Aiming at minority extermination, again

The destruction spree by authorities using government bulldozers started by demolishing around 350 houses, small shops and around 50 buildings, during the anti-Muslim communal attacks that erupted at the end of July in Nuh district of Haryana, a state adjacent to the national capital, has been halted for the time being by the suo motu intervention of the Punjab-Haryana High Court. After last year's communal attacks in nine states on the occasion of Ram Navami-Hanuman Jayanti processions, what has happened now in Haryana is a repetition of the planned ethnic cleansing program following a religious procession. It has by now become clear that the Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra and the killing of six people including the imam of a mosque in Mewat region, and the bulldozer operation were engineered by the accused in the terrorist incident of lynching of two people in Rajasthan last February. In other words, the same pattern of incidents including processions marching through Muslim settlements carrying sticks and weapons, shouting highly provocative slogans, followed by a campaign of stone pelting, and finally murder, widespread arson, looting, fleeing of innocent people including women and children, destruction of places of worship, is a phenomenon that repeats itself. It is a fact that past commissions of inquiry have revealed that this is a planned extermination operation unleashed on the largest religious minority in the country, but the government and the police, let alone intervene, abet the attackers. The Justice Srikrishna Commission, which investigated the 1993 Mumbai riots, has underlined this point. But till date no corrective action has been taken in this regard. This inaction becomes the catalyst for more and more destructive programs. The BJP government here also adopted the bulldozer practice started by the Yogi Adityanath government in UP and Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh. This government also claims that they are demolishing illegal buildings. Then there is no answer to the question why notice was not given to the owners of illegal construction before the riots. The question is: why did they wait to demolish houses, shops and buildings until the eruption of communal attacks? As per credible reports, 350 huts, hotels and restaurants were razed in Haryana's Gurugram without any warning to their owners or users before they were razed. Among those bulldozed, there were 50 concrete buildings too. It must be assumed that the program of destruction would have continued unabated had the High Court not intervened on its own. It is also clear that there is no point in expecting any humanitarian intervention from the government led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, a hardcore RSS man, when the state home minister justifies these measures.

In Haryana with a population of 2.54 crore, only 20,30,730 or 7.03 percent are Muslims. Nuh is the only Muslim majority district. In the Mewat region, the educationally and socially backward minority group is known as the Meo Muslims. The occupation of a majority of them is cattle rearing and related trade. They earn their living in small scale industries and trades. A three-storied commercial building was demolished after stones were alleged to be pelted at the VHP procession from its top. But information has also emerged that the stone-pelting was a doctored act. In any case, as in the Gujarat riots of February 2002, one should not be surprised if this too ends up in prosecution of the victims and the escape of the real rioters. For, the Sangh Parivar is waiting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after completing all the preparations to declare India a Hindu Rashtra. Thus their goal is a minority-free, secularism-free India. And the dream of Sangh Parivar can be thwarted only if the secular opposition makes a concerted effort to stem this menace.