When will the fire in Muzaffarnager be extinguished?

By Masoom Moradabadi

Source: Jadid Khabar, 10 November 2013

By all means Samajwadi Party Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadave has admitted his government’s failure in controlling the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and with that he has also given an indication of dealing with communal elements sternly. Notwithstanding, the biggest question remains that why even after two months peace has not been restored in Muzaffarnagar and why is the administration failing in stopping the destruction and killings of Muslims there. At this very time when these lines are being written many of the villages and towns in Muzaffarnagar are tense and everyday one or two incidents of communal violence are being registered.

Experts who have studied the psyche behind communal riots are of the opinion that if any riot continues for more than three days then there are political motives behind it. In stroking this riot complicity between the communalists and local administration cannot be denied.

So strong is the boldness of communalists in Muzaffarnagar that they do not hesitate to hold Muslim youths and kill then whenever and wherever they wish while the administration just sits back and relaxes. What can be a bigger proof of the administration’s complicity than the revocation of detention of two BJP MLAs, under National Security Act (NSA) for inciting riots, by the Allahabad High Court’s Advisory Committee?  Obviously the local administration had presented the case against these MLAs in such a weak manner that it did not have a ground to stand when it came before the Advisory Committee. And thus the MLA, Sangeet Som, who had uploaded an extremely provocative video clip to spread hatred against the Muslims of Muzaffarnagar and his accomplice Suresh Rana, will not only be released on bail but will be given hero’s welcome in Muzaffarnagar.

Last week a respected English daily had sensationally revealed that the three Muslim youths who were gunned down while working in their agricultural fields were in fact killed by the notorious Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) of UP that had actually been deployed to maintain law and order there. While the administration was busy in investigating this incident, suddenly a contradiction of this news was issued and the truth was thus completely hushed up.

It must be remembered that the PAC is the same anti-Muslim notorious paramilitary force of UP that in 1980 had converted the Eidgah of Moradabad into a killing field and had also killed more than 40 Muslim youths in 1987 after picking them up from Hashimpura during the Meerut riots and had thrown their bodies into the river. The case of Hashimpurah massacre is still pending in Delhi’s Hazari court and to date none of the guilty has been punished.

In the destruction and pillage meted out on Muslims’ lives and properties that was started after the Maha Punchayat (grand meeting) of Jats in early September, 62 innocent people have been killed and 50,000 Muslims were forced to flee from their homes, leaving their belongings behind, and take refuge in relief camps. So gruesome and so brutal was this riot that the highest court of the country i.e. the Supreme Court had to intervene and censored the UP Government for inaction.

Supreme Court is still investigating these riots but as far the UP Government is concerned, it has learned no lesson and the situation remains very tense. And this is why the Muslims who had fled from their homes from around Muzaffarnagar are reluctant to go back to their abodes and are forced to live in miserable conditions in relief camps. This clearly proves that the communal forces have made up their minds to make Muslims live in continual fear. Following the killing of three Muslim youths in fields last week there is news of another brutal shooting of a 30 years old Irfan Ahmad in Shamli’s Shahpur town who received bullets on his head and chest. This is yet another proof of the audacity of fascist and communal elements that have been so puffed up that they have no fear of law or the courts. The Samajwadi Party that had come to power by claiming its commitment to protect the lives and properties of Muslims is now totally helpless before the rioters. The only thing Mulayam Singh is worried about is losing Muslim-vote-bank in the future Lok Sabha elections and if this happens then his dream to become country’s Prime Minister will remain unfulfilled.

This is not a secret anymore that anti-Muslim riots in Muzaffarnager were the result of a well planned and well organised conspiracy hatched meticulously by the BJP. BJP wanted to break Muslim-Jat alliance in western UP to make a place there for itself and has thus succeeded in it to a great extent because members of the Jat community who used to vote for Lok Dal, the party founded by late Prime Minister Choudhry Charan Singh, are now openly shouting slogans in favour of BJP. Muzaffarnagar’s riots are one of those few riots in which political motives had been clear from day one. This is why by keeping the fire in Muzaffarnagar raging on; efforts are being made to plunge whole of Uttar Pradesh into communal tension so that in the coming parliamentary elections the harvest of votes is fully ripe for the BJP to reap.

At the moment BJP is at number four in UP where Mulayam Singh’s led Samajwadi Party has the highest number of seats in Lok Sabha followed by the Congress, the BSP and the BJP in that order. There is a race going on between Mulayam Singh and BJP to win maximum number of seats. BJP believes that unless it is able to win maximum number of seats in UP its dream to form its government in the centre under Narendra Modi will not fulfilled. On the other hand Mulayam Singh is trying to put colour of a third front in this dream and this way planning to become Prime Minister.

BJP knows fully well that unless it fans communalism in the state and until Hindus and Muslims are pitched against each other it cannot solidify its vote bank. Mulayam Singh has claimed that the Samajwadi Party was basically formed to combat communalism and that he has used full force to oust communal forces from the state. Whereas facts are totally against this claim because ever since the Samajwadi Party came to power in UP with absolute majority more than 100 communal riots have taken place in the state. From Mathura to Muzaffarnagar of all those innocent victims killed in these riots 95% happen to be Muslims. Properties of Muslims have been destroyed and the lives and stocks of Muslims have been made the target of wanton destruction.

Last month when, in a press conference here in Delhi, this scribe reminded Samajwadi leader Mulayam Singh that despite his party being in power in UP communal forces were raising their heads and were destroying Muslim lives and properties, displaying his displeasure at this rejoinder he said, ‘During Samajwadi Party’s rule in UP it is out of question that communal forces could raise their heads.’ Mulayam Singh may claim millions of times that under his party’s rule communal forces are being weakened and that they are being forced out of the state, but facts however speak against such claims. This only means that either the Samajwadi Party has lost control over fascist forces in UP or under a well thought out plan Muslims are being kept in an atmosphere of terror and harassment.