THE DAY AFTER IN DADRI VILLAGE: MUSLIMS PREPARE TO LEAVE, BJP DEFENDS BRUTAL MURDER, NO SIGN OF CM

NEW DELHI: Now even the pretence of remorse is not there. BJP leaders from Western Uttar Pradesh have supported the brutal murder of Mohammad Akhlaq, “when we hurt people’s sentiments, such clashes take place. This was not a communal riot. The Hindu community worships cows. Whose blood won’t boil if they see cow slaughter.”

This belligerence, demonstrated by no less than the vice president of BJP’s west UP unit Shrichand Sharma has deepened tensions in Dadri district where both communities had lived in relative peace over the years. Terror-struck Muslim families are all preparing to leave the area, some have left, others are packing their bags to go. Where? They don’t know but fear for their lives is making them leave the homes where they lived for decades to face a future that is bleak, to say the least.

A former legislator from Dadri Nawab Singh Nagar spoke in the same aggressive vein maintaining that the family was at fault. He too, has been quoted in media reports stating, “it is obvious that such an incident will lead to anger among people and there will be communal tension. If this was the case, the family is in the wrong. If they have consumed beef, they are also responsible. This is a village of Thakurs and they express their sentiments in a very strong way. If they have done this, they should have kept in mind what the reaction would be.”

Mohammad Akhlaq, dragged out and killed by a mob

In short: if you eat beef you deserve to die. And you will be killed.

There has not been a word on this from Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP president Amit Shah. Not a restraining word, that feeds into the perception that the violence and the murder, clearly supported (if not instigated) by the BJP and its affiliates. Instead the local BJP unit has demanded the release of the six persons arrested from a mob of over 100 persons, threatening to hold a mahapanchayat to release the killers, and instead take action against the victims for “cow slaughter.” Another local BJP leader Vichitra Tomar has been quoted in the Indian Express that is the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the ghastly crime in some detail, demanding, “the release of all the people who have been arrested in connection with the Bisada incident, who are all innocent. We also demand legal action against those who are engaged in cow slaughter, as it is meant to incite sentiments of Hindus.” This mahapanchayat, clearly projected as a threat to break law and order by the BJP, is scheduled for October 11 with the party already campaigning aggressively in the area for a large attendance.

Fear has gripped the area, with all residents reminded now of similar mahapanchayats that led to brutal attack on the Muslims in Muzaffarnagar last year during the Lok Sabha campaign.

The nearly 60 Muslim families in the village are now traumatised, with many having left. They are poor, live on daily earnings, with small businesses that will now all be lost with their homes. Currently they are looking to move in with relatives elsewhere but admit that this is a short time solution. But they do not want, at this moment, to go into their future----the thought of it clearly frightening---and like one of the villagers said, let us save our lives first.

Akhlaq’s family breaks down after his death

The faith in the state government led by the Samajwadi party is nil, and as locals said, “Mulayam and Akhileshji are not going to do anything for us. They have not even come here.” The state government, except for the token arrests by the police, is not visible here with not a single Samajwadi party leader visiting the bereaved family and trying to bring a sense of security in the district. Ex gratia payment has been announced, but then as Akhlaq’s family says how is that going to help relieve the fear and the trauma.

The Samajwadi party’s absence becomes all the more conspicuous because of the visibility of an aggressive BJP that is now busy campaigning, on the back of the villagers murder, against cow slaughter to further propagate the communal, anti-minority agenda. The ‘secular’ silence is thus, deafening.

The media in Delhi has barely covered the violence, with the sole exception of the Indian Express that broke the story and has remained on it, with even The Hindu reducing it to a single column entry on its pages.

Helpless and terrified

Akhlaq’s family is also planning to leave and has contacted their relatives. His mother, who is inconsolable, is now praying with the rest of the family for her grandson’s recovery. He is still struggling for his life in hospital. Along with this worry is the fear of being hit again by the belligerent neighbours for a crime that the family is categorical it never committed. Unfortunately, the focus even of the state government is now to find out whether the charges levelled by the BJP through a massive rumour campaign are true, instead of working to arrest those who beat a man to death with impunity. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has not been heard from, and is as silent as his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. Both had little to say even at the time of the Muzaffarnagar violence, where thousands of Muslims were displaced in an attack spread across villages.

The Dadri incident is yet another reminder of the ‘new’ strategy being brought to play by communal forces with the effort now to move away from the urban areas---where communal incidents were largely confined in the past----into the villages that had been the bulwark of secularism and had prevented the poison from spreading. Rumours, lies, and fear is now being made to strike at the very heart of India, with villagers being manipulated to kill neighbours. The mobs that in urban cities were usually drawn from outside the specific localities, have changed in complexion to consist now of neighbours from within the village. This adds to the terror, as both in Muzaffarnagar and in Dadri the minorities run for their lives for fear of their own neighbours. As a young girl in a camp in Muzaffarnagar told The Citizen last year, “how can we be safe. People I grew up with, whose children I played with, who I called chacha, have attacked us. What will stop them from killing us the next time around, if we go back.”

A petition asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak up is currently being signed by citizens of India. Interestingly as one of the Prime Minister’s own party ideologues said recently, of course on condition of anonymity, “the problem is that the Prime Minister is so vocal on everything, on Twitter, on Facebook everywhere, so when he keeps quiet it seems that he is supporting and condoning the particular act.” And that is the impression that is gaining ground as the silence crosses not just hours, but days.