A Report on Maunath Bhanjan Riots
by Subhashini Ali
On the 14th of October, communal rioting broke out in
the weaving center of Maunathbhanjan - known as Mau -
in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The population of Mau
consists largely of weavers and others connected with
the various aspects of the weaving business. Most of
them belong to the minority community. There have
been incidents of rioting and communal tension in the
past but, for the last twenty years, there have been
no clashes or major incidents. Prompt administrative
action has contributed significantly to this because
there are certain 'traditions' in Mau that lend
themselves very easily to communal conflict. At the
end of the Ram Lila every year, a Bharat Milap
processions is taken out which stops in front of the
main mosque of the town in the Shahi Katra Maidan. A
stage is erected here and the Bharat Milap is enacted.
For a couple of hours, the Maidan is full of those
participating in the procession and loudspeakers are
used while bhajans etc. are sung and recited. The
entire population around this area is Muslim and they
also participate in the celebrations. Before
Independence, when the mosque was repaired and
renovated the Ram Lila committee raised an objection
saying that the mosque had been extended by a few
feet. The administration of the time arrived at a
peculiar compromise according to which the wall of the
mosque is hit three times by Ram's chariot.
Similarly, the Tazia procession during Moharram passes
in front of the nearby Sanskrit Vidyalaya. In the
same period, when this was renovated the Muslims
alleged that this building had also been extended by a
few feet and the administration resolved this issue by
deciding that those carrying the Tazias at the head of
the procession would climb two step leading up to the
Vidyalaya (but only two) and then descend and continue
on their way. As a result of these strange
administrative decisions, there is often tension in
the town at the time of Moharram and Dussehra and the
administration has to be very alert. For a long time
in the '40s and until the early '70s, Mau was a
stronghold of the CPI and activists and cadres of the
Left played an important role in maintaining communal
harmony. The influence of the Left, however,
diminished rapidly and today politics in Mau like in
the rest of UP are dominated by caste and communal
mobilizations, propaganda and voting.
This year, Durga Puja and Dussehra co-incided with
Ramzan and the situation, therefore, became more
sensitive than ever. Unfortunately, the UP Government
today takes administrative decisions based on
political considerations and important officials are
posted because they are pliable and/or corrupt rather
than because of their administrative abilities. The
administration in Mau was particularly inept and
completely under the influent of important politicians
belonging to the ruling party. The criminalisation of
politics in general and the fact that the local MLA,
Mukhtiar Ansari, has an impressive criminal record
obviously made matters worse. It is also extremely
important to remember that the whole of Eastern UP is
the region in which the Hindu Mahasabha
(BJP-supported) MP from Gorakhpur, Mahant Avaidyanath
has formed various militant organizations like the
Hindu Yuva Vahini. For the last few years, he has
been indulging the most vicious anti-Minorities
campaign going to the extent of attacking their homes,
shops and persons all with complete impunity. He has
consistently put himself to the right of the Sangh
Parivar itself and has outdone it in the shrillness
and violence of his campaigns and activities. All of
these factors had a role to play in the tragedy that
enveloped Mau after 13th October.
A CPI(M) delegation consisting of Premnath Rai (State
Sectt. Member), Ram Kripal (MLA) and myself visited
Mau on the 30th October when curfew was lifted in the
entire town for the first time. The District
Committee Secretary of the Party, Veerendra Singh and
other comrades - Chow. Shamsul, Imtiaz, Ramavadh
Singh, Misra, Faheem etc. - joined the delegation in
Mau and we went round most of the affected areas, met
many of the riot victims, members of the press and
also the district magistrate and other officials. At
the end of our visit, we were able to come to some
conclusions about what happened in Mau.
Soon after the main Durga Pandal was erected on 7th
October, a tense situation developed because part of
the structure was in front of some Muslim-owned
buildings. When objections were raised, crowds
collected and there was some verbal altercation and
then stone-throwing. The police had to intervene and
a police officer was injured but they acted
determinedly and removed the structure. A few days
before this there had been an incident when an idol
from a temple was removed and then found the next day.
It was very clear, therefore, that there was a great
need for prompt administrative alertness and
intervention.
On the 13th evening, the Bharat Milap procession was
taken out and the crowd assembled in front of the
mosque. Because of Ramzan, the worshippers inside the
mosque were there for much longer than usual in order
to recite the Taravi (Quranic verses). While their
recitations were going on, the loudspeakers were
turned on by the Ram Lila committee and the playing of
bhajans started. Unfortunately, the members of the
administration present did not do anything and some
members of the Muslim community voiced their
objections and verbal altercations started. There was
a lot of confusion and hullabaloo after this and, it
is alleged, that some miscreants removed the
loudspeaker wires. In any case, senior administrative
officers arrived and intervened and then spent several
hours talking to Ram Lila committee members who had
announced that they were suspending the Bharat Milap
program. Ramjit Singh a BJP MLC who is a leader of
the Committee was present and he, along with others,
finally decided that the Bhartat Milap would now be
held on the 29th October. After this, everyone left
the place thinking that the matter had been resolved.
On the 14th morning at about 8.00 a.m., however, the
local unit of the Hindu Yuva Vahini sat on dharna in
front of the adjacent police chowki, protesting
against interference in their religious observances.
The local police did precisely nothing and soon large
crowds collected and verbal altercations were followed
by stone-throwing. And then Ajit Singh Chandel of the
HYV allegedly starting firing injuring 3-4 Muslim
youths. This news spread like wildfire and in the
nearby Rauza and Sindhi Colony area, shops and
buildings belonging to Hindus were set on fire. A
large printing press, several cloth shops etc were
burnt. The policemen standing here ran away. The
administration remained paralysed for several hours
before curfew was finally imposed but by then there
had been several incidents of arson and looting.
Soon after the imposition of curfew, Mukhtar Ansari
made a public appearance in Mau aboard an open jeep.
It has been reported that the local administration
requested him to come to help them restore peace. In
any case, his moving around openly after curfew had
been imposed was an extremely provocative and
unjustifiable act and, if the administration had in
fact asked him to come, this only proves their total
incompetence and criminal ineptness. In any case, he
went to the Kotwali and met the wounded young men and
then proceeded to an area on the main highway called
Salahabad Mod (Turning).
On one side of the Turning is a very large building
that houses a Sizing and Calendaring unit that belongs
to Hali Atiq Simla and his brothers. This had been
set on fire and a large crowd of Muslims had collected
in front of it. The road turning off the Highway has
many small shops and tenements inhabited by Yadavs.
We visited this area and met many people here. Ashok
Gupta‚s house is in front of the Simla unit and, in
fact, he and his family helped the Simla family rescue
their workers and salvage some of their belongings and
then, they themselves, had to face arson and loot.
Many of the poor Yadav families also met us. All
their shops and tenements had been completely
destroyed and everything they possessed had been burnt
to ashes. They claimed that the crowd that was
watching the Simla unit being torched was greatly
provoked by Mukhtar Ansari's arrival here and they
followed his vehicle and were then responsible for the
losses they suffered. In the middle of this road is
the neem tree under which one Ram Pratap Yadav - a
poor man who had come from his village a kilometer
away to Mau for some work and to make some purchases -
was shot dead. The people we talked to said that at
the time that he was killed, they were running away
for their lives or trying to save their families or
some of their possessions and so they did not see who
shot him but that the shot was fired by someone around
the MLA. When we asked them if any of the Simla
family were there at that time they said that did not
see any of them and in any case they were busy saving
themselves at the time. Only one man said that one of
the brothers may have been in the crowd. These points
are important because in the FIR filed by Ram Pratap
Yadav's brother, he has named Mukhtar Ansari as his
brother's killers. Subsequently, when he met the
Chief Minister along with Mukhtar‚s brother, Afzal, an
SP MP, he retracted his earlier statement and said
that, in fact, one of the Simla brothers had killed
his brother.
In the afternoon of the same day, there was a mob
attack on the railway station where a train was
waiting and it was only because the few GRP personnel
present reacted and fired into the mob that a major
calamity was averted. There are two mosques near the
station and one of them has suffered some damage and 2
people were killed in this incident. After this, all
trains running to and from Mau were stopped for two
weeks.
Further down the road from Salahabad, on the left is a
large settlement of very poor weavers known as
Alinagar and beyond this is another similar
settlement, Chhoti Rahjaniya. 176 homes in the former
and 56 in the latter have been totally destroyed.
There is not a scrap of clothing left in any of them.
A man and a woman were burnt
alive and one man is being treated for serious burn
injuries. All the looms have been either burnt or
looted and all the families are completely destitute.
Damage to property all over Mau has been tremendous.
While several shops and buildings belonging to the
majority community have been burnt and looted, the
minority community has suffered immeasurably greater
losses. Large wedding halls, educational
institutions, hospitals and nursing homes, shops, seed
stores and hundreds of homes have been looted, burnt
or reduced to rubble. In the outlying areas and
semi-rural areas also there were many attacks on
Muslims.
In the midst of all the madness and viciousness, there
was much evidence of humanity. Com. Veerendra, whose
own home was looted, saved many shops and homes with a
few other people in his area. Com. Shamasul and
others kept 4 Hindus in their home for several days
before handing them over into the safekeeping of the
police. And in the whole area of Mirza Hadi pura
which comprises of a large section of Mau town which
is completely dominated by the Muslim community no
harm whatsoever befell the majority community.
On the 16th October, the District Magistrate and
Supdt. of Police were changed and the new officers
were able to restore peace almost immediately. As a
result of this, the Alvida Namaz on the 28th was also
permitted and it passed off peacefully. By the time
we visited Mau, the town was limping back to normal
but the scars will not heal for some time.
It is important to remember that the Sangh Parivar and
the HYV left no stone unturned in their effort to
spread the violence and to gain as much political
mileage from the tragic events as possible. Panchayat
elections were on in UP when the rioting broke out and
the BJP called for bandhs in many of the nearby towns
like Ghazipur and Ballia. They also made very
provocative speeches and statements at press
conferences in which they repeatedly referred to
"Hindu genocide in Mau". Avaidyanath tried to enter
Mau with a huge mob of his supporters within days of
the outbreak or rioting and had he not been prevented
by the Gorakhpur administration, all hell would
certainly have broken loose.
After we had gone around the town, we met the press,
some political leaders and also members of the
administration. From what we gathered in these
conversations, there are very disturbing developments
which may lead to more unfortunate events in the
future. For one thing, there is intense political
rivalry not only between but within political parties
which results in their indulging in one-upmanship in
promoting both caste and communal polarization. There
is also an almost complete absence of secular
individuals and groups in the public arena. With a
few honourable exceptions of some journalists and
Communists, all others were badly infected with the
communal virus. The result was that leaders and
activists of so called 'secular' parties were also
seen looting and encouraging rioting. Another very
dangerous development is that members of the Sangh
Parivar and Hindu Yuva Vahini are also convinced that
communal polarization and conflict is the only way out
of their political decline and are also engaged in
one-upanship. An example of this is the fact that
while some BJP leaders were in favour of going ahead
with the Bharat Milap on the 29th October, they were
shouted down by the hotheads in their entourage who
said that while they would not only not hold the
Bharat Milap but would not celebrate Diwali either.
While it is certainly true that they will have few
takers for this new announcement, their determination
to keep tempers high is clearly visible.
It is absolutely imperative, therefore, for the
Government to come down strongly against all communal
elements and to ensure peace and harmony but also to
ensure that effective and able officers are posted in
districts especially those that are known to be
sensitive. It must also take steps to curb the
dangerous activities of Avaidyanath and his cohorts
and of criminals of every hue and persuasion.
While all those who died or were injured during the
riots must be compensated, those who have suffered
great economic losses must be helped in every way to
resume their economic and livelihood related
activities.
What is most important is that all left and secular
groups, organizations, parties and individuals must do
all that they can in Mau and in the neighbouring areas
to restore some sense of trust and amity between
different communities.
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