CHHATTISGARH

 Prevent the Breakdown of Communal Harmony

Shops burning after being set on fire in Kanker; an overturned car (inset)

Suneet Chopra

KANKER is a district headquarters some 128 km from the Chhattisgarh state capital, Raipur. The area has a serious Naxalite problem but so far it has been free of communal tension. But during Durga Puja this year, elements of the Sangh Parivar have begun to implement a strategy of “repeating Godhra”, aimed at ethnic cleansing in a district where muslims, mainly traders, are only about 5000 of a total population of 8.35 lakhs. They are hoping to foment rivalries among traders of different communities to achieve their ends.

As part of this strategy, three canisters of 200 swords each, were transported to Kanker on 11 October from nearby Dhantari by elements of the Sangh, on the pretext of “Shastra Puja”. On the next day, after the Durga immersion, an incident occurred in which the throwing of dry colour on a scooter borne muslim youth led to an attack on the local mosque where Ramzaan Nawaaz was being offered. The idea was obviously to foment communal tension once the arms had arrived. The confrontation lasted for about two and a half hours, from 8.30 pm to 11 pm, when the police and DM, Dr. S.K. Raju, got the two sides to agree to go away and a clash was avoided, but only after the restraint of some of the miscreants.

The Bajrang Dal and Sangh Parivar groups led by its local leaders, Manjit Singh, the BJP district secretary, Rajendra Mishra, however, refused to leave and remained there shouting and cursing all night. The next day they held a meeting at the community hall and by 11am a mob of slogan, shouting people had assembled in the same area again. They entered the shop of Ishaq Rizvi, near the bus stand, where his son Mohammad Khalid  Rizvi was beaten up but managed to escape to the police station(no more than 100 metres away) where he remained the rest of the day. But their shop the Rizvi Kiraya Bhandar, was looted and burnt. In the same way the mob attacked and looted the Noorani Hardware and Sheikhani Machinery stores, in which a Suzuki motor cycle was also set on fire. They then attacked ‘Hina Sweets’ whose owner put the shutters down. But the crowd destroyed whatever was outside. Also the meat and chicken shops near the bus stand had their locks broken and were looted of eggs, chickens, goats, and whatever else was there. These shops belonged to Hanif, Anees(who was prevented by the police from going to his stall to save his goods),Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Yunus, and Shankar Sahu, a hindu, whose shop was looted as it was near the muslim ones. Then the crowd looted the shop of Shabber,the Shakeel dairy near the mosque and Rehmat Bi’s furniture shop and set it on fire. Haroon Bhai’s grain store was looted and burnt; an Indica and Toyota were also destroyed. The total damage done would amount to about Rs. 40 lakhs.

Indeed, it is interesting that while the SP,Gupta,and D.M. Raju(against whom the BJP issued statements), were seen putting out fires, the police allowed the looters to loot and burn shops and stalls, even preventing the owners of these from going and saving their goods themselves. Also, while the local fire engine never came despite the whole town being in a state of chaos, a fire engine from Dhantari some 80 km. away reached the spot before it to put out the fire. It is evident that the atmosphere in the locality had been systematically vitiated before this attack took place. In this, the local municipal authorities seem to have been deeply involved. The Municipal Chairman is the wife of a rebel Congressman, who was murdered in an individual quarrel with a muslim trader in April, and whose son is now in prison. The matter was considered closed but the Sangh Parivar is determined to use it to its advantage.

What is more disturbing is that many of the reports filed by the victims have not been registered as FIRs by the police, so action is dilatory. On the other hand, the RSS and other Sangh Parivar elements are planning a week-long ‘Ram Katha’ starting on November 30, and extending to Shaurya Divas on December 6, to mark the destruction of the Babri Masjid. Already on November 27, Trishuls were distributed by the VHP at a number of centres all over the state, including Bhilai, to communalise the whole of Chhattisgarh.

Under these circumstances, the Centre too must ensure that BJP state Governments are restrained in their attempts to repeat the Gujerat events. And the Chattisgarh government is one of these. Both IAS and IPS officials who are likely to try and take action against rioters have to be protected to ensure they act again as the SP and DM did on 13 October.

Finally, none of those whose shops have been burnt or goods looted have been compensated. They must immediately be given funds to restart their businesses. The central government must step in if the state government fails to do so. Also, FIRs must be registered and cases against all those who are named by the victims of the 13 October riots be proceeded against. The criminals must be arrested and punished.

The Chhattisgarh government must be warned by the Centre to restrain the Sangh Parivar activities that are likely to create communal disharmony, especially the holding of ‘Shaurya Diwas’ ceremonies on December 6, to mark the destruction of the Babri Masjid. To leave things to take their own course at the hands of communal forces and threaten the lives, security and property of citizens as they are doing in Chattisgarh today and in other BJP-ruled states, would not only be another serious failure of the UPA government to implement its own Common Minimum Programme but mean grievous loss of life and property to the common citizen of the state. The central government must take adequate action in time and not wait to pick up the pieces, for by then it would be too late.