Bihar Muslim leaders see ‘political hands’ behind Muzaffarpur riot

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By Mumtaz Alam, IndiaTomorrow.net,
Muzaffarpur / New Delhi, 20 Jan 2015: Even as the Bihar government has initiated probe into the Sunday violence in the Muslim-dominated Azizpur village of Muzaffarpur district, state Muslim leaders see a ‘clear political conspiracy’ behind the ghastly incident wherein at least six people were burnt alive and around 50 houses and several vehicles were set afire. The approaching Assembly elections in the state, they say, have lot to do with the communal violence that was triggered by the recovery of body of a missing Hindu youth.

The 19-year-old Bhartendu Sahni, resident of Bahilwara village, barely two kilometres away from Azizpur, went missing nine days ago and a police FIR was properly lodged by his parents. His body was found in a field in Azizpur on Sunday. Within an hour a mob of over 5000 people from Sahni’s village came up to Azizpur and set houses and vehicles on fire. Six people were reportedly burnt alive.

“Politics can be clearly seen in this incident. When the body (of the Hindu boy) was found in a field, both Hindu and Muslim villagers went to the site, but within half an hour the situation took a different turn. Some 5,000-7,000 people who were fully armed came up to the village (Azizpur), cornored it and torched houses, beat people and threw some of them in fire. It seems there was a conspiracy to vitiate the atmosphere and increase tension and they attacked the village with a conspiracy,” Nayyaruzzaman, Bihar state president of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind told IndiaTomorrow.net over phone from Patna.

“It is not yet proved if there was a love affair between the Hindu boy and a Muslim girl. It is also not yet proved who killed the boy. Our team also visited the area on Monday. The incident happened with a well-planned conspiracy,” said Naayaruzzaman.

According to The Indian Express, “Kamal Sahni, Bhartendu’s father, said that his son was missing since January 9, and alleged that Sadat (a resident of Azizpur) was involved since he had fallen out with Bhartendu over the alleged love affair with his sister, a Plus Two student…Bhartendu’s elder sister Nilam, however, played down the love angle and claimed that Sadat had killed her brother out of jealousy. ‘Sadat had been jealous of my brother ever since he got a first division in matriculation and Sadat failed. My brother had also got Rs 10,000 as scholarship from the state government, which made Sadat more envious.'”

Talking to IndiaTomorrow.net from Muzaffarpur, Hasnain Arij, a local journalist and social activist, also blamed police and political parties.

“It is the negligence by the police. An FIR (about disappearance of the Hindu boy) was filed one week ago. When the body was found police should have started the probe and arrested the culprits. Elders of both communities should have been called to defuse the tension,” says Arij and also criticizes local politicians for “letting the matter turn worse”.

“There is a clear political angle to the incident. Election is approaching. Local politicians did not take the issue seriously in the beginning. Now that the incident has occurred all want to take political mileage out of it. They are coming up offering money and help to victims. The incident should not have been allowed to happen in the first place. When it did it should have been immediately controlled. When body of the Hindu boy was found in a Muslim-dominated area, security has been immediately tightened in the area,” said Arij.

Assembly elections in the state are going to be held later this year.

Dr. Yunus Ansari, Bihar state president of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), after visiting the affected village on Monday said: “The assembly elections are around in Bihar. Keeping this in mind, communal forces want to target the state and divide Muslims and Hindus as they did in Muzaffarnagar (of Uttar Pradesh).”

Police officers deployed in Azizpur village interacting with people (Photo with arrangement)

Talking to IndiaTomorrow.net from Patna, eminent social activist and community leader Arshad Ajmal, pointed out ongoing efforts for communal polarization of EBC (Extremely Backward Classes) communities which have been a vote bank of the ruling Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar. The deceased Hindu boy Bhartendu Sahni belonged to Sahni caste which comes under EBC.

“EBC has been polarized on communal lines in Bihar at a large scale. In the last Chhat (a Hindu festival) a similar incident (love tangle) had happened but then the boy was Muslim and girl Hindu. Such incidents happen in a society but sometimes they are polarized and sometimes not. EBC, which has been voting for the ruling Janata Dal (United), is being polarized on communal lines. This has happened at a large scale in Seemanchal (northeastern part of Bihar),” Ajmal said.

SDPI leader Dr. Ansari demanded the Bihar government of chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to take the issue seriously and initiate immediate action against police and rioters.

Bihar Jamaat chief Naayaruzzaman also demanded a thorough probe into the incident, action against the culprits and proper compensation to the victims. He warned that if actions were not taken against culprits then they would feel emboldened and repeat it elsewhere.

“The incident should be thoroughly probed and culprits should be punished as per the laws. If it does not happen then they will get emboldened and such incidents can recur at other places. Therefore, it should be the first priority of the government to honestly probe the incident and book all the culprits,” said Nayyaruzzaman.

The state government of Janata Dal (United) has announced Rs five lakh as compensation to family of each deceased and it has given the amount.

The Jamaat leader, however, demanded Rs 20 lakh for each family of the deceased.

“Our demand is that the government should give at least Rs 20 lakh to each family of deceased because the affected people are not only poor but some of them are rich people whose houses and vehicles and cars have been torched,” he said.

Follow the writer on Twitter @MumtazAlam1978

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