Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MAY 24—“Assalam Alaikum”! This is how a young woman covering her head and face with a black dupatta or scarf greeted Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s (JIH) vice-president Engr. Mohammed Salim and a media team accompanying him as soon as they entered into a narrow lane of Harevali village in Delhi on May 23 where local Muslims were forced to convert to Hindu religion on April 5.
The gesture surprised us all because a week ago or on May 15 to be exact, the same Muslims of the village had greeted me and my journalist colleagues with “Namaste” and “Namaskar” (I Bow before you), a traditional way of greeting among the Indian Hindus.
(A Muslim woman on the right greets JIH vice-president Engr. Mohammed Salim and others with Assalam Alaikum on entering into the village)
We were on our way to Dilshad’s house which is located in the middle of this narrow lane at the entrance of the village that has become infamous owing to the local Hindu youths from Jat and Brahman communities having tried to lynch 23-year-old Dilshad when he returned from a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Bhopal on April 5 but his life was saved by police personnel of the Police Control Room (PRC) who reached the spot before the youths could burn him alive.
After the brutally tortured Dilshad was shifted to hospital, the Hindu villagers then turned to other Muslims. They assembled all the Muslims to the village square, humiliated and beat them all up. All the Muslims were subsequently taken to the village temple and a bid was made to convert them to Hindu faith by making them drink “Ganga Jal” and “Gau Mutra”.
On Saturday (May 23), Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s (JIH) vice-president Engr. Mohammad Salim visited the Muslims of the village to inquire about their condition and give them Eid greetings in advance. He handed over “Eid kits” to each of the 12 Muslim families. The kit comprised dry fruits, vermicellis, sugar and rice etc which are used to prepare sweet dishes to celebrate Eid in this part of India. While half of the kits were sponsored by a young woman who refused to be identified saying “I am doing it for the pleasure of Allah only”, the remaining kits were given by an NGO.
During more than half an hour of discussion with Mr. Salim, the seniormost Muslim villager Rajvir narrated the whole incident how they were insulted and beaten up at the village square and then taken to the village temple and forced to drink “Ganga Jal”(the river Ganges water) and “gau mutra”(cow urine) to convert them to Hindu religion. A large number of Muslims in villages of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh had adopted Hindu names to hide their religious identity owing to anti-Muslim sentiments after Partition in 1947 and had also given up many Islamic and Muslim rituals and traditions to protect themselves from anti-Muslim violence and harassment. And hence, the elder Muslims in certain pockets of these states are still found having Hindu-sounding names.
Rajvir said that not even a single Hindu of the village came forward to protect them from their tormentors. Recollecting the incident, he said that while the youths were beating them, their parents and other elders were silently watching it all happen. “As far as we Muslims are concerned, I don’t find anyone here having any sympathy with us. Even the elders did not oppose the torture on us. Had they been sympathetic to us, they would have prevented their own sons from attacking us. But it all happened in presence of elders. I can’t say that elder villagers are having any sympathy with us”, said Rajvir. The assailants, he said, hailed from all castes, but mostly from Jat and Brahmin communities.
But Rajvir and other villagers, who met JIH leader, categorically stated that they had not converted to Hinduism. “We were forcibly made to drink “Ganga Jal” and “Gau Mutra” and temple priest declared us having become Hindus unilaterally. But we remain committed as Muslims because we did not go to the temple willingly and also did not drink “Gau Mutra” and “Ganga Jal” by our own wish. We did so at that time to protect our life. We did not do it at our own free will. The village atmosphere was such that we would have been lynched had we opposed it”, said Rajvir.
But what was noticeable on Saturday(May 23) was that all the local Muslims-men and women-greeted Mr. Salim and the journalists accompanying him with Assalam Alaikum, the way the Muslims greet others on meeting them. On May 15, when a team of India Tomorrow reporters met them for the first time, every one, excepting Dilshad, had greeted the India Tomorrow journalists with “Namaste” and “Namaskar”.
The journalists accompanying Mr. Salim were surprised when a woman standing at the entrance of a lane covering her face with a scarf (not proper veil) greeted Mr. Salim with Assalam Alaikum. It is in this lane where young Dilshad’s house is located. She was the first person in the village with whom Mr. Salim and the journalists with him had the initial encounter before meeting anyone else in the village.
On being questioned why they greeted with “Namaste” last time, the Muslim villagers said that they had some amount of fear a week ago but there was no fear in their mind now. “Perhaps that fear has melted now with them coming into contact with the larger Muslim community. So far, they were not having any contact with the outside Muslims and hence, were under the pressure of the local communities and had hidden their traditional religious culture and method of greeting owing to these reasons”, said the JIH leader.
Mr. Salim said that the JIH is planning to hold a meeting with local Hindu leaders to sort out the issue so that both the communities can live in peace with each other. “We encourage harmony and peace, with members of all communities being able to follow their own religion and culture without any fear”, said Mr. Salim.
A delegation led by IMPAR group head M J Khan also visited the village and held deliberations with them. Khan said that he proposed to hold a meeting with local Hindu Jat and Brahmin leaders to strike a compromise between the two communities to seek return of normalcy in the village.
