Jamshedpur:What is radicalization and who is doing it for what?

Jamshedpur’s Mango locality is a recent and more relevant study in radicalization. The BJP and Bajrang Dal activists blamed Muslim youths for teasing a Hindu girl. That led to clashes between two communities, Hindu and Muslim. In stating the truth a chasm opened between the communities and between the Hindus and the administration including the police. A police officer maintained that there was no case of eve teasing at all. But a Hindu party BJP leader insisted that the police did not deal with the eve teasing in the first place and therefore the violence was the logical result. Another officer said that had the Bajrang Dal and other activists of VHP/BJP not gone around enforcing the call for bandh or strike there would not have been any violence. A report in The Indian Express on Friday July 24, 2015 said that the eve teasing was only rumour. Into this a new angle was injected by BJP MLA and State Minister Sarayu Roy who said that the violence was the outcome of “police in action.” His innuendo is a pointer to the imaginary eve teasing which the police should have severely dealt with. It is run of the mill of every government to immediately order inquiry. However, Roy appropriated this gesture to score a point over the others when he asserted “action would be taken against the police officers found guilty”. Another officer conceded that there was a “minor incident” between “anti social elements” which was the cause of the violence. The “vested interest” of a group led to the arrest of 150 people. What the officer dilated has the clue to truth: “Had the BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal not called for a bandh on July 21, matters would have cooled down. But there was arson as supporters of the bandh went about enforcing it.” The VHP chief of Jamshedpur Arun Singh parried this: “There have been small attacks on the Hindu community in Jamshedpur and the police failed to take steps to deal with them. The eve-teasing incident added fuel to the fire.” This is the ipso facto justification of the minor incident which was dragged on for two days by the right wing Hindutva groups. Despite the assertion of Dr. Amitabh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner, East Singbhum, that the administration had not “ found any truth behind” it, and that “Not a soul in Jamshedpur has come forward to give any details, complaints or address of the girl who was teased” [1]the dragging of the episode was continued by the right wing groups. No complaints against the youths harassing anyone were also received. Therefore the agents of provocation were Roy, Singh and their ilks. Their work was tantamount to the radical clerics in England and other European towns and city mosques. However, such is the condition prevailing in India that in the turf war between the two communities over recurring issues there is attempt to justify radical reaction. In Rajouri the VHP manipulated the situation by imitating the Arabic/Persian words of the IS flag and then superscripted the Hindi word “Hai” “Hai” expressing contempt and scorn for IS as well as for Islam. The slur by extension mocks at the holy inscription from the Quran. On July 18 when Muslims observed Eid VHP burnt IS flag in Rajouri. Muslims threatened to observe bandh on 21 against the background of VHP burning the IS flag with holy inscriptions on it. The Hindus taunted and provoked them to first protest against the IS. [2] What is emerging from the scenes of violence in Atali, Jamshedpur, Harsul, Rajouri, etc violence which does not cost life but is still fatal. In all these the VHP is prominently playing a role as it did in Babri mosque demolition and other such cases. It is because the intensity of the groups involved. The target was selected for maximum effect like the Sankat Mochan Mandir near Gulf Guest House for Muslims in Jamshedpur. A rumour was enough to cause a conflagration instantly. The violence started from there right in the night of 20th. [3]Next day there was a bandh call from VHP and Bajrang Dal that led to the spreading of the riots. Past enmity between two gangs fuelled the violence as no confirmation of eve teasing was made.[4] Why rumour could be so horrendous? Seema Mustafa: “ why the faithful remain paranoid about the faith they follow, that they need to kill to protect what is really not their own. A large part of the answer lies in right-wing groups' ability to stoke fires through rumours, lies and distortions whereby the common person feels under siege from the ‘other’. Reason and sense is overtaken by the rumours that precede, and have preceded, every single incident of communal violence in India.” ”The politicians are for the first time succeeding in turning neighbours against neighbours, and thereby destroying the harmonious structure of the villages of India that had resisted the spread of urban communalization for all these years.” [5] It is regrettable that much of the sexual violence that is non religious in origin could lead to religious frenzy as in Muzaffarnagar and now in Jamshedpur. That incident reportedly behind the flare up in Jharkhand’s city was three youths on a motor cycle brandishing revolver tried to take off the scarves of girls coming out of a theatre after watching Salman Khan film Bajrangi Bhaijan. That led to blockade of the road in Daigutu Chowk which the members of the other community objected. What has not been established is the identity of the motor cycle riders brandishing knives and revolver and even firing at the people who reacted to it. Were they from nearby neighbours or outsiders? SDO Aloke Kumar says:"It is always not possible to anticipate that a local level eve-teasing incident would flare up into such law and order problem two days later." [6] The last statement would put the teasing to have taken place on Eid day July 18th. It would not be unthinkable that Muzaffarnagar pogroms started a full week after the eve teasing/harassing that led to the death of the teaser and the two cousins of the girl teased. The mahapanchayat a week later decided to settle the matter through pogroms of Muslims. Therefore it is necessary to identify those who want to worsen the situation. They should be classified as radicalizing youths of their community or provoking the other community and inducing violence. They stand to gain in the long run! The recent elections have vouchsafed them that. Much more frightening is that in the ensuing confrontation between the two communities their respective members fired guns in the air! India stands to lose if this scenario continues and radicalization increases. Were the 22 rounds fired in the air by the police not enough warning? There was no trace of civil life as pelters of stone threw stones in the face of DSP Animesh Naithani, the first cop to arrive on the scene, who was asking the mobs to disperse. Notwithstanding this it is strange that those who tried to molest girls at the theatre on Saturday reappeared in the night of Monday July 20th and teased the girls over again! That too with weapons in hands! They are the trouble shooters on a mission to divide not just communities but the country. Identify the radicals. Police owe a duty to the nation that if they had assured the people on Saturday that such events would not be allowed to happen then why did it occur again on Monday and same outlaws played havoc. Or was the second incident an imaginary one to launch a riot? ------ [1]http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/in-jamshedpur-clash-is-between-communities-and-police-vs-govt/#sthash.jIJCjmsF.dpuf [2] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/tension-in-rajouri-over-burning-of-isis-flag-by-vhp-bajrang-dal/#sthash.J1beix2n.dpuf [3] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/curfew-imposed-rumours-spark-communal-clashes-in-jamshedpur/#sthash.5QMFRb0l.dpuf [4] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/jamshedpur-curfew-relaxed-in-4-trouble-hit-areas-withdrawn-in-rest-parts/#sthash.FBSBLSgJ.dpuf [5] http://www.thestatesman.com/news/opinion/so-much-to-do-yet-hate-on-the-agenda/77587.html [6] jamshedpur tense after flare-up over sexual harassment Debashish Sarkar, Hindustan Times, Jamshedpur Jul 21, 2015