Sanjeev Kumar
HINDUS are again extremely demoralised in Bihar. Their shops were looted, razed and turned to ashes. Their families were repeatedly victimised by 30,000 Muslim mob. Three weeks have passed but still no arrest has been made and not a penny of relief has been provided to the victims.
It seems as if extremist and fundamentalist elements rule the roost in certain pockets of Bihar. These fanatics have no respect for law, feelings of the adherents of other religions or the fear of the administration. It is the scene of Bihar’s Barsoi Block. Here temples were demolished and large-scale atrocities were committed on the hapless innocent Hindus over a minor issue.
Thousands of fundamentalists went on rampage and perpetrated untold atrocities over 65 Hindu residents of Talua village. How it all happened? According to villagers an Idgah is situated on the main road next to Talua village. A liquor shop owned by a Muslim licencee is located right next to the Idgah. On the day of Id, the Muslims of the area cleaned the Idgah ground and offered namaz there. After few minutes when the place was deserted after completion of the ritual, a passerby observed a broken tiny piece of a wine bottle in the field. He informed about it to other Muslims, who happened to be majority in the area. Soon the news spread like wild fire and within an hour a mob of about 30,000 Muslims, allegedly under the leadership of former CPI-MLA Mehboob Alam, gathered there. The mob went on rampage and in a matter of hours about 65 families of the village were virtually reduced to smithereens. A three-roomed shop belonging to Bimal Das was attacked and after looting set on fire. The same fate fell on his sibling Anuj Das’s 5-roomed shop, full of fertilizers and cement. Just a day before Arjun Das had stored the cement worth Rs 5 lakh there.
No one was spared in this onslaught. Niwaran Das’s 25 quintal jute products and furnitures were turned to ashes. Harimohan Das and Angad Das had separate tea and snack shops. These shops were thoroughly looted and then gutted. Harimohan Das has somehow managed to revive his shop but Angad Das has been shocked to an extent that he became mentally challenged. Similar fate awaited Madan Das’ saloon, Sanatan Roy’s famous beetle shop, Gawana’s cycle repair shop and Rampad Das’s grocery store. All these shops running in depilated wooden stocks were looted and then razed to ground.
Following this, the hooligans entered the village and whosoever was unfortunate to fall in their sight was brutally assaulted. Batasu and Nirmal’s 65 year old mothers were beaten black and blue. Their money and belongings were looted and houses were destroyed. Narrating the incident, Sadanand Das said they had an inkling of things to come, so they had sent the young females out of the village by a tractor at a very outset. When the mayhem started, people were already running for their lives. The marauders were armed with swords and sticks. Since his house happened to be the first, they commenced their operation from there only. An elderly man, who was alone in the house, was assaulted and his 2 cylinders, Rs 7,500 in his possessions were looted and the furniture of the house was damaged. Those items which could not be carried were destroyed beyond repairable condition. The roof was also demolished.
This is merely an example. The same scene was repeated in remaining all the 64 houses of the locality. Sadanand Das said till date the hooligans have been issuing threats that what happened was just a trailer, and main film was yet to come. He said he recognised many of the assailants in the mob like Harun, Javed, Shaukat, Jafrul, Jamshed, etc. The rioters held the entire locality to ransom for more then 4 hours. The fire brigade, which had gone to put out the fire, was not allowed to enter the locality. In fact, it is said that Mehboob Alam manhandled the SHO who had reached the spot. Even the journalists who had gone to cover the incident were not spared. Their cameras were smashed and they themselves were thrashed soundly.
Local VHP leader Shri Gopal said such tactics by Muslims is a common occurrence there. The liquor shop in question belongs to the Muslim licencee. The field was thoroughly swept before the namaz, which was attended by hundreds of people but no one saw any discrepancy. It was only after the assembled people had gone home, that the rumour of a liquor bottle’s broken piece was aired. He said it was a planned conspiracy hatched to let Muslims have their way over Hindus. Another local Kumud Ranjan feels it an aftermath of Kokrajhar incident. He said Muslims are being rallied and mobilised following Kokrajhar incident. He further said in the month of ramzan Muslim fundamentalism is at its peak, which is further ignited by inflammatory discourse after namaz. Since, the Hindu society is complacent and fragmented they are at the receiving end. He demanded that there should be a provision for taping the Friday’s discourse in every mosque in India. This will help in monitoring and keeping a check on extremist activities.
The administration has named 30 people whereas the aggrieved people have named 45 persons in their respective FIRs, but no action has been taken on it till date.
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