People's Democracy

  Communal Killings in Bhilwara District (Rajasthan): A Report

The State Committee CPI (M) has prepared a report on the incidents of communal violence that have been taking place for the last three months in Bhilwara, a the tribal district of Rajasthan. As the report shows there is a pattern to the violence—a pattern that is only all too familiar and linked with the hate campaigns of the Sangh Parivar, with the full connivance of the state administration and state police forces.

1.     Gram Karjaliya, Tehsil Asind: The chain of incidents began with the murder, of a young man, Satyanarayan Sharma, due to family enmities. The VHP and its affiliated organisations soon succeeded in giving these incidents a communal colour. About 160 families reside in village Karjaliya which is, eighteen to twenty kilometers from the district headquarters. There are eighteen households of Muslims, for whom it has become impossible to carry on with their normal lives.

As reported in the March 19 editorial of Dainik Navjyoti, the police on March 4 picked up Muslim men from Karajiya village. Two hours later their clothes were picked up from their houses. In the meanwhile leaders of the RSS linked organisations gave inflaming speeches and encouraged violence, all of which did not evoke any response from the police. On the same day after the condolence meeting RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal activists fanned out to the nearby villages. The former pradhan of Asind made an inflammatory speech. He said that Rajasthan must be transformed into another Gujarat. “Burn Muslims alive, burn their houses, we have all the necessary equipment for this,” he incited the majority community people.

On March 8, activists of these Hindutva organisations collected in Karjaliya and created a situation in which the Muslims of the village were forced to flee overnight to Bhilwara. Next morning these Muslims reported the matter to the SP, but it was of no avail. Their crops had been destroyed and their animals stolen. In the meantime it was discovered that the real victims of communal violence belonged to the minority community, but the Sangh Pariwar organisations kept up their pressure and demanded that the Muslims who had been picked up by the police be declared guilty. In this case the state home minister Gulab Chandra Kataria stepped in to encourage the Hindutva organisations, and to ensure that the arrested Muslims are declared guilty. In all the nearby villages where there were a few Muslim households, they were harassed and it became impossible for them to even obtain their daily necessities.

2.     Bhilwara town: On March 11 a miscreant was killed by two Muslim men in a fight between two groups. This was also given a communal tinge by the Hindutva organisations. When they found that even after two days they had not been able to provoke a communal riot, they assaulted a Maulvi, Mohd Hafiz Imran, who had to be hospitalised. But they remained unsuccessful in achieving their aims, and the town remained peaceful despite their best efforts.

3.     Mandal town: On April 8 a saffron flag with Om written on it was hoisted on the roof of a masjid, and the 80 year old muezzin was threatened. After a meeting the Muslims took out a procession and made a demand for the arrest of the miscreants. After that a procession to celebrate a Hindu festival was organised. The communal, tension increased as the procession passed through Muslim localities. Since there was hardly any police bandobast, stone throwing on both sides continued for some time. Finally curfew was declared in which the Muslims were forced to remain inside their houses but the activists of Bajrang Dal and VHP roamed the streets free. During this curfew the Hindutva forces targeted the shops of the Muslims which were first looted and then burnt down. The rioters also tried to destroy a mazaar. In this entire sequence of happenings the son of a priest of Satyanarayan temple got killed in police firing.

After curfew the police led by a senior officer Shivlal Joshi entered into Muslim homes at night and arrested 27 innocent people. The doors were forced open and where that could not be achieved, the police climbed the walls to enter the Muslims homes, abused women and arrested the men. In the police operation two persons survived fractures. In the police station the police subjected them to inhuman behaviour. Men were forced to remain in their underwear. There were also complaints of looting of the houses, in one case of more than one lakh rupees.

During this chain of events curfew remained in operation for more than 3-4 days. During the curfew the Muslims were not issued a single curfew pass. The activists of the Hindutva organisations roamed free and leaders who were spewing venom against the minority community and organising the violence were not arrested.

The entire chain of violence was a result of planning by the communal organisations of the VHP and Bajrang Dal. The elected representatives of the area were too afraid to criticize these organisations for fear of losing support, while Kataria and other leaders of the BJP with RSS links actually congratulated the communal organisations and called for “Hindus to keep their morale high”.

4.     Karera: In this village, which also falls in Mandal tehsil, violence was planned through the throwing of bones in the temple compound. But due to cooperation of citizens four boys were arrested and violence somehow prevented.

Conclusion:  It was found by the fact finding committee of the Party that most incidents were incidental and were deliberately given a communal colour by the intervention of the VHP and Bajrang Dal. These organisations are alert and ready to exploit the smallest of incidents, and where there are no such incidents to exploit, are willing to initiate them, as obvious from the hoisting of saffron flag on the masjid or the bones in temple precincts. The role of the police and administration is also a matter of great concern. Moreover, political leaders of the BJP in the state government who are RSS members are actively seeking to create a Gujarat like situation in Rajasthan.

Note: Even after two months tension and violence still continue in the state, while the chief minister Vasundhara Raje, is turning a blind eye to the growing violence against Muslims, dalits and women. Civil liberties and other citizens groups as well as women’s organisations have been trying to seek meetings with the chief minister, which she has been successfully avoiding. The situation is truly growing serious in the state.