The Indian Express
Arrests of Sameer, Sajid a mistake, Delhi Police were wrongly informed, say families
Delhi Police said that he was in touch with handler of Jaish-e-Muhammad, had made IEDs with the help of iron pipes, timers and explosive material.
Written by Abhishek Angad , Aditi Vatsa
New Delhi/ghaziabad
Published:May 5, 2016, 5:25
The family members of Sajid and Sameer say their arrest is a “mistake” by the police, who have been wrongly informed. Sajid’s family members said at about 10 pm Monday, around five police personnel entered their house in Chandbagh. The family runs a workshop on the ground floor, manufacturing women’s undergarments.
Sajid’s sister Mehzabi said, “Police ransacked the entire shop looking for something. Later, they started accumulating things like iron pipe, machine oil, spring used in the motors of the sewing machines, batteries, wall clock, air gun and an mp3 player… They made a video and we did not have any clue.”
According to Sajid’s family, at about 10.30 pm, police arrested Sajid near Fatime Masjid and presented him in front of them. “Sajid was brought in front of us for identification and later taken away… They said that he was making bombs,” said Mehzabi.
Delhi Police said that he was in touch with handler of Jaish-e-Muhammad, had made IEDs with the help of iron pipes, timers and explosive material. Police also said there was a blast at Sajid’s workshop and had injured his hand. However, his family members claimed otherwise. “Hot milk had spilled on his hand while he was having an argument with me. Later, I had put ointment… He is a very soft spoken person and never indulges in any wrong activities. He cannot be a part of this,” said Mehzabi.
A few kilometres away, in Ghaziabad’s Loni area, three sisters awaited for news of their 24-year-old brother Sameer Wednesday evening. “Our parents have been at Lodhi Colony since morning. They have not been able to meet him,” said his sister Sumaila.
A Class VIII dropout, Sameer, was picked up by Delhi Police Special Cell officers late Tuesday night. “There was a wedding in the locality. My elder cousin was standing outside the house at about 2.30-3 am when policemen approached him and asked for directions… They entered the house after that. They checked all the closets, books and every corner of the house. They confiscated Sameer’s phone and took him away. They did not give us any contact number and told us Sameer was being taken away for some laptop case. My brother does not even have a laptop,” said Sumaila.
Sameer’s family claimed for the last couple of years he had joined his father as a tailor. “To help our family, he dropped out of school and started working with my father at a sewing shop in a garments factory to ensure that his three sisters receive decent education,” said Sumaila, sitting in their one-room house. The room, approximately 10 feet X 8 feet, is shared by the family of six ? Ahmed, his parents and three sisters.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/arrests-of-sameer-sajid-a-mistake-delhi-police-were-wrongly-informed-say-families-2785077/
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Showing posts with label Ghaziabad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghaziabad. Show all posts
May 05, 2016
February 03, 2016
India: Better Representation Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh, breeds radical Hindus ?
Business Standard
Mayank Mishra |
Meerut
January 9, 2016
“A perception is gaining ground among Hindus in
the region is that it is increasingly becoming very difficult to have
daughters in the family. Family members worry about their safety
whenever they venture out,” says Vikash Baliyan, an aspiring politician
who runs a weekly, Krishi Nazar, in Muzaffarnagar.
However, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind’s Moosa Kazmi says that it is unfortunate that incidents of a Hindu woman falling in love with a Muslim are given communal colour.
But the perception persists, and has reached even villages in the region. A number of people in Jadauga village — on the outskirts of Muzaffarnagar — kept referring to such incidents, giving the impression that all is not well between the two communities.
It is due to the perception that some Hindu groups like the one headed Sharma have decided to impart physical and mental training to young boys and girls. One such training camp is being held in the premises of a retired army official Parvinder Arya in Rori village. “I have served in Kashmir and have seen the plight of Hindus there. I do not want the same thing to happen in western Uttar Pradesh,” says Arya.
Sharma claims that 20 such training camps are operational in the region and within a year, her organisation plans to cover most of the villages in the region.
At each training camp, boys and girls are getting trained with lathis, swords, bow and arrow, among others, with occasional shouts of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Maha Kali”. “I want them to be physically fit and mentally strong to take on enemies once the situation arises,” says Arya, as the trainees alternate between doing push-ups and sit-ups. The training camp currently has around 60 boys and girls. The one in Rori village has been running for the last two years. And, Arya claims that the trained boys have started camps in other villages as well.
What explains the radicalisation of Hindus in the region? Recent economic and political changes in the state and the region offer some answers. Number of Muslim MLAs in Uttar Pradesh went up from 56 in 2007 to 69 in 2009. What is more, the members of the community did even better in urban local body (ULB) elections.
Analysis of ULB elections of 2012 by AK Verma of the Kanpur-based Christ Church College shows that, “In the 12 nagar nigams, though no Muslim was elected as mayor, 21.4 per cent Muslims were elected as members. In the nagar palikas, Muslims account for 31.9 per cent of the presidents and 33.86 per cent of the members. In the urban panchayats, 26.6 per cent of the presidents and 30.7 per cent of the members are Muslims.” His research shows that in two western Uttar Pradesh districts of Saharanpur and Bijnor, Muslims swept the polls.
“In a multi-cornered contest like in Uttar Pradesh, the votes of Muslims have become very significant for parties. Since the proportion of Muslims in the western part of the state is even more, they are sought after by political parties. Their growing representation in elected positions is a result of that,” argues Sudhir Panwar, Lucknow-based political scientist.
Political empowerment of the community is perhaps a result of their growing clout economically. The thriving meat export business has been helpful in this regard. Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly half of total meat production in the country and western Uttar Pradesh has been the centre of meat export business. Buffalo meat export, which was less than $3 billion in 2011-12, is now in excess of $4 billion. Most of the slaughter houses in the state are located in the western region, and the majority of them are owned by Muslims, according to reports.
Recently released census data also give some hints of how Muslims are recovering lost grounds vis-à-vis other communities. Only 33 per cent of Muslims work against the national work participation rate of 40 per cent. However, most of all those who work are outside of agriculture. While 52 per cent of them work in industry and services, 7 per cent of them work as artisans.
More specifically about western Uttar Pradesh, two specific data show that Muslims have done well in the last few years. National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data shows that from 2004-05 to 2011-12, the decline in the incidence of poverty among Muslims was at 2.51 per cent in rural areas and 2.8 per cent in urban areas as against the overall average of 2.06 per cent and 1.81 per cent, respectively.
The decline was much sharper in urban areas thanks to the growing demand of artisans (carpenters, masons, electricians, et cetera) in recent times. Last year’s Teamlease report had revealed that salary growth of skilled workers has been at par with young engineers. What perhaps also helps skilled workers in western Uttar Pradesh is the region’s proximity to the National Capital Region.
What is more, decline in poverty among self-employed Muslims in the the non-agriculture category has been even sharper in Uttar Pradesh, according to NSSO data.
The growing radicalisation of Hindus is perhaps a reaction to the rise in clout of Muslims.
In UP, resentment breeds radical Hindus
With a rise in the clout of Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh, Hindus feel the need to assert their identity more than ever
Chahat, 6, has very little idea about what she is doing. But she does
not hesitate for a second when asked to show her skills with a sword.
She is one of the 50 boys and girls who are regulars at an akhara-cum-training-camp in Rori village, located on the outskirts of Ghaziabad district.
Her explanation, “desh ka naam badhana hai (have to contribute to the country’s glory)” on why she is part of this group does not quite match with the statements of the organisers, though. “We are imparting mental and physical training to our children so that they are ready to take on the mentality of Islamic jihad,” observes Chetna Sharma, a Meerut-based lawyer and president of Hindu Swabhiman. She has instrumental in setting up such camps in western Uttar Pradesh.
She recounts a number of stories of what she calls “love jihad” in and around Meerut. “The strategy keeps changing but the motive of trapping innocent Hindu girls remains the same. Whether by organising pool parties or by enticing young minds through other means, there is definitely a conspiracy,” says Sharma, sitting in her house while showing pictures of some recent incidents on her laptop.
Sharma is not alone in believing that something like this is going on. There are many others who see a “wider design” whenever any incident of Hindu girl falling in love with a Muslim boy comes to light.
One such incident was reported in Shamli district last month. In the last week of December, a mahapanchayat was called in Shamli to protest against the perceived failure of the police to trace a 23-year-old Hindu woman who had gone missing with a Muslim man in his early 40s. The mahapanchayat brought the latent communal tension to the fore yet again.
Her explanation, “desh ka naam badhana hai (have to contribute to the country’s glory)” on why she is part of this group does not quite match with the statements of the organisers, though. “We are imparting mental and physical training to our children so that they are ready to take on the mentality of Islamic jihad,” observes Chetna Sharma, a Meerut-based lawyer and president of Hindu Swabhiman. She has instrumental in setting up such camps in western Uttar Pradesh.
She recounts a number of stories of what she calls “love jihad” in and around Meerut. “The strategy keeps changing but the motive of trapping innocent Hindu girls remains the same. Whether by organising pool parties or by enticing young minds through other means, there is definitely a conspiracy,” says Sharma, sitting in her house while showing pictures of some recent incidents on her laptop.
Sharma is not alone in believing that something like this is going on. There are many others who see a “wider design” whenever any incident of Hindu girl falling in love with a Muslim boy comes to light.
One such incident was reported in Shamli district last month. In the last week of December, a mahapanchayat was called in Shamli to protest against the perceived failure of the police to trace a 23-year-old Hindu woman who had gone missing with a Muslim man in his early 40s. The mahapanchayat brought the latent communal tension to the fore yet again.
However, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind’s Moosa Kazmi says that it is unfortunate that incidents of a Hindu woman falling in love with a Muslim are given communal colour.
But the perception persists, and has reached even villages in the region. A number of people in Jadauga village — on the outskirts of Muzaffarnagar — kept referring to such incidents, giving the impression that all is not well between the two communities.
It is due to the perception that some Hindu groups like the one headed Sharma have decided to impart physical and mental training to young boys and girls. One such training camp is being held in the premises of a retired army official Parvinder Arya in Rori village. “I have served in Kashmir and have seen the plight of Hindus there. I do not want the same thing to happen in western Uttar Pradesh,” says Arya.
Sharma claims that 20 such training camps are operational in the region and within a year, her organisation plans to cover most of the villages in the region.
At each training camp, boys and girls are getting trained with lathis, swords, bow and arrow, among others, with occasional shouts of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Maha Kali”. “I want them to be physically fit and mentally strong to take on enemies once the situation arises,” says Arya, as the trainees alternate between doing push-ups and sit-ups. The training camp currently has around 60 boys and girls. The one in Rori village has been running for the last two years. And, Arya claims that the trained boys have started camps in other villages as well.
What explains the radicalisation of Hindus in the region? Recent economic and political changes in the state and the region offer some answers. Number of Muslim MLAs in Uttar Pradesh went up from 56 in 2007 to 69 in 2009. What is more, the members of the community did even better in urban local body (ULB) elections.
Analysis of ULB elections of 2012 by AK Verma of the Kanpur-based Christ Church College shows that, “In the 12 nagar nigams, though no Muslim was elected as mayor, 21.4 per cent Muslims were elected as members. In the nagar palikas, Muslims account for 31.9 per cent of the presidents and 33.86 per cent of the members. In the urban panchayats, 26.6 per cent of the presidents and 30.7 per cent of the members are Muslims.” His research shows that in two western Uttar Pradesh districts of Saharanpur and Bijnor, Muslims swept the polls.
“In a multi-cornered contest like in Uttar Pradesh, the votes of Muslims have become very significant for parties. Since the proportion of Muslims in the western part of the state is even more, they are sought after by political parties. Their growing representation in elected positions is a result of that,” argues Sudhir Panwar, Lucknow-based political scientist.
Political empowerment of the community is perhaps a result of their growing clout economically. The thriving meat export business has been helpful in this regard. Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly half of total meat production in the country and western Uttar Pradesh has been the centre of meat export business. Buffalo meat export, which was less than $3 billion in 2011-12, is now in excess of $4 billion. Most of the slaughter houses in the state are located in the western region, and the majority of them are owned by Muslims, according to reports.
Recently released census data also give some hints of how Muslims are recovering lost grounds vis-à-vis other communities. Only 33 per cent of Muslims work against the national work participation rate of 40 per cent. However, most of all those who work are outside of agriculture. While 52 per cent of them work in industry and services, 7 per cent of them work as artisans.
More specifically about western Uttar Pradesh, two specific data show that Muslims have done well in the last few years. National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data shows that from 2004-05 to 2011-12, the decline in the incidence of poverty among Muslims was at 2.51 per cent in rural areas and 2.8 per cent in urban areas as against the overall average of 2.06 per cent and 1.81 per cent, respectively.
The decline was much sharper in urban areas thanks to the growing demand of artisans (carpenters, masons, electricians, et cetera) in recent times. Last year’s Teamlease report had revealed that salary growth of skilled workers has been at par with young engineers. What perhaps also helps skilled workers in western Uttar Pradesh is the region’s proximity to the National Capital Region.
What is more, decline in poverty among self-employed Muslims in the the non-agriculture category has been even sharper in Uttar Pradesh, according to NSSO data.
The growing radicalisation of Hindus is perhaps a reaction to the rise in clout of Muslims.
January 15, 2016
India: Welcome To Saffron Corridor! (Ankush Vats and Amit Bhardwaj)
Tehelka, 2016-01-23 , Issue 2 Volume 13
Welcome To Saffron Corridor!
Not far from New Delhi, an army of Hindu extremists is taking shape on the ashes of Muzaffarnagar to take on ‘Islamic terror’ and ‘Muslim terrorists’. Ankush Vats and Amit Bhardwaj report from Ground Zero. Photographs by Vijay Pandey
Ankush Vats and Amit Bhardwaj
“Musalmanon ka pravesh varjit hai (Muslims not allowed)” reads a banner at the gate of the famous Devi temple at Dasna village in Ghaziabad district, 2 km down a dusty road from NH-24 and not far from the national capital. Inside, a teenager is thrashing a 10-year-old boy as the priest looks on, a smirk on his face. As the bully moves aside to get hold of a bamboo stick, the child runs and is chased until he is out of the gate.
The 10-year-old is Muslim. The priest says he had come to collect water from the temple pond. “That water is sacred,” he explains while the correspondents are being taken to meet Swami Narsinghanand Maraharaj, the mahant (head priest). “It has the power to cure diseases. I don’t understand why they [Muslims] come here when their entry is banned. They just don’t get it.”
The boy bows down to touch Swamiji’s feet, who pats his back and says triumphantly, “Aa mere sher (Come, my brave boy)”. Pramod, the ‘devotee’, cannot hear or speak and has been a regular at the temple since his childhood and is currently entrusted with keeping a watch over “intruders”. ‘Swamiji’ is no less than god to Pramod, who is also a national-level judo player and recently won a gold medal in Goa. Swamiji bears all his expenses, and had got him admitted in a school for specially abled children.
Pramod could have a promising career, perhaps, if the likes of Swamiji had not been training them in extreme Hindu fundamentalism. But that is exactly what is being done to thousands of people in western Uttar Pradesh. The result: Pramod freaks out at the sight of Muslims, no matter how poor and how familiar. He is immediately reminded of his judo lessons, imbibed with the idea that he has to fight jihadis. “If I see Muslims again, I’ll shoot them,” he explains in sign language. It seems meaningless to point out to him that the child he thrashed and drove away from the temple was 10 years old — not a ‘jihadi’ by any stretch of the imagination.
Pramod learned judo as part of the military-style training of children — the youngest participants are around eight years of age — being carried out by Hindutva outfits in western Uttar Pradesh. Swamiji and his associates have set up several training centres across the region. This is the same region where the Hindutva campaign against the “Love Jihad” trope snowballed into an anti-Muslim pogrom in the winter of 2013. That was during the run-up to the General Election that brought the BJP to power in New Delhi and was the first time since Partition that communal violence hit rural India on such a scale that thousands of Muslims, driven out of their homes, are still living in exile, so scary is the prospect of returning to their villages.
“Western UP will be the battlefield in the war between Hindus and Muslims,” Swamiji says loudly to someone over phone. An MTech from Russia and formerly known as Deepak Tyagi, Swamiji was once a prominent member of the Samajwadi Party’s youth organisation and had many Muslim friends. He left the party and joined a far-Right Hindu group due to “some personal loss” that he wants to avenge by fighting jihadis.
Swamiji believes that the Islamic State (IS) will attack India by 2020 and that Hindus must be trained to fight the jihadis. “Every Muslim in the country will side with the IS and that is why Hindus need to unite,” he thunders, while hurling abuses at Muslims, none of whom can be seen in the vicinity. “We have to save our country, our mothers, our sisters and our daughters from those devils. If we don’t unite now, it will be too late.”
The war on Muslims is not just about training Hindu boys to fight ‘jihadis’; it also involves allied tasks such as organising media briefings and campaigns to mobilise public opinion against the law taking its course, when the target is a kindred Hindu-extremist soul. So, for instance, Swamiji’s recent activities have included holding a press conference to express outrage over an FIR filed against Kamlesh Tiwari, one of his disciples, for making a snide remark on Prophet Mohammad, which led to violence in faraway West Bengal’s Malda district. Lakhs of Muslims gathered to protest against Tiwari’s statement and went on to torch Kaliachak police station and several vehicles.
With the tension in Malda yet to ease and the Centre ordering a probe, Swamiji threatens that if anything happens to Tiwari, “All hell will break loose. We will show them what we can do if they touch Tiwari.”
Hindu line don’t cross! A banner at the entrance of Dasna temple prohibits Muslims from entering the ‘sacred’ space
Hindu line don’t cross! A banner at the entrance of Dasna temple prohibits Muslims from entering the ‘sacred’ space
So what is this organisation that counts people like Swamiji among its leaders? Going by the name of ‘Hindu Swabhiman’ and active across western Uttar Pradesh, the outfit claims to stand up for the “Hindu cause” by “fighting the jihadi like a jihadi”. The stretch from Ghaziabad on Delhi’s outskirts to Saharanpur on the Uttarakhand border is fast turning into what can be aptly called the “Saffron Corridor”. Hindu Swabhiman hopes to spread their wings across the country before “Islamic jihad takes over”.
Anil Yadav, the outfit’s general secretary and a resident of the neighbouring Bamheta village, helps Swamiji in recruiting Hindu youth to organise a private militia on the lines of the Ranveer Sena of Bihar or the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. Yadav is a former state-level wrestler and currently teaches the sport to hundreds of young men in his akhada (wrestling ground). Once known for producing international wrestlers such as Jagdish Pehelwan, Vijaypal Pehelwan and Sattan Pehelwan, Bamheta has become a breeding ground for Hindutva extremists. The wrestlers, who nurture the dream of participating in the Olympics, are also taught “how to drive Muslims out of the country”.
Domination by Hindus runs so deep in the village society that Muslims who want to join the akhara have to use Hindu surnames. “They do so either due to fear or out of respect for our religion,” says Yadav.
Youth who join the outfit are trained in traditional combat skills such as sword-fighting and archery, besides unarmed combat (martial arts) and use of firearms. “They are training for the Olympics,” says Swamiji, when asked whether it is ethical to teach kids how to fight. “Can’t we teach sports inside our temple premises? What’s wrong in that?”
Combat training apart, the kids are taught that Islam is the root cause of all evil in the world and Muslims are “devils”. The lessons seem to have driven home; even eight-year-olds say they hate Muslims. A boy training at Rori village in Ghaziabad district says, “I will fight Muslims because they are a threat to the nation.” So, who is a Muslim? A brief pause and pat comes the answer: “Those who eat meat.”
Hindu Swabhiman is headed by Parminder Arya, a former soldier in the Indian Army who has a two-storey house with a sprawling compound in the village. Adjacent to this compound is another walled ground where he now runs the training centre. Most of the trainers come from Meerut, but sometimes there are a few from other parts of the country. The 70-odd “trainees” are between eight and 30 years of age.
“I don’t go door-to-door and ask parents to send their children for training,” says Arya, who claims to have fought in Kargil. “They come on their own. Anyone who is not a Muslim is welcome.”
Arya, who retired from the army in September 2011, had put in a few years of combat duty in Kashmir. “I have always worked for the Hindu cause,” he says. “The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley convinced me that Hindus must unite to save themselves from Muslims. That is why I opened this training centre four years ago. The biggest threat now is the IS. I knew that jihad would only grow more intense, so I started preparing the kids to save the country when the time comes.”
To prove his loyalty to Hindutva, Arya claims that he sent some of his boys to “protect the Hindus” during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
Rori is a Hindu-majority village dominated by Jats. In one corner of the village live the 250-odd Muslim families. Barring minor skirmishes, there have been no major incidents of a communal nature here so far. But the Muslims today are a scared lot. They see the training of Hindu boys as a sign of worse to come.
“We feel like outsiders in the village now,” says an elderly Muslim man sitting on a string-cot outside his home. “When I was young, Hindu and Muslim children used to hang out together. Now, there is a rift between the two communities.”
Indeed, the training imparted by Hindu Swabhiman may be aimed at “saving Hindus from jihadis”, but it has certainly pushed the two communities further apart and made Rori a village divided. At a mahapanchayat in Rori two months ago, where Hindus from a large number of villages congregated, the speakers hurled abuses at Muslims and the call went out that Hindus must “reunite”.
The more they sweat... Recruits, many of whom aspire to compete at the Olympics, train at an akahara in Bamheta
The more they sweat… Recruits, many of whom aspire to compete at the Olympics, train at an akhara in Bamheta
It is five in the evening and Arya’s training centre is buzzing with activity. A steady stream of boys is arriving for the day’s session. Each one walks straight up to Arya, greet hims with “Jai Shri Ram” and touches his feet.
Meet Nikhil Arya (17) and Kuldip Sharma (19) who have been attending for two years now. What brings them there? “To protect ourselves,” says Nikhil. “Self-defence,” his companion nudges him. Protection from whom? “Saare antakwadi Muslim hain, isliye unse khatra hai (Every terrorist turns out to be Muslim. That’s why they are a threat),” says Kuldip.
Arya, though, claims they are only training the boys to protect their families and save the country when the IS invades India (which, he believes, one should remember, will happen by 2020). “Why would the authorities have a problem with us?” he asks. “They, too, know that the madarsas are breeding grounds of terror.”
In Arya and Hindu Swabhiman’s “war on terror”, what about the logistics? Who bears the costs of running the training centres and how are firearms procured? Arya sounds evasive. “Hindus donate only to dhongi babas (fake godmen) so we don’t bother asking for donations,” he says. “Those who believe in our ideology and are devoted to Swamiji contribute what they can.”
The weapons, he claims, are provided by his friends. “We use licensed firearms only,” he announces with pride.
Going by Arya’s account, the “saffron corridor” extends up to Haridwar. Some training centres are run clandestinely and some openly, like the one in Rori. There are at least eight such training centres in Meerut city alone, which has a history of communal violence and simmering tension.
The Meerut centres are run under the supervision of Chetna Sharma, who is a lawyer at the Meerut District Court. But, more significantly in this context, she has been a regional convenor of Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the RSS, and is the zonal in-charge of Akhand Hindustan Morcha (AHM).
AHM was founded by Hindu hardliner and former parliamentarian BL Sharma, who quit the BJP to work full-time with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. Chetna is the ideological heir apparent and almost like an adopted daughter to the veteran. She has spearheaded campaigns against “love jihad” across western UP.
In Saharanpur city, meet Dinesh Verma turned Dinesh ‘Hindu’. He runs a clothing store and looks after Hindu Swabhiman’s activities. The work involves mobilising Hindus for campaigns against pet Hindutva peeves such as “love jihad” and cow slaughter.
‘Hindu’ came in contact with the Dasna Swamiji on WhatsApp, and then his life changed. “If the right people don’t do the right things, if we don’t hurry up, if we don’t take matters in our own hands, the day is not far when not a single Hindu would be found not just in Uttar Pradesh, but nowhere in India. They did that in Pakistan. And in Bangladesh. If we lose India to them, they will do it here as well. There will be no country for Hindus. Where will we go? Tell me, where will you go?”
That is as far as Hindutva extremism has gone into the heads of people like Dinesh ‘Hindu’. Clearly, with no stone left unturned by Swamiji, Arya and their ilk, saffron haze is spreading across the villages and small towns of western Uttar Pradesh. The army of people who believe that Muslims pose a threat to Hindus and the only way out is Hindu Swabhiman is growing. And they have no qualms allowing their children to join train for “self defence”.
While the foundation is being laid for communal havoc, the Uttar Pradesh Police seems to be taking a nap. Despite videos of Hindu Swabhiman training centres going viral on social media, the police, at least on record, deny their existence. “I am not aware of these developments regarding Hindu radicalisation and training centres,” Rajesh Kumar Singh, district superintendent of police in Modinagar, tells Tehelka. “But I will look into the matter and do what the law says.”
Roadmap for terror Hindu boys are trained at several centres along the stretch from Bamheta to Saharanpur
Roadmap for terror Hindu boys are trained at several centres along the stretch from Bamheta to Saharanpur
Meanwhile, in Rori, there are whispers that the Bahujan Samaj Party is gaining ground. “Mayawati’s party may sweep the Assembly polls next year,” speculates Pritam, who works at the block office. But what if there is a repeat of Muzaffarnagar? That would make the election all about Hindu versus Muslim, with obvious results in a Hindu-majority region where the religion card is played by the BJP ruling at the Centre and the Samajwadi Party that rules from Lucknow.
After all, in the words of the boy at Arya’s training centre, “Those who eat meat are Muslims.”
ankush.vats@tehelka.com | amit.bhardwaj@tehelka.com
Welcome To Saffron Corridor!
Not far from New Delhi, an army of Hindu extremists is taking shape on the ashes of Muzaffarnagar to take on ‘Islamic terror’ and ‘Muslim terrorists’. Ankush Vats and Amit Bhardwaj report from Ground Zero. Photographs by Vijay Pandey
Ankush Vats and Amit Bhardwaj
“Musalmanon ka pravesh varjit hai (Muslims not allowed)” reads a banner at the gate of the famous Devi temple at Dasna village in Ghaziabad district, 2 km down a dusty road from NH-24 and not far from the national capital. Inside, a teenager is thrashing a 10-year-old boy as the priest looks on, a smirk on his face. As the bully moves aside to get hold of a bamboo stick, the child runs and is chased until he is out of the gate.
The 10-year-old is Muslim. The priest says he had come to collect water from the temple pond. “That water is sacred,” he explains while the correspondents are being taken to meet Swami Narsinghanand Maraharaj, the mahant (head priest). “It has the power to cure diseases. I don’t understand why they [Muslims] come here when their entry is banned. They just don’t get it.”
The boy bows down to touch Swamiji’s feet, who pats his back and says triumphantly, “Aa mere sher (Come, my brave boy)”. Pramod, the ‘devotee’, cannot hear or speak and has been a regular at the temple since his childhood and is currently entrusted with keeping a watch over “intruders”. ‘Swamiji’ is no less than god to Pramod, who is also a national-level judo player and recently won a gold medal in Goa. Swamiji bears all his expenses, and had got him admitted in a school for specially abled children.
Pramod could have a promising career, perhaps, if the likes of Swamiji had not been training them in extreme Hindu fundamentalism. But that is exactly what is being done to thousands of people in western Uttar Pradesh. The result: Pramod freaks out at the sight of Muslims, no matter how poor and how familiar. He is immediately reminded of his judo lessons, imbibed with the idea that he has to fight jihadis. “If I see Muslims again, I’ll shoot them,” he explains in sign language. It seems meaningless to point out to him that the child he thrashed and drove away from the temple was 10 years old — not a ‘jihadi’ by any stretch of the imagination.
Pramod learned judo as part of the military-style training of children — the youngest participants are around eight years of age — being carried out by Hindutva outfits in western Uttar Pradesh. Swamiji and his associates have set up several training centres across the region. This is the same region where the Hindutva campaign against the “Love Jihad” trope snowballed into an anti-Muslim pogrom in the winter of 2013. That was during the run-up to the General Election that brought the BJP to power in New Delhi and was the first time since Partition that communal violence hit rural India on such a scale that thousands of Muslims, driven out of their homes, are still living in exile, so scary is the prospect of returning to their villages.
“Western UP will be the battlefield in the war between Hindus and Muslims,” Swamiji says loudly to someone over phone. An MTech from Russia and formerly known as Deepak Tyagi, Swamiji was once a prominent member of the Samajwadi Party’s youth organisation and had many Muslim friends. He left the party and joined a far-Right Hindu group due to “some personal loss” that he wants to avenge by fighting jihadis.
Swamiji believes that the Islamic State (IS) will attack India by 2020 and that Hindus must be trained to fight the jihadis. “Every Muslim in the country will side with the IS and that is why Hindus need to unite,” he thunders, while hurling abuses at Muslims, none of whom can be seen in the vicinity. “We have to save our country, our mothers, our sisters and our daughters from those devils. If we don’t unite now, it will be too late.”
The war on Muslims is not just about training Hindu boys to fight ‘jihadis’; it also involves allied tasks such as organising media briefings and campaigns to mobilise public opinion against the law taking its course, when the target is a kindred Hindu-extremist soul. So, for instance, Swamiji’s recent activities have included holding a press conference to express outrage over an FIR filed against Kamlesh Tiwari, one of his disciples, for making a snide remark on Prophet Mohammad, which led to violence in faraway West Bengal’s Malda district. Lakhs of Muslims gathered to protest against Tiwari’s statement and went on to torch Kaliachak police station and several vehicles.
With the tension in Malda yet to ease and the Centre ordering a probe, Swamiji threatens that if anything happens to Tiwari, “All hell will break loose. We will show them what we can do if they touch Tiwari.”
Hindu line don’t cross! A banner at the entrance of Dasna temple prohibits Muslims from entering the ‘sacred’ space
Hindu line don’t cross! A banner at the entrance of Dasna temple prohibits Muslims from entering the ‘sacred’ space
So what is this organisation that counts people like Swamiji among its leaders? Going by the name of ‘Hindu Swabhiman’ and active across western Uttar Pradesh, the outfit claims to stand up for the “Hindu cause” by “fighting the jihadi like a jihadi”. The stretch from Ghaziabad on Delhi’s outskirts to Saharanpur on the Uttarakhand border is fast turning into what can be aptly called the “Saffron Corridor”. Hindu Swabhiman hopes to spread their wings across the country before “Islamic jihad takes over”.
Anil Yadav, the outfit’s general secretary and a resident of the neighbouring Bamheta village, helps Swamiji in recruiting Hindu youth to organise a private militia on the lines of the Ranveer Sena of Bihar or the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. Yadav is a former state-level wrestler and currently teaches the sport to hundreds of young men in his akhada (wrestling ground). Once known for producing international wrestlers such as Jagdish Pehelwan, Vijaypal Pehelwan and Sattan Pehelwan, Bamheta has become a breeding ground for Hindutva extremists. The wrestlers, who nurture the dream of participating in the Olympics, are also taught “how to drive Muslims out of the country”.
Domination by Hindus runs so deep in the village society that Muslims who want to join the akhara have to use Hindu surnames. “They do so either due to fear or out of respect for our religion,” says Yadav.
Youth who join the outfit are trained in traditional combat skills such as sword-fighting and archery, besides unarmed combat (martial arts) and use of firearms. “They are training for the Olympics,” says Swamiji, when asked whether it is ethical to teach kids how to fight. “Can’t we teach sports inside our temple premises? What’s wrong in that?”
Combat training apart, the kids are taught that Islam is the root cause of all evil in the world and Muslims are “devils”. The lessons seem to have driven home; even eight-year-olds say they hate Muslims. A boy training at Rori village in Ghaziabad district says, “I will fight Muslims because they are a threat to the nation.” So, who is a Muslim? A brief pause and pat comes the answer: “Those who eat meat.”
Hindu Swabhiman is headed by Parminder Arya, a former soldier in the Indian Army who has a two-storey house with a sprawling compound in the village. Adjacent to this compound is another walled ground where he now runs the training centre. Most of the trainers come from Meerut, but sometimes there are a few from other parts of the country. The 70-odd “trainees” are between eight and 30 years of age.
“I don’t go door-to-door and ask parents to send their children for training,” says Arya, who claims to have fought in Kargil. “They come on their own. Anyone who is not a Muslim is welcome.”
Arya, who retired from the army in September 2011, had put in a few years of combat duty in Kashmir. “I have always worked for the Hindu cause,” he says. “The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley convinced me that Hindus must unite to save themselves from Muslims. That is why I opened this training centre four years ago. The biggest threat now is the IS. I knew that jihad would only grow more intense, so I started preparing the kids to save the country when the time comes.”
To prove his loyalty to Hindutva, Arya claims that he sent some of his boys to “protect the Hindus” during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
Rori is a Hindu-majority village dominated by Jats. In one corner of the village live the 250-odd Muslim families. Barring minor skirmishes, there have been no major incidents of a communal nature here so far. But the Muslims today are a scared lot. They see the training of Hindu boys as a sign of worse to come.
“We feel like outsiders in the village now,” says an elderly Muslim man sitting on a string-cot outside his home. “When I was young, Hindu and Muslim children used to hang out together. Now, there is a rift between the two communities.”
Indeed, the training imparted by Hindu Swabhiman may be aimed at “saving Hindus from jihadis”, but it has certainly pushed the two communities further apart and made Rori a village divided. At a mahapanchayat in Rori two months ago, where Hindus from a large number of villages congregated, the speakers hurled abuses at Muslims and the call went out that Hindus must “reunite”.
The more they sweat... Recruits, many of whom aspire to compete at the Olympics, train at an akahara in Bamheta
The more they sweat… Recruits, many of whom aspire to compete at the Olympics, train at an akhara in Bamheta
It is five in the evening and Arya’s training centre is buzzing with activity. A steady stream of boys is arriving for the day’s session. Each one walks straight up to Arya, greet hims with “Jai Shri Ram” and touches his feet.
Meet Nikhil Arya (17) and Kuldip Sharma (19) who have been attending for two years now. What brings them there? “To protect ourselves,” says Nikhil. “Self-defence,” his companion nudges him. Protection from whom? “Saare antakwadi Muslim hain, isliye unse khatra hai (Every terrorist turns out to be Muslim. That’s why they are a threat),” says Kuldip.
Arya, though, claims they are only training the boys to protect their families and save the country when the IS invades India (which, he believes, one should remember, will happen by 2020). “Why would the authorities have a problem with us?” he asks. “They, too, know that the madarsas are breeding grounds of terror.”
In Arya and Hindu Swabhiman’s “war on terror”, what about the logistics? Who bears the costs of running the training centres and how are firearms procured? Arya sounds evasive. “Hindus donate only to dhongi babas (fake godmen) so we don’t bother asking for donations,” he says. “Those who believe in our ideology and are devoted to Swamiji contribute what they can.”
The weapons, he claims, are provided by his friends. “We use licensed firearms only,” he announces with pride.
Going by Arya’s account, the “saffron corridor” extends up to Haridwar. Some training centres are run clandestinely and some openly, like the one in Rori. There are at least eight such training centres in Meerut city alone, which has a history of communal violence and simmering tension.
The Meerut centres are run under the supervision of Chetna Sharma, who is a lawyer at the Meerut District Court. But, more significantly in this context, she has been a regional convenor of Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the RSS, and is the zonal in-charge of Akhand Hindustan Morcha (AHM).
AHM was founded by Hindu hardliner and former parliamentarian BL Sharma, who quit the BJP to work full-time with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. Chetna is the ideological heir apparent and almost like an adopted daughter to the veteran. She has spearheaded campaigns against “love jihad” across western UP.
In Saharanpur city, meet Dinesh Verma turned Dinesh ‘Hindu’. He runs a clothing store and looks after Hindu Swabhiman’s activities. The work involves mobilising Hindus for campaigns against pet Hindutva peeves such as “love jihad” and cow slaughter.
‘Hindu’ came in contact with the Dasna Swamiji on WhatsApp, and then his life changed. “If the right people don’t do the right things, if we don’t hurry up, if we don’t take matters in our own hands, the day is not far when not a single Hindu would be found not just in Uttar Pradesh, but nowhere in India. They did that in Pakistan. And in Bangladesh. If we lose India to them, they will do it here as well. There will be no country for Hindus. Where will we go? Tell me, where will you go?”
That is as far as Hindutva extremism has gone into the heads of people like Dinesh ‘Hindu’. Clearly, with no stone left unturned by Swamiji, Arya and their ilk, saffron haze is spreading across the villages and small towns of western Uttar Pradesh. The army of people who believe that Muslims pose a threat to Hindus and the only way out is Hindu Swabhiman is growing. And they have no qualms allowing their children to join train for “self defence”.
While the foundation is being laid for communal havoc, the Uttar Pradesh Police seems to be taking a nap. Despite videos of Hindu Swabhiman training centres going viral on social media, the police, at least on record, deny their existence. “I am not aware of these developments regarding Hindu radicalisation and training centres,” Rajesh Kumar Singh, district superintendent of police in Modinagar, tells Tehelka. “But I will look into the matter and do what the law says.”
Roadmap for terror Hindu boys are trained at several centres along the stretch from Bamheta to Saharanpur
Roadmap for terror Hindu boys are trained at several centres along the stretch from Bamheta to Saharanpur
Meanwhile, in Rori, there are whispers that the Bahujan Samaj Party is gaining ground. “Mayawati’s party may sweep the Assembly polls next year,” speculates Pritam, who works at the block office. But what if there is a repeat of Muzaffarnagar? That would make the election all about Hindu versus Muslim, with obvious results in a Hindu-majority region where the religion card is played by the BJP ruling at the Centre and the Samajwadi Party that rules from Lucknow.
After all, in the words of the boy at Arya’s training centre, “Those who eat meat are Muslims.”
ankush.vats@tehelka.com | amit.bhardwaj@tehelka.com
September 13, 2013
India: Fleeing Muzaffarnagar riots, over 500 families seek refuge at Delhi's doorstep
From: The Times of India
Fleeing riots, over 500 families seek refuge at Delhi's doorstep
Maria Akram, TNN | Sep 13, 2013, 06.03 AM IST
LONI (GHAZIABAD): When she is playing, Parveen forgets her plight and the terror from which her family of six escaped on Sunday night. While fleeing the riot-affected Nala village in Muzaffarnagar district, the 10-year-old and her sister Muskaan (4) were separated from their parents and brothers. But here in Loni, where around 500 riot displaced families have found refuge, an older boy, Shahrukh, has taken the girls under his wing. "My three sisters didn't make it on the train," said the 17-year-old whose 13 family members are missing. "These two are like my lost sisters."
In Loni, refugees from different riot-affected villages are helping each other survive and overcome their sense of fear and loss. It is a Muslim majority area with a large part of the population originally from Muzaffarnagar district. "More than 500 families have already arrived here and more are pouring in every day. But not a single leader has paid us a visit. The residents of Loni have donated clothes and some money to help the refugees buy rations," said Naushad Saifi, a native of Lankh village in Muzaffarnagar district, who works at a bank in Delhi.
"I have three daughters and two sons and the moment we got to know that the rioters were marching towards our village, Nala, we ran. There was no time to take our belongings. For a night we hid in a wheat field and got on a train the next morning. Many from our village have relatives in Loni," said Ruksana Begum rolling perfectly round chapattis between her hands.
The locals have decided to house the refugees free of cost for a month. "My husband is looking for work in and around Loni as going back isn't an option. The locals have told us that they will not charge rent for a month but after that we will have to pay or vacate this place," said Islaman, a mother of two kids aged less than four years. She added that all 38 houses in her village, Doghat, were looted and burned.
But for the riots, Ruksana (20) from Baghpat would have got married on Tuesday. "Everything was planned. We arranged everything from gold to gifts. Even our relatives had arrived from different villages. But we had to run for our lives. Our house that was lit up in celebration was burning when we saw it again from a distance," said Hajra Begum, Ruksana's mother, while the girl herself remained quiet. She was worried about her fiance.
Ikramuddin from Baghpat said he feels let down by the police and the ruling Samajwadi Party, and alleged that they are responsible for the riots. "When my house was looted and burned I went to the police. But instead of helping me, they said I had started the fire and sustained injuries from it. They threatened to put me in jail if I insisted on filing a complaint."
All the refugees TOI met expressed strong feelings against the Samajwadi Party, saying it had used them like a vote bank. "My uncle was killed and my younger brother is missing. When I went to a Samajwadi Party leader for help, he refused. During elections, they would have tea with us and now when we need them, they are hiding. They have lost our trust," said a white-bearded Haji Mehmood.
Many of the refugees have decided not to return. "The tension was simmering for very long and all the political parties knew that something like this was waiting to happen. The death toll is much higher than the official figure. We were threatened to leave or be killed," said Mehboob, a barber from Kudba village.
Fleeing riots, over 500 families seek refuge at Delhi's doorstep
Maria Akram, TNN | Sep 13, 2013, 06.03 AM IST
LONI (GHAZIABAD): When she is playing, Parveen forgets her plight and the terror from which her family of six escaped on Sunday night. While fleeing the riot-affected Nala village in Muzaffarnagar district, the 10-year-old and her sister Muskaan (4) were separated from their parents and brothers. But here in Loni, where around 500 riot displaced families have found refuge, an older boy, Shahrukh, has taken the girls under his wing. "My three sisters didn't make it on the train," said the 17-year-old whose 13 family members are missing. "These two are like my lost sisters."
In Loni, refugees from different riot-affected villages are helping each other survive and overcome their sense of fear and loss. It is a Muslim majority area with a large part of the population originally from Muzaffarnagar district. "More than 500 families have already arrived here and more are pouring in every day. But not a single leader has paid us a visit. The residents of Loni have donated clothes and some money to help the refugees buy rations," said Naushad Saifi, a native of Lankh village in Muzaffarnagar district, who works at a bank in Delhi.
"I have three daughters and two sons and the moment we got to know that the rioters were marching towards our village, Nala, we ran. There was no time to take our belongings. For a night we hid in a wheat field and got on a train the next morning. Many from our village have relatives in Loni," said Ruksana Begum rolling perfectly round chapattis between her hands.
The locals have decided to house the refugees free of cost for a month. "My husband is looking for work in and around Loni as going back isn't an option. The locals have told us that they will not charge rent for a month but after that we will have to pay or vacate this place," said Islaman, a mother of two kids aged less than four years. She added that all 38 houses in her village, Doghat, were looted and burned.
But for the riots, Ruksana (20) from Baghpat would have got married on Tuesday. "Everything was planned. We arranged everything from gold to gifts. Even our relatives had arrived from different villages. But we had to run for our lives. Our house that was lit up in celebration was burning when we saw it again from a distance," said Hajra Begum, Ruksana's mother, while the girl herself remained quiet. She was worried about her fiance.
Ikramuddin from Baghpat said he feels let down by the police and the ruling Samajwadi Party, and alleged that they are responsible for the riots. "When my house was looted and burned I went to the police. But instead of helping me, they said I had started the fire and sustained injuries from it. They threatened to put me in jail if I insisted on filing a complaint."
All the refugees TOI met expressed strong feelings against the Samajwadi Party, saying it had used them like a vote bank. "My uncle was killed and my younger brother is missing. When I went to a Samajwadi Party leader for help, he refused. During elections, they would have tea with us and now when we need them, they are hiding. They have lost our trust," said a white-bearded Haji Mehmood.
Many of the refugees have decided not to return. "The tension was simmering for very long and all the political parties knew that something like this was waiting to happen. The death toll is much higher than the official figure. We were threatened to leave or be killed," said Mehboob, a barber from Kudba village.
December 24, 2008
Ghaziabad Communal tension
MAIL TODAY, December 24, 2008
Communal rivalry claims a life in Ghaziabad
By Akash Vashishtha in Ghaziabad
A VIOLENT attack by a mob of a rival community on a group of eight people near Dehra village has left one person dead and a dozen others injured.
Contingents of the UP Provincial Armed Constabulary have been deployed in the area to prevent flaring up of communal conflict and any further attacks on the inhabitants of the area.
The district administration is closely monitoring the situation with deputy inspector general of police ( DIG) Aditya Mishra himself supervising the operations.
Police have already prevented a face- off situation between the residents of both villages — Dehra and Bajhera — after the news of attack spread.
The eight persons — Giriraj Sharma, Rajendra Sharma, Somvir, Surendra, Gajendra, Sunder, Ajay and Sonu — are from Bajhera village.
They were attacked and beaten up by an armed mob of around 40 men from nearby Dehra village around midnight on Monday. The victims were going for work at the Coca Cola factory in Ghaziabad.
One of the severely injured people, Giriraj Sharma, was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Post- mortem investigation was conducted during the night.
“ It was a fight for honour and our religious beliefs,” Prakash Singh, a resident of the area said. The recent clash between the groups of the two villages is part of a prolonged Hindu- Muslim rivalry. Significantly, Bajhera village is dominated by Brahmin community while the Dehra village is a Muslim dominated area.
“ A case under the IPC Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 302 and 504 has been registered against 12 people on the complaint of Rajendra Sharma, a Bajhera resident. The rest are being identified,” said L. Ravi Kumar, SSP .
Communal rivalry claims a life in Ghaziabad
By Akash Vashishtha in Ghaziabad
A VIOLENT attack by a mob of a rival community on a group of eight people near Dehra village has left one person dead and a dozen others injured.
Contingents of the UP Provincial Armed Constabulary have been deployed in the area to prevent flaring up of communal conflict and any further attacks on the inhabitants of the area.
The district administration is closely monitoring the situation with deputy inspector general of police ( DIG) Aditya Mishra himself supervising the operations.
Police have already prevented a face- off situation between the residents of both villages — Dehra and Bajhera — after the news of attack spread.
The eight persons — Giriraj Sharma, Rajendra Sharma, Somvir, Surendra, Gajendra, Sunder, Ajay and Sonu — are from Bajhera village.
They were attacked and beaten up by an armed mob of around 40 men from nearby Dehra village around midnight on Monday. The victims were going for work at the Coca Cola factory in Ghaziabad.
One of the severely injured people, Giriraj Sharma, was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Post- mortem investigation was conducted during the night.
“ It was a fight for honour and our religious beliefs,” Prakash Singh, a resident of the area said. The recent clash between the groups of the two villages is part of a prolonged Hindu- Muslim rivalry. Significantly, Bajhera village is dominated by Brahmin community while the Dehra village is a Muslim dominated area.
“ A case under the IPC Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 302 and 504 has been registered against 12 people on the complaint of Rajendra Sharma, a Bajhera resident. The rest are being identified,” said L. Ravi Kumar, SSP .
July 30, 2008
Land Dispute cum Communal clash: Loni, Delhi - UP border: some news reports
Loni shrine row ignites mob fury, police post set afire
by Lalit Kumar,TNN (Times of India, 25 July 2008)
Tension prevails in Loni after violence over eviction drive
IANS, July 25th, 2008
Land dispute turns communal
by Peeyush Khandelwal, Loni (Hindustan Times, July 25, 2008)
12 injured in Ghaziabad clash (Lucknow Newsline, Express News Service, July 25, 2008)
Cops injured, 19 held for Loni violence
by Lalit Kumar ,TNN (Times of India, 26 Jul 2008)
Situation in violence-hit Loni town under control (The Hindu)
by Lalit Kumar,TNN (Times of India, 25 July 2008)
Tension prevails in Loni after violence over eviction drive
IANS, July 25th, 2008
Land dispute turns communal
by Peeyush Khandelwal, Loni (Hindustan Times, July 25, 2008)
12 injured in Ghaziabad clash (Lucknow Newsline, Express News Service, July 25, 2008)
Cops injured, 19 held for Loni violence
by Lalit Kumar ,TNN (Times of India, 26 Jul 2008)
Situation in violence-hit Loni town under control (The Hindu)
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