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Journalism of Courage
THE tension in Beed died down without an incident on Friday, but since March, communal tension has been simmering in Maharashtra, with at least 12 cases of unrest arising from social media posts or religious processions. In the violence that has erupted in some of these cases, at least two people have been killed, while many have been injured.
In many of these social media posts, the common figure is Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
In Beed, local Hindu organisations called a bandh on Friday after a 14-year-old boy allegedly praised Aurangzeb on social media. The minor deleted the post soon after and put up a video apologising for it, but worried over the bandh call, shops downed their shutters in Ashti market area of Beed district Friday. The 14-year-old is now facing an FIR.
A day earlier, on Wednesday, Kolhapur was left on the edge following social media posts on Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan, leading to an FIR.
The Opposition has accused the Shinde Shiv Sena and BJP of “polarising” the state ahead of the state and Lok Sabha elections next year. At the receiving end of Opposition criticism, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the Home portfolio, has blamed the violence on “Aurangzeb ki auladein (Aurangzeb’s descendants)”.
On Thursday, BJP leader and former MP Nilesh Rane called NCP supremo Sharad Pawar a descendant of Aurangzeb, while BJP leader Chitra Wagh said the entire Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) fell in that category.
Four months after the Shiv Sena (Shinde) and BJP came to power, the state saw the start of ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha’ rallies. Beginning in November last year, they have been held across the state. The organisers are Hindu right-wing outfits, which allege an ongoing “love jihad” and “land jihad” and demand economic boycott of the Muslim community.
The rallies, with BJP leaders in attendance in many of them, have been accused of promoting hate speech. In March, a petition was filed before the Supreme Court, saying that in spite of an earlier court order to act against hate speeches, the Maharashtra Police is not acting against these “love jihad” rallies.
On March 30, the Supreme Court said hate speech is happening “because the State is impotent, State is powerless, State doesn’t act in time”, and will stop “the moment politics and religion are segregated”.
On April 26, in an affidavit, the Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court that FIRs had been registered in 24 cases across the state in connection with hate crime cases. Among those charged were BJP Telangana MLA T Raja Singh, suspended by the party for communal remarks, self- styled spiritual leader Kalicharan Maharaj and Kajal Shingla alias Kajal Hindustani.
Clashes were reported from Sarvade village in Kolhapur district, soon after Aurangabad town was renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Khuldabad near Aurangabad is the burial place of Aurangzeb, and the town had been named after him.
Two locals of Sarvade – Mohammad Momin (19) and Faizan Saudagar (23) – were alleged to have changed their WhatsApp status, praising Aurangzeb and criticising the name change. After crowds gathered outside their residences, an FIR was registered against the two — Momin, a jute bag seller, was arrested, while Saudagar, a tempo driver, went missing.
The locals demanded that their families leave the village. While the gram panchayat declined to back this, the families left.
Vadgaon Senior Inspector Bhairav Talekar said Momin was released on bail after 10 days, while Faizan got anticipatory bail. And that their families are now back in Sarvade.
Jalgaon’s Paldhi area saw communal clashes after a religious procession with loud DJ music was taken out in front of a mosque. A scuffle followed, and saw stone-pelting and looting of houses. Two FIRs were registered and 45 people were arrested.
Violence broke out in Kiradapura area of Sambhaji Nagar over alleged communally charged slogans at a procession. A mob of over 500 pelted stones at the police, injuring at least 10 personnel. Later, in police firing, one person was killed. Seventy-six people were arrested for the violence, nine of them minors.
The same day, in the Malwani area of Mumbai, a Ram Navami procession being taken out from near a mosque led to a clash. While those in the mosque alleged loud music was being played by the procession, the marchers alleged stones and slippers were pelted at them. Twelve members, all from the minority community, were arrested in the case.
Violence erupted in Akola district after an allegedly inflammatory post enraged Muslims. Caught in the crossfire was one Vilas Gaikwad (39), an electrician and sole breadwinner of the family, who was hit by a stone and pipe and died. His family came to know about his death a day later from a newspaper.
More than 30 people were arrested in the case.
Violence broke out in Ahmednagar, leaving seven injured, in the wake of a Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Jayanti procession. The police arrested 30 people and curfew was imposed in the area.
The same day, a video went viral of Muslims appearing to enter the Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik. Deputy CM Fadnavis ordered an inquiry into the incident, though many residents attested that as part of an age-old tradition in the town, the Muslims paid their obeisance to the deity in the temple during their Urs procession, and that they did so from the temple steps outside.
Videos emerged of four participants in an Urs procession of Dam Bara Hazari Baba dargah in Fakirwada area of Ahmednagar allegedly carrying posters of Aurangzeb. They were booked and two were arrested, with Fadnavis declaring that “glorification of Aurangzeb” will not be tolerated in the state.
At Sangamner in Ahmednagar district, around 90 km from the Fakirwada dargah, two persons were injured and five vehicles vandalised in stone-pelting, minutes after a rally organised by the Sakal Hindu Samaj had passed. The rally was organised in the wake of a fight between members of the two communities over traffic issues on May 28.
An FIR was registered and 17 people were arrested. The police said they were going through the speech of Sudarshan TV Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke, who was present at the Sakal Hindu Samaj rally, to see if he said anything incendiary.
After a social media post on Tipu Sultan and Aurangzeb shared by some persons, a group of Hindutva organisations called for a bandh in Kolhapur. The police registered two FIRs in the case, one against persons who uploaded the post and another against people from right-wing Hindu organisations who gathered at the police station demanding action. The police have made 36 arrests in the case.
On Thursday, shopkeepers in Mirajgaon village of Ahmednagar shut shops till noon in connection with an incident of a local youth sharing a video of some youngsters allegedly carrying a photo of Aurangzeb during a procession in Ahmednagar a few days back. The local police said the shops were shut also because of some other reasons.
On Thursday night, the police registered a case under Section 505(II) of the IPC against the youngster who had shared the video and served him a notice.
Around the same time, an FIR was registered against the 14-year-old boy from Beed district for allegedly posting a social media ‘status message’ backing Aurangzeb. The boy, said to be in Mumbai currently, deleted the message later and apologised for his post, but there was tension as some Hindutva organisations called for a bandh.
Beed SP Nandkumar Thakur said, “Once the boy returns, we will question him to find out from where he had procured the image and if anyone else was involved. The boy will then be produced before a juvenile court.”
Thakur added: “Ever since the name of Aurangabad has been changed to Sambhaji Nagar, there have been such instances.”
Officials in the police and administration argue that the violence has been contained, and that in most cases, the situation was brought under control within hours. While Maharashtra DGP Rajnish Seth did not respond to calls and messages, a senior IPS officer who did not wish to be named said the police alone could do little. “This has now become more of a social issue. If tension is built between communities, such instances are bound to happen… All we can do is prevent the damage,” the officer said.
Opposition leaders say the fact that the violence is contained but continuous is precisely the BJP strategy, to keep the communal cauldron boiling but not letting it spill over.
On Wednesday, NCP chief Pawar said the ruling party (BJP) “encourages” instances of communal violence. “Incidents of communal clashes in Ahmednagar and Kolhapur have taken place over some mobile messages. What is the meaning of hitting the streets over such messages?”
The BJP refuted this, accusing the NCP of creating “instability” in the state whenever out of power. On charges of the BJP trying to polarise votes ahead of 2014, party spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay said: “The BJP has a strong force of pracharaks and has ample issues to reach out to people… It does not need such issues… It is the NCP, Congress and Uddhav Thackeray Sena who have nothing to tell the people and hence they are making such statements.”
(with inputs from Vallabh Ozarkar)
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