Author: Balbir K Punj
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 15, 2006
If anyone throws stones at policemen, we will
answer them with bullets." That was no Narendra 'Milosevic' Modi defending
Gujarat Police for firing that resulted in the death of two Muslims in Vadodara.
That was Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister cum Home Minister RR Patil defending
his State police for shooting down two Muslim rioters in Bhiwandi. The Government
in question is not the 'communal' BJP; it is the 'secular' Democratic Front
(Congress and NCP).
Yet, there are striking parallels between
what happened in Bhiwandi recently and what had happened in Vadodara in May
last. At Vadodara, a dargah that obstructed a busy road was sought to be dismantled
by the municipal corporation under orders of the Gujarat High Court. The court
had ordered to pull down or relocate 1,200 Hindu and Jain temples and 260
Muslim shrines. By the time Vadodara erupted, 42 temples and three Muslim
shrines had already been pulled down without resistance. But Muslim anti-social
elements supported by 'secularists' were hell bent upon fomenting trouble
at the earliest.
At Bhiwandi, the town of power-looms in north-eastern
Maharashtra, it was regarding the construction of a police station near Quarter
Gate mosque in Nizampur area. While everybody appreciates the value of a police
station nearby for reasons of ensuring law and order, Muslims of Nizampur
evidently did not. Their argument was that the land belonged to them. The
local Raza Academy and Qabristan Committee claim the land to be theirs. The
land, nominally a graveyard, is actually disputed. Symbolic of this contention
is the fact that no burial takes place in that graveyard. Maharashtra Police
has always claimed the land to be theirs, emphasising the urgency to construct
a police station there.
Police Commissioner of Thane D Sivanandan
informed the media that the land in question was a police property since 1920.
But Raza Academy moved to court saying that the land was a Wakf property.
The court verdict went in favour of the police and against Raza Academy. Yet,
Congress Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh dithered to go ahead when Dalit
political outfit Bhim Shakti petitioned him saying that the land belonged
to the Wakf board. He decided to go ahead in favour of the police station
when DGP, Maharashtra furnished documentary evidence that the land was a public
property belonging to the PWD.
On Wednesday July 5 as the construction started,
a Muslim mob gathered to protest against the works. The site was attacked
by the mob. According to local police sources, some mobsters fired four rounds
at the police from foreign-made pistols. The police opened 28 rounds of fire
that killed two Muslims - Mohammed Ramzan (20) and Malik Abdul Khalik (50).
But nemesis caught up with the police that night. Two police constables Ramesh
Jagtap and Bala Gangurde who were deployed on the Rajiv Gandhi flyover nearby
were brutally stoned by a Muslim mob and their skulls were broken open. The
frenzied rioters reportedly also stabbed them and burnt their bodies. A total
of 35 people, mostly policemen, were hurt in the violence.
The violence has effectively stalled the construction.
The Maharashtra Government, sensing more trouble at the funeral of two dead
Muslims, deployed 800 local cops, eight companies of the State Reserve Police
Force and two of the Rapid Action Force, who ensured the funeral passed off
peacefully.
Bhiwandi follows the predictable path of Vadodara.
In both the places, a particular faith undermines the authority of law enforcers.
In Vadodara on May 1, when the officials of the Municipal Corporation arrived
to demolish the dargah and reclaim the land as public property, a Muslim mob
attacked them with stones. The officials had been given police protection,
but mobsters pelted stones on the police as well. The mob stabbed to death
two innocent Hindu passers-by, attacked the local court and hospital creating
mayhem. When the police opened fire in self-defence, two mobsters succumbed
to the bullets. On the night of May 3, a mob attacked the Navapura police
station and burnt down a bakery in Khanderao Market.
In Bhiwandi, the police have directly been
under assault of Muslim mobs. Revenge was taken on the police at night. Interestingly,
Maharashtra is not ruled by BJP-Shiv Sena but the Congress-NCP combine, which
has denied professional 'secularists' a 'communal carnage' demonstration opportunity.
Hence no fact-finding team of Shabnam Hashmi of Anhad, Harsh Mander and Prasad
Chock might visit Bhiwandi, unlike Vadodara, to label the death of two Muslims
an act of Hindutva politics. Nor will Teesta Setalvad surface in news for
the time being. Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil who said that miscreants, irrespective
of their religion, would be severely penalised, should be complimented. Prompted
by the BJP-Sena Opposition, a probe has been assured against Samajwadi Party
MP Abu Asim Azmi.
Equally commendable is Mr Patil's statement
that the police, having documentary evidence in their favour, would go ahead
with the construction unless somebody could prove it is a Wakf property. One
remembers how in the past more than one 'secular' Chief Minister of neighbouring
Karnataka had tried to stall Republic and Independence Day celebrations in
a public ground in Hubli saying it was a Wakf property though the court had
rejected that claim. In 2004, Congress Chief Minister Dharam Singh got Ms
Uma Bharati arrested for hoisting flag on that ground more than 10 years ago.
This is how 'secularists' have undermined the secular majesty of law and emboldened
communalists.
Thanks to such encouraging gestures from secularists,
Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and hundreds of monuments from the Muslim era are being
claimed as Wakf properties. One remembers how in 1993 Muslim organisations
of Mumbai used to conduct mass namaz on streets and neighbourhoods creating
a civic nuisance for Mumbaikars. It was only on the VHP starting a maha-arti
as a counter - joined by tens of thousands of ordinary Hindus - that Muslim
organisations discontinued their super-namaz. The Anti-Terrorism Squad of
Maharashtra Police is working overtime to solve the case of large RDX, weaponry
and ammunition haul in Nasik, Aurangabad and Malegaon last May.
The role of LeT and Bangladeshi connections
have come to light. As recently as June 28, Maharashtra Police seized a large
quantity of explosives and arrested seven suspects from the Akluj town, in
Solapur district. Maharashtra exemplifies that the entire rashtra (nation),
with its 'secularism' and all, is experiencing a grave threat from Islamic
assertiveness.
