, a small dispute in the processions between children took an ugly turn when the elders of two communities joined in and provoked a violent clash. The incident took place on Saturday night in Sikandarpur area in Ballia district at a Durga Puja fair.
 

15-year-old electrocuted: A 15-year-old boy was electrocuted and four others injured when a ‘tazia’ touched a high-tension wire in Kusaldeh village in Manikpur area here during a Muharram procession on Sunday.

In Kaushambi district, seven persons sustained burns when a tazia touched a high-tension wire in Manjhanpur area.

In Bihar, the Indian Express reports that A clash broke out between two communities after a group of people returning from a religious procession was attacked by members of another community in the district, the police said today. Five persons were arrested in connection with the clash that erupted at Akbarpur Bazar locality late last night in which one person was injured, Superintendent of Police Vikas Burman said.

The trouble began when one group of people belonging to a particular community was attacked with stones by members of another. Members of the first group then retaliated leaving one person seriously injured, Burman said.

The Times of India reports that communally sensitive Vadodara also saw violence break out between mobs of two communities in the sensitive Panigate area of the old city during Tazia procession late on Sunday night, leaving two persons injured in police firing. On Monday, 13 persons from both communities were arrested for rioting. The police had to open fire at the rioters who went on a rampage.

The incident occurred when a Tazia procession was passing from the Panigate police station road. “Some of the members in the procession were showing aggression and wielding sticks. Soon it sparked tension among the locals and those participating in the procession, leading to stone pelting,” said a senior police official.

“It seemed to be pre-planned. Some residents of Ektanagar, who participated in the procession, have an old enmity with Bavchavad residents. They tried to create disturbance near Bavchavad but we had tight police security there. So when the procession reached Panigate police station, some participants showed aggression and it snowballed into rioting,” the police official added.

The police had inputs of trouble being planned in the old city during Taziya processions but the location was different. “We had inputs that some trouble may occur near Mehta Pol so we deployed tight security there. However, riots occurred near Panigate police station,” said a senior police official. Though only Panigate and Wadi saw stone pelting, rumours of trouble in other areas kept the police on toes till late on Sunday night.

In Benal, the Telegraph reports that the Bengal government notably maintained peace further commenting that “… Yet West Bengal achieved this difficult task, not just in the city, but in the districts as well, although incidents were reported from a few other states, Uttar Pradesh being one of them.

What West Bengal has done is to show that peace is possible if everyone is determined enough. People stood up quietly against unreasoned violence; they trod gently, so as not to step on their neighbour’s toes. The police were at there best: everywhere, but not intrusive, just efficient. But it was possibly not just fear of penalties that prevented disruption. The people of West Bengal wanted to make a point; they would not let anyone destroy their peace and amity. Perhaps they have taken some lessons from the Dhulagarh violence of 2016 and the lethal potential of fake news. And they did not stop at simply doing nothing, which was, in any case, effective enough. Organizers and participants in the events of both communities made visible gestures of amity so that those waiting in the wings would not get even a toehold. In some places in the districts, processions of the minority community carried none of the traditional weapons. Members felt that if the weapons made other communities uncomfortable they would not be carried. Puja committees ritually greeted Muharram processions in one place, while another gave prizes for the best game of sticks the processions are famous for. There was also cooperation about the timing of immersions on that day so no one got in anyone else’s way. Wisdom, cooperation, administrative fairness and discipline and an overriding love of peace and amity can still stop communal disruption in its tracks.”

The post Moharram (& Durga Immersion) 2017 Amidst Tension & Conflict appeared first on SabrangIndia.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the inauguration of Durga Puja pandal on the occasion of ‘Mahalaya’, in Kolkata on September 19, 2017. Photo credit: PTI

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday set aside the Mamata Banerjee government’s order banning immersion of Durga idols on Moharram and directed the police to ensure adequate security arrangements to avoid any communal flare-up.

The West Bengal government had earlier issued an order banning idol immersion after 10pm on September 30, the last day of the five-day festival, and on October 1 on account of Muharram.

A division bench of acting chief justice Rakesh Tiwari and justice Harish Tandon took the view that the government order was arbitrary. The justices directed the police to chalk out separate procession routes for Durga Puja and Moharram processions on September 30 (Vijaya Dashami) and October 1 (Moharram). Immersion of the goddess’ idols marks the end of the 5-day Durga Puja.

Responding to the judgment, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said if there was any violence on October 1, the “conspirators” will be responsible. The reference was clearly to the BJP and the sangh parivar who have repeatedly accused her of Muslim appeasement.   

“Someone can even slit my throat, but I will not succumb to conspiracy,” Banerjee said while inaugurating a community Durga puja in south Kolkata, without referring to the high court order.

Speaking at a Puja pandal in south Kolkota a day before the judgment, the chief minister asked why no one accused her of Hindu appeasement when she attended Durga or Ganesh festivals.

Insisting that the government order on restricting idol immersion had nothing to do with appeasement she had declared, “If this is appeasement I shall continue to do so as long as I am alive. I will do it even if a gun is held to my head. I don’t discriminate. That’s the culture of Bengal, that’s my culture.     

While many had called the government’s two-week old order as an infringement on fundamental rights, the government had held that maintaining law and order at a time when large numbers of people are on the streets was the sole concern.
 

The post Calcutta High Court sets aside restrictions on Durga idol immersion by Mamata government appeared first on SabrangIndia.

What happened in the eastern Uttar Pradesh town was not a conflict but violence unleashed by MP Yogi Adityanath and his henchmen 

If one tries to understand the developments in Gorakhpur and its neighbouring areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh (Poorvanchal) from January 26 to 31, 2007 through the eyes of the print and electronic media, one moves further away from the truth. It is a sordid story of a highly communalised media conjuring up a riot, collaborating with BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, a Bal Thackeray clone and heir to the Gorakhnath Peeth operating from the Gorakhnath temple. Adityanath is a BJP MP for ‘technical’ reasons and cares a damn for the niceties of party discipline because he knows that the party cannot dissociate itself from him. Though he mocked the party by holding a Vishwa Hindu Maha Sammelan at the same time as the BJP’s National Council meet in Lucknow, the party did not mind. It had earlier swallowed the defeat of its candidate in the Assembly election by Adityanath’s candidate. One should know that he is a Thakur; and a Thakur heads the BJP now. The Thakur spread across party lines ensures that Adityanath is allowed to have his own way in his fiefdom, i.e. Poorvanchal. He makes it a point to give calls for a Gorakhpur bandh whenever the chief minister visits the town.

Also read: “Kill 10 Muslims for Murder of Every Hindu” – Among CM Yogi Adityanath’s Choicest Words

'Poorvanchal mein rahan hai to Yogi-Yogi kahna hoga' (You have to chant Yogi’s name if you want to live in Poorvanchal) is a slogan popularised by his gang. But how true is the claim of his hold on Gorakhpur, leave alone Poorvanchal? He has lost all local elections held recently in and around Gorakhpur, and could only manage to lure the relatively respected Samajwadi Party (SP) member and mayoral candidate Anju Chaudhary to his side.

Apparently, Chaudhary fell a victim to the myth spun around him during the last 15 years. Adityanath has been called the Yuvak Hindu Samrat, Narendra Modi of Poorvanchal, the premier of the Hindu Rashtra of Poorvanchal. He has used the wealth of the Gorakhnath Temple to sustain his army of lumpen youth. Adityanath has followed the RSS methodology in creating organisations with different names that he calls cultural bodies. Among these are Hindu Yuva Vahini, Sri Ram Shakti Prakoshtha, Gorakhnath Purvanchal Vikas Manch, Hindu Mahasabha and Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh. Adityanath himself is the main functionary of these unregistered outfits. He also controls much of the functioning of the Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Jagran Manch. He holds his durbar in his temple that is attended by local police and officials.

Adityanath has perfected his technique of manufacturing riots. An insignificant incident like a Hindu’s clothes getting stained accidentally by the paan spat by a Muslim is turned into an act of humiliation of Hindus. A rape in which the victim is dalit and the perpetrator Muslim is used to substantiate the allegation that “Muslims rape our women” and all hell is let loose on the Muslims. The last 11 years are witness to several such acts. No criminal case has been registered against him except once in 1999 when a case was registered against him in Maharajganj after the killing of the official gunman accompanying sp leader Talat Aziz. The police and administration have remained mute spectators with the political leadership looking the other way. All this has given him an air of invincibility. Muslims have been given to understand that neither the Bahujan Samaj Party, nor the sp is willing to rein him in. Perhaps the SP is seeking to counter Mayawati’s Brahmin card with its own Thakur card by indulging him. The Congress is nowhere and also lacks a will to take him on. All this leaves the Muslims here with no option but to resign themselves to their fate.

This time, however, his plans went awry. On the night of January 26-27, Pankaj Rai, a history-sheeter, and his gang chased a dance party performing at a marriage. They mingled with a Muharram procession and the processionists thought that they were being attacked. Suddenly a gunshot was heard, which the then administration thinks was Rai’s act. As panic set in, more people — both Hindu and Muslim — were beaten up and a young man, Raj Kumar Agrahari, was badly injured and hospitalised. The District Magistrate (DM) was informed at 1.30am and he told officials to brief Adityanath that he should not visit the site. Initially, the MP agreed. But as Agrahari died, Adityanath declared that now he would go to the spot and seek revenge for the killing of a Hindu by Muslims. He reached the spot with his lumpen who destroyed a mazhar. He declared his resolve to ensure justice for the Hindus, swords were flashed before the dm and senior police officers. Short of policemen, the administration tried to persuade the MP to vacate the place but he didn’t budge.

When the now-determined dm took the dagger away from a goon, they charged towards him and demanded the dagger back. Upon this, the dm ordered the police to disperse them by force. Suddenly the MP found himself facing a situation that was not in the script. Afraid that the lathis might find Adityanath, his well-wishers cried out for compromise. The MP demanded that curfew be imposed and withdrew. Though the dm didn’t think a curfew was required as the violence was designed to disrupt Muharram, he agreed to the MP’s demand.

Later, however, Adityanath announced a torchlight procession. The administration succeeded in preventing it from moving but it was captured on camera and a non-procession was turned into one by the willing media. Emboldened, he announced a Shraddhanjali Sabha the next day at the town’s busiest crossroad. By this time, the dm had resolved not to allow it any further as the police reinforcements were in. He issued orders that no meeting was to be allowed and that any violator was to be arrested. With unambiguous orders, the police moved. Adityanath dismissed the warning as a hollow threat but landed in an unforeseen situation.

He and his ‘followers’ were taken to the police line. Soon, a police van arrived and the detained people were asked to board the jail-bound vehicle. Adityanath jumped into the bus, declaring that he cannot leave his followers. To their surprise, the bus started moving and they realised that they were in trouble. The three-km journey to the jail took more than 90 minutes as his goons pelted stones and every other means to block the van but to no avail. For the first time in his life, Adityanath is jailed under Section 151A of the crpc only to find later that he has also been booked under Sections 146, 147, 279, 506 of the Indian Penal Code for leading the attack on the mazaar (grave). On the strength of this fir, Adityanath is remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

On January 29, his followers assembled at Gorakhnath Temple that falls in an area where more than 50 percent of the population is Muslim. They start throwing stones and burning tyres in the direction of the Muslim locality and on the road. But there is no retaliation from the other side.

Dr Hari Om, the then dm in-charge, wishes to put it on record that not a single incident of slogan-shouting or stone-pelting was resorted to by Muslims. He wants the world to know that although much grieved by the decision to impose curfew as it hampered Muharram, the Muslims, led by the venerable Miyan saheb, assured the administration of all cooperation as peace was more important and kept their word. Meanwhile, the media kept screaming that Gorakhpur was burning, the walls of the Gorakhnath Temple were demolished. Which, of course, was a naked lie.

And all of a sudden, the district magistrate was informed that he’s been shunted along with the superintendent of police. As he moved away, Rashid, a Muslim youth, was killed. It is a matter of discussion in Gorakhpur that it was done by a Hindu Yuva Vahini man who injured himself to use it as a cover. Newspapers flashed the pictures of the Yuva Vahini man’s bandaged leg, obliterating the killing of Rashid altogether.

So where was the riot, as imagined by the interested media, asks Hari Om. From January 27 to 29, Adityanath and his goons laid siege to Gorakhpur without any provocation from Muslims. A mazhar was gutted, masjids and shops of Muslims destroyed, government properties damaged by the gangs, stone pelting on the police by his goons: do these make a perfect riot? A riot involves some degree of involvement of two warring groups. How is it that areas with substantial Muslim population did not experience any untoward incident barring the planned attacks of Adityanath’s gangs? Why did cm Mulayam Singh Yadav remove the officers who jailed the BJP MP who was hell-bent on destroying peace? Why did the officers’ successors go straight to Adityanath for forgiveness? Why did the media fail to report the facts as facts?

Hari Om has one regret — that he had assured Muslims that by giving a reprieve of 7-8 hours in the curfew on January 29, he would ensure that the Muharram tradition was not disturbed. However, the moment he was removed, Rashid was killed to celebrate it as Adityanath’s victory and the curfew was extended. Tazias remained where they were. The Muslims kept their word, he did not. This young officer has just one question for his country: can a community feel at home where it is prevented from even mourning by all kinds of machination? Can a community celebrate its existence in a country where law-keepers look over their shoulders when it is attacked? Such is the sad story of Uttar Pradesh, the truth of one of the many riots that were not.

• First published in Tehelka.com, Feb 17, 2007
• https://communalism.blogspot.in/2007/02/riot-manufactured-in-gorakhpur.html

The post A leaf from the illustrious life of the CM of Uttar Pradesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.