Nuh Violence: Neither Spontaneous nor Provocative

The orgy of violence, mayhem and rampant destruction in the Nuh riots led to the death of 6 individuals and left over 60 severely injured. At the heart of these communal tensions is once again a Hindu procession and the Muslim stone pelting. The regularity of the attacks reflects the failure of law-and-order agencies and the absence of a strong deterrent action.

Considering the alarming frequency of such attacks, these events ceased to be one of the stray instances, but in fact, have turned out to be a recurrent spectacle. The intensity and its periodicity have increased disproportionately.  These attacks also have become an added accompaniment to the Hindu festivals. This disturbing trend of Hindu festivals coming under attack in one corner of the country or another being plagued by some controversy raises serious questions about the religious freedom of the majority community of the country.

The violence in Nuh belied the causal vindication of it being “spontaneous” with overwhelming direct witness accounts and evidence suggesting otherwise. For the attack to be spontaneous, the procession should have at least travelled some distance. Barely 10 minutes after the procession started from the temple, projectiles from the hilltops surrounding the temple started hitting the people directly.

As per the first witness accounts a mob of over 600-800 people charged towards the temple shouting “Allahu Akbar” and “Pakistan Zindabad” and charged the Hindus with stones, iron rods, and rifles shots were fired in the air. The hapless Hindus reportedly took shelter in the temple till the security troops arrived. This chain of events outrightly demolishes the “spontaneity” theory floated around by the commentariat and shatters the charges of “provocation” as this religious ritual has been an annual affair. On the contrary, it lends credence to Chief Minister M. L. Khattar’s remarks of Nuh violence as “pre-planned” and points to a bigger conspiracy. 

In May, Haryana police busted a cyber fraud of Rs. 100 crores and arrested 65 people. The district has been a breeding ground for cybercrime and the groups extort the people through sextortion. The conspiracy in question perhaps points to an attempt by a group of rioters to attack and burn down the Cyber Police station which contained the records of the cybercrime.

As a seat of Tabligi Jamaat, the district comprising over 87% Muslim population nicknamed as Mini Pakistan has been a communal cauldron. The region is sensitive not because of its Muslim population, but because the Jamaat has extensive connections with Madrassas and Masjids across the sub-continent and shelters Rohingyas. Inhabited by Meo Muslims, who were originally Chauhans during the 17^th century, demanded a separate Meostan at the time of partition. This region has witnessed waves of conversions, reconversions, and religious radicalisation as well.

In lieu of the recent crackdown on Cybercrime in the district carried by the youth of age group 18-35 and numerous fake videos circulated to stoke communal tensions, the State law and order agencies should have been more vigilant having granted permission for the Hindu yatra. The quick flareup of tensions and its rapid spread to the neighbouring areas once again reiterates the observation that Nuh violence is a pre-planned and well-coordinated act.

For all the aforementioned reasons, the dubious alibi of labelling any group activity of Hindu as “provocative” is preposterous. By perennially cultivating the contentious discourse of Hindu yatra entering a Muslim-dominated region as taboo, the left-liberal commentariat has provided a smoke screen for the ghettoization of Muslims in certain pockets which have tuned into no-go areas. This inadvertently bestowed Muslims' legitimacy over those spaces where entry of any other community is denied. These fabricated narratives over a period of time besides segregating the geographical spaces have sowed divisions between communities.

This template of Muslim-dominated spaces being kosher to others was used to defend attacks on Hindus in India for centuries now. Unfortunately, this discourse is now longer Indian-centric. This contentious argument is extended to Hindus across the globe. Ascribing the peaceful rally of Hindus chanting, “Jai Shri Ram” in Leicestershire through alleged Muslim-dominated regions as provocation targeted attacks on houses, properties, and businesses have been condoned. Terming the sloganeering as “Hindutvavaadi”, anti-Hindu rhetoric was peddled and a Hindu temple was vandalized and defaced.

Be it in India or on foreign shores, “Jai Shri Ram” is deemed as the rise of Hindutva and on the contrary, the war cry of “Allahu Akbar” is treated as an affirmation of faith. The global commentariat which jumps the gun to demonize Hindutva is wary of calling out “Islamisation” for their targeted attacks. The vulnerable Hindu micro minorities in foreign lands are not extended the similar privilege extended to Muslims globally.  

This pan-global narrative of carefully insulating Muslim sentiments from being offended is now a norm among left-liberal academicians and intellectuals. Calling out the self-righteousness of the PEN American Centre for conferring the annual Freedom of Expression courage award to Charlie Hebdo, in 2015 six writers withdrew from the awards fest. The writers wrote, “All this is complicated by PEN’s seeming blindness to the cultural arrogance of the French nation, which does not recognise its moral obligation to a large and disempowered segment of their population”¹.

This perhaps has a set precedent for the Award Wapsi Movement in India, who returned their prestigious award citing intolerance in the country. This dominant narrative of the vulnerability of Muslims has got them a free pass. Whitewashing their violence has been the obvious fallout.

Any attempt to call out the religious extremism of Muslims is automatically censured as Islamophobia. Bolstering this victimhood of Muslims, the UNGA passed a resolution to combat Islamophobia and declared March 15^th as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

Unfortunately, Hindus the dominant community in India which suffers due to religious zealotry of the second largest majority, Muslims are labelled as perpetrators. Reports published in The Hindustan Times state that ahead of the Yatra, WhatsApp groups were formed and responsibilities were assigned for gathering stones and glass bottles to be thrown at the procession. Predominant apologia offered for the attack is that Monu Manesar, allegedly responsible for the killing of two Muslim youths expressed his interest to join the procession. Is this vigilante justice any excuse to target the devotees who have gathered to perform the ritualistic practice of carrying Yamuna waters to Mathura as part of the Jalabhisheka tenable?

This dangerous trend of condoning acts of violence helmed by jaundiced narratives decrying and denouncing any serious investigation on targeted attacks against Hindus for matters of political correctness is unacceptable. Blinded discernment in the face of burgeoning communal flareups can be disastrous. Systemic demonising of the majority community for every communal eruption is illogical.  Prolonged denial of justice can in long term buttress identitarianism and deepen the fissures.

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