ON Friday, June 3, in Kanpur, immediately after the Namaaz, clashes broke out in one particular locality, Yatimkhana-Parade Crossing.  There was brick-batting, a few people were injured and hospitalised and the immediate intervention by the police ensured that the clash ended within half an hour.  Compared to clashes in earlier years which led to rioting and spread to other parts of the city and which saw police firing claiming several lives, what happened on the 3rd was not a very serious affair but it has dominated headlines and TV channels for several days. Large numbers of Muslims have been arrested, some of them under NSA and other draconian laws, threats of bulldozing of their homes are being held out to several Muslim families and the administration is alleging that the incident was the result of a widespread conspiracy.

What are the facts?  Nupur Sharma, then official spokesperson of the BJP, on a national news channel made a highly objectionable statement regarding the Prophet Mohammad on a national channel.  This was followed by a similar statement by Naveen Jindal, a prominent BJP leader of Delhi. These statements were not isolated but are part of an unending series of public abuse of Muslims, their religious beliefs and open threats to rape Muslim women and kill Muslim men.  Combined with the heightened communal feelings and deep sense of insecurity among Muslims created by this and by interventions by courts on the issues of Gyanvyapi Mosque, Mathura Eidgah in contravention of the 1991 Protection of Religious Places Act, Muslims everywhere are feeling outraged and humiliated.  While these statements and interventions have been condemned by secular organisations, the government has chosen to ignore them and, in fact, give them its tacit support.  

This situation is being exploited by opportunist and fundamentalist Muslim organisations and it is to the credit of millions of Muslims all over the country that they have reacted with great restraint and patience.

Unfortunately in Kanpur, the leader of an outfit named MMA Jauhar Fans Association, along with his colleagues gave a call for closing of shops by Muslims in protest against abuse of the Prophet on Friday, June 3, the very day that the president and prime minister of India were to visit the adjacent district of Kanpur Dehat. Posters for this appeared in many of the Muslim-dominated areas of the city.  It seems that in Manipur and West Bengal the PFI gave a call for a similar ‘bandh’ on the same date.  

While the reason for the closure of shops was one that resonated with the Muslims in the city, many of them closed their shops in the morning and then opened them after the Namaaz.  There was no untoward incident anywhere except Yatimkhana-Parade even though there are many mixed areas and mixed markets.

In Yatimkhana-Parade, as large numbers of Muslims streamed out of the mosque, some of them went towards the shops owned by non-Muslims.  None of these was harmed.  It was when they came near a large compound inhabited by Hindus which has seen clashes in the past that the trouble started.  There are conflicting reports about who threw the first stone but it is accepted that brickbatting was indulged in by both sides and the Muslims were more numerous.  As has been said already, there were no casualties and it was all over in half an hour.  Even after news and rumours about this clash spread all over the city, there was not a single incident of any kind.

The administration has made sensational claims of a well organised conspiracy behind these incidents but has not said a single word about the initial provocation provided by the highly objectionable statements by BJP leaders. It has only half-heartedly accepted that there was a failure on its part to have not taken precautionary measures and this is being attributed to the VIP visits on that day. There is no excuse, however, for the lack of security personnel at this very sensitive spot in the city.

While those involved in giving a call for the bandh and printing and pasting the posters have been arrested under NSA and links with PFI are being alleged, it is also true that scores of Muslim men and minors have been arrested.  A poster with the photographs of 40 Muslims has been issued by the police with the dire warning that their homes will be bulldozed.  No action at all is being taken against the ‘other side’ that also participated in brick-batting. In fact, a tweet from the district magistrate, Kanpur, made on June 6 in which she said that offenders of all communities would be proceeded against was actually taken down.  She has since been transferred out of Kanpur. There can be no doubt that all this is being done on the orders of CM Yogi.

The CPI(M) state secretariat had decided in its meeting in May, that ‘Bhaichara’ conventions would be held all over the state.  Preparations have been started by several district committees and the response has been very favourable.  People of all communities want peace and an end to communal polarisation.  The events in Kanpur show that this programme needs to be taken up with even more urgency.