News Analysis |
People in a city based locality objected to the sale of a house to a Muslim family on Wednesday, contending that the Hindu majority localities are gradually getting converted into Muslim ones, by way of purchasing properties. This act of bigotry and communalism is the latest in an unending series of brutal hate against the Indian Muslim community.
A Muslim family has decided to give up their house in a Hindu-dominated area of Meerut city, following protests by local residents as well as BJP leaders, police said. A Muslim man, Noman, recently bought a house in Maliwara locality from a Hindu, Sanjay Rastogi. When he and his family went to take possession of the house last Sunday, they faced protests from residents, BJP corporator Sandeep Goel and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) general secretary Deepak Sharma. Following this, police took Noman and Rastogi to the police station, where it was decided that the buyer would leave the house and would be refunded the amount he paid.
This self-serving, divide-and-rule policy by the British rulers and their Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh collaborators eventually led to carnage and mass exodus of people on the eve of the independence, the likes of which history has seldom witnessed.
A shopkeeper said: “Sanjay Rastogi, who owns a jewelry shop, sold his two-storeyed house to Noman for Rs. 22.5 lakh. On Sunday evening, Noman reached the house with his family. Soon, local residents gathered and started protesting, claiming that it was a Hindu-dominated locality and Muslims would not be allowed.” He claimed that within an hour, over 200 people had gathered. “They all asked the family to leave. Some youths raised pro-BJP and pro-Hindu slogans.” Soon, BJP leaders joined the protests.
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“The Muslim population is gradually gaining strength while Hindu population is retreating back, so whenever a Muslim buys a house, a sense of insecurity is felt in the neighbourhood that leads to public outcry. There was a similar case here and several Hindus were present. I reached there to pacify them,” a worker of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha told ANI, adding that a solution has been agreed upon after police intervention, that the concerned Muslim family would sell back the property if a Hindu buyer can be arranged within two months.
BJYM general secretary Deepak Sharma claimed the Muslim population in the area is increasing rapidly. “This in an old city area… Hindus are continuously selling properties and Muslims are buying them. Their culture, thoughts and way of life are different from us. It starts with one house and slowly, the whole area will become Muslim dominated. We cannot allow this to happen.”
People in a city based locality objected to the sale of a house to a Muslim family on Wednesday, contending that the Hindu majority localities are gradually getting converted into Muslim ones, by way of purchasing properties.
SP (City) Maan Singh Chauhan said: “After hearing about the gathering, a police team rushed to the spot and pacified the people… Noman, head of the Muslim family, decided to leave as he was afraid of the circumstances. We offered him protection if he wanted to stay. But he decided that he will leave if he gets back the money.”
In the name of protecting Hindus, Saffron terrorists have unleashed violence in several parts of India. Increasing incidents of ‘Mob Lynching’ and the silence of Modi government have encouraged more hate groups and terrorists who have struck fear into the hearts of Muslims and lower-caste Indians.
On account of the brutal killings of Muslims – from Mohammed Akhlaq (on September 28, 2015) to Muhammad Afzal (on December 8, 2017) – the minority community feels insecurity in every part of the country. The roots of this hate lies in the rise of extremist Hindutva thought and the machinations of the British colonial masters.
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According to experts, rather than cultivating inclusive Indian nationalism that would glorify Hindu, Muslim and Sikh identities and histories in equal measure, the British rulers maliciously nurtured exclusionary Hindu and Muslim nationalists in order to divide the communities and prolong the British rule. Several contemporary Indian historians have contended that Muslim nationalism in India was a reaction to exclusionary Hindu nationalism.
The political leadership of India was the product of British education system that forged artificial identities and entrenched communal divisions, therefore it was not possible for the Congress and Muslim League leadership to rise above their communal prejudices and work for the betterment of all Indians as a nation. This self-serving, divide-and-rule policy by the British rulers and their Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh collaborators eventually led to carnage and mass exodus of people on the eve of the independence, the likes of which history has seldom witnessed.