People's Democracy

Thus starts the Urdu leaflet that was being distributed in Malegaon in Nasik district of Maharashtra, immediately before the riots broke out there.

As the media stories went, some Muslim youth were seen distributing a leaflet in Malegaon just before a communal riot engulfed the town. Some of the reports sought to give the impression that the resistance put to the police effort to seize the copies of the leaflet was the cause of the riot.

But, as the quotation from the leaflet given above shows, it talked of "the 100 crore people of India" and called upon all of them to boycott the goods made by foreign companies. A glance through the content of the leaflet makes it clear that there was nothing, absolutely nothing communal in it. The leaflet was of course unsigned and bears the name of no organisation, and some may say that this was illegal, but that is a mere technical point. The basic thing is that neither the political part nor the economic part of the leaflet, and not even its five-point action programme, contains anything that may be, by any stretch of imagination, construed as communal propaganda.

Soon after its screaming headline "BOYCOTT: Drive Out The Foreign, Save The Country," the four-line political part of the leaflet gives some examples of the imperialist depredations around the globe. These include: the atom-bombing of Hiroshima, massacres of innocent people in "Germany, Vietnam, Somalia, Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya and Bosnia," and now the bombing of Afghanistan. Then it recalls how the trading East India Company enslaved us and how "lakhs of freedom fighters courted martyrdom" while fighting against the British rule, and, yet, nearly 4,000 foreign companies are still operating in this country. It ends up saying that today "every Indian is born a DEBTOR."

Then comes what one may call the economic part of the leaflet. It gives us a list of foreign companies operating in India and their products in areas ranging from cold drinks to mobile phones, vehicles and cigarettes. The list, not exhaustive, has been given courtesy "Swadeshi Vikas Samiti, Mumbai region, Maharashtra." It urges all the Indians, and not simply the Muslims, to boycott these goods, get the leaflet xeroxed and propagate it as widely as possible.

The five-point action programme repeats the same appeal and concludes by saying: "Remember, we will certainly have to pay this price to ensure an "independent economic future" (azad muashi mustaqbil) for ourselves and our families." It exhorts that "As far as possible, we must strive to produce these things ourselves." Here it again gives the symbol that was printed at the top of the leaflet, saying that it should be so popularised that people begin recognising it at the very first glance. The mark shows that everything that seems correct at the first sight, need not necessarily be so. The circle in the centre of the symbol denotes the soon-to-come day of victory. The leaflet appeals to the people to persuade, not force, the shopkeepers in their areas that they must return the foreign goods and stock Indian goods in their shops.

Needless to repeat, this action plan too is addressed to all the Indians and not just to the Muslims.

One more thing is remarkable. Some media reports described the leaflet as "anti-America." But the fact is that it mentioned "America, Britain and Israel" only once; otherwise the leaflet talks of foreign companies in general. Though Israel does not have any big stake in Indian economy, its inclusion here is understandable in the light of the general democratic opposition to Israel --- shared by Muslims as well --- because of the latter’s savage depredations against the Palestinians.

It is thus clear that the unknown Muslim organisation that issued this leaflet, was asking the people to do the same things which many others --- not only democratic organisations but even some fundamentalist outfits including the RSS-controlled Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) --- are asking. Then the question is: If the SJM does not become unpatriotic for its call of boycott of foreign goods or those made by foreign companies, why was the said leaflet described as unpatriotic? And how was its call dubbed as communal?

As for the behaviour of the police, that deserves strongest possible condemnation. Was the Congress-NC government of Maharashtra trying to outdo the Vajpayee-led central government in showing that it would not tolerate any anti-American propaganda in the state? After all, the leaflet’s contents were perfectly within the parameters of dissent as laid down by the Indian constitution. Yet, just as Advani’s Delhi Police arrested several youth in the national capital on charge of sedition simply because they were distributing anti-war leaflets, the Maharashtra Police too pounced upon the youth who were distributing the said leaflet. This shows, among other things, how the powers-that-be are seeking to curtail the scope of even democratic, peaceful protest.

Lastly, the very fact that the distribution of these leaflets was followed by a communal riot in Malegaon, makes it perfectly clear that the communal forces had already laid the ground for the riot and that explains why the riot erupted in no time. This shows how the said innocuous leaflet was made an excuse for triggering a riot in the town even though it did not contain anything communal.