Author: Lekha Agarwal
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: July 16, 2006
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/8578.html
Introduction: Citizens get to work
Candle-light vigils, mohalla committee meetings,
shraddhanjali, condolence meetings, and finally, public dialogue.
From students and professionals to social
workers and policemen, Mumbai is leaping to do everything to ensure that the
cosmopolitan heart of the country does not burn in the wake of the serial
blasts.
''One spark, that's all it takes to provoke
a communal incident,'' says Shakeel Ahmed of the Nirbhay Bano Andolan, a social
organisation working for communal harmony. The activists are not the only
ones who know-riots after the Godhra incident left 793 Muslims and 293 Hindus
dead, according to official figures. So Mumbai's peace soldiers are busy,
keeping religion-based animosity at bay.
Activist Teesta Setalvad's Citizens For Justice
and Peace (CJP)-it was formed in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots-is planning
a mass contact programme in trains and among citizens, to assuage fears and
suspicions.
Small public meetings across the island city,
especially in communally sensitive areas like Mira Road and Bhayander, are
also on the cards. Meanwhile, social workers like S S Sanjeev are mobilising
locals with the message of communal harmony. ''Local representatives from
traditionally riot-prone areas are getting together,'' says Sanjeev.
In fact, in the bylanes of Muslim-dominated
Jogeshwari, in ghettos like Meghwadi and Gandhinagar, locals cutting across
religious barriers have enlisted their support to the police and have even
submitted a memorandum seeking that political parties be restrained from provoking
violence.
Behind it all is a single idea: De-polarise
communal tension; despite the blasts, Mumbai must stay peaceful.
