Engineering riots for land

0
762

Several thousand riot survivors are braving – some of them have succumbed to – the cruel chilly winter in makeshift relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of Uttar Pradesh. Congress vice president and the likely prime ministerial candidate of the ruling party Rahul Gandhi visited some of the camps two days ago and asked the victims to go back to their homes. He said some politically motivated individuals and groups are dissuading them from returning to native places. He is right.

In the last 11 years, three major communal riots have occurred in three different states – Gujarat (2002), Assam (2012) and Uttar Pradesh (2013). In all the three incidents, over a hundred thousand Muslims were forced out of their homes and villages, and they had to take refuge in relief camps. A set pattern has been observed in all these cases – to uproot Muslims from their homes and lands. But this sinister plan of riot engineers has not been fully understood by governments and the victim community.

In Gujarat and Assam, and now in Muzaffarnagar of Uttar Pradesh, some well-wishers of the victims purchased vast barren lands and erected one-room homes for hundreds of victims. In the Muzaffarngar case, the government of Uttar Pradesh has itself asked victims to take Rs 5 lakh as compensation and forgo their right on native homes and lands forever. This was done apparently sympathetically and to rehabilitate the victims in a new area as it was said they can’t return to their original places where their dear ones were killed and modesty of their women outraged.

But is rehabilitation of communal riots victims in a new place a wise idea? To live in relief camps for months or a year is one thing, but to forgo their right on native homes and lands forever is altogether different. Doesn’t it embolden the rioters and riot engineers to target another minority-dominated area, kill them and uproot them and capture their homes and lands?

The map of India is dotted with communal riots. But never in the history of Independent India, have riot victims been pushed out of their homes forever. There is a need to understand the new modus operandi the riot engineers have adopted in the last 11 years. Rioters and riot engineers are always in a small minority. Majority of an area has never been involved in rioting – not even in Muzaffarnagar. There is an urgent need to reach that majority. Efforts should be made to cool down hostility and single out the rioters and establish peace and communal harmony. Both the community and the state should play their role in making the environment conducive for the return of the victims. To live a dignified life, victims have no alternative other than rehabilitation at their native places.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here