By Zeeshan Ahmed, IndiaTomorrow.net,
Ahmedabad, 27 Nov 2014: Communal incidents targeting Muslims have come to visit Gujarat again. Since May this year when former chief minister Narendra Modi shifted to the national capital as country’s prime minister, more than a dozen incidents involving severe attacks on Muslims at different places in the state have taken place. Though no major loss of life except a few deaths in Vadodara and Ahmedabad were reported, Muslims suffered huge loss of property.
The latest incident of communal clash was reported from Somnath in Gir Somnath district on Monday over the trivial issue of picking up passengers by two auto-rickshaw drivers, one of them being a Muslim and another Hindu.
The incident took a serious turn with both communities coming to the aid of the driver belonging to their respective communities. Police had to fire teargas shells to control the violence. Muslims account for about 50 per cent of a total of 80,000 population of Somnath known for being one of the holiest places for Hindus.
But what followed was more disturbing. A majority of over 50 persons picked up during home combing operation happened to be Muslims giving an impression as if only the Muslims were responsible for the incident. The incident has no doubt led to tension in Saurashtra and Kutch region of the state.
Earlier in September, a number of violent incidents targeting Muslims had been reported from Vadodara, Ahmedabad and other places following a call to ban entry of Muslims in “garba dances” during Navratri festival. Vadodara had witnessed a large-scale violence when a tuition class teacher uploaded an image offensive to the Muslims. There were allegations of cops in plainclothes having entered Muslim houses, beating up even women and children and damaging household goods as also vehicles parked in streets.
On the eve of Bakrid in the first week of October, a Muslim youth was killed in Shahpur area of Ahmedabad city in an attack by a group of animal rights activists. Activist Shaukat Sheikh of Vadodara said that many people could not do ‘qurbani’ because they were prevented from slaughtering bulls and male buffaloes and could not afford goat or sheep whose prices had skyrocketed.
Muslim resident of Dabhel village in Navsari district of South Gujarat alleged police high-handedness during Eid-Ul-Azha festival and afterwards. More than five dozen persons, including women, had been arrested in an alleged attack on a police party which had picked up two elderly persons on allegations of cow slaughter on October 6, the day of Bakrid. Two youths, who are students of bachelor of engineering at Akkalkuan college in neighbouring, sustained injuries from bullet fired by the police party. The youths had come to celebrate Bakrdi with their parents.
Dabhel with a population of over 5,000 Muslims and 1,000 dalits, is known for a big Islamic seminary.
Village sarpanch Zahid Saluji told mediapersons that the two elderly persons picked up by police were farmers who had kept a bull, buffalo and cow at their house. Being farmers, he said they keep animals required for agriculture. He denied that cow was slaughtered in the village.
Saluji said that when the police was taking away the elderly persons in the police vehicle, people just came out of their houses but they did not attack the police. However, police fired on two youths, both of them sustained injuries in their legs and were admitted to hospital and later on arrested by the police. People were so terror-stricken that many men had left the village for fear of being arrested by the Police.
He alleged that police also raided several houses subsequently and destroyed the meat kept in refrigerators and also spoiled the cooked meat by pouring kerosene into the utensils.
Maulana Arshad Madani, president of a faction of Jamiat Ulema Hind (JUH) and Congress MP Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi visited the village but it failed to bring any relief for the villagers.
In the first week of November, clashes were reported between Hindu Rajputs and Garasia Muslims(converts from Rajput) in Dhanyavi village, about 10 kms from Vadodara city, over the issue of a Muslim boy allegedly trying to befriend a Hindu Rajput girl. Police also seized arms, including licensed gun, from both sides to check violence.
Tension gripped entire state a week ago when BJP, VHP and RSS took out rallies and held demonstration in Muslim dominated Rander area of Surat district over an alleged incident of gang-rape of a Hindu woman. But the police probe two days ago found that the complaint was false and the complainant filed FIR under pressure from her husband allegedly linked to RSS. While the police released all the 50 Muslims arrested on the woman’s complaint, it is contemplating to register a case against the woman and her husband on charges of a false complaint with a view to disturbing law and order situation.
Commenting on the situation, human rights activist Prof J S Bandukwala said that riots had increased all over the country because of the free run given to RSS and its affiliates since Modi became prime minister.
State Congress president Arjun Modhwadia alleged on Wednesday that the filing of FIR was a conspiracy of the Sangh Parivar to polarise voters along religious lines as municipal and local bodies elections at several places in the state were drawing near.
He asked state BJP leadership to clarify who was behind the false rape FIR.
Stating that the involvement of the Sangh Parivar was quite obvious in the registration of the false FIR, Modhwadia said that it was the reason why the Sangh affiliates including BJP, VHP and RSS organised the agitation in this particular case accusing innocent Muslims while the Sangh never reacted in any of 2,233 cases of rape reported in the state in the last five years.
The Congress leader also strongly criticised chief minister Anandiben Patel and her ministers for maintaining stoic silence on increasing rape cases in the state.
Stating that more than one case of rape was reported every day in the state, he said that the rape cases which were recorded to be 413 in 2008-09 had gone up to 416, 421, 428 and 555 in 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively.
