A lot is being said about Haryana’s Nuh district, part of the notorious Mewat region, since Islamists attacked a Hindu religious procession on July 31. Some said the trigger point was information about a cow vigilante, Monu Manesar, attending the procession. Others linked it with demographical shift or rampant immigration and settlement, be it the Rohingyas from Bangladesh or Muslims from other parts of the country.
The region of Mewat, which takes its name after the dominant Meo jati, is spread across Nuh in Haryana, and Alwar and Bharatpur districts of Rajasthan, besides some parts of Uttar Pradesh such as Mathura. The Meo jati, whose members claim Rajput ancestry, have almost been wholly Islamised. The region is a hub of crimes, the most prominent being cow slaughter, beef trade, and cyber fraud.
As per the census 2011 data, Nuh Tehsil of Mewat district has a total population of 287,101 as per the Census 2011. With 219,716 Muslims in the district, the Islamists made up a fair 77 percent of the total population. On the other hand with 66,285 Hindus the Hindu population makes up 23 percent of the total population. Forced conversion, cow smuggling, abduction, drugs, and murder are some of the many crimes that are rampant in the area.
Five tehsils of the Mewat region that fall in Haryana comprised more than a million Muslims in 2011. Their population share rose from 62 percent in 1971 to 75 percent in recent years. The report published by the Centre for Policy Studies reads, “From the data, it is clear that the Muslims of Mewat have numerically flourished in the period following Independence. And, they seem to be in the process of establishing an exclusively Muslim pocket in the near future.”
Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act
Considering the history of crime in the region involving cow smuggling and beef trade, the Manohar Lal Khattar government, within a year of assuming office, passed the HGSG (Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan) Act in November 2015 to stop cow slaughter and smuggling and ensure the welfare of cattle in the state. Under clauses of the Act, cow trafficking, slaughtering and possessing or consuming beef were prohibited.
However, after four years of the implementation of the act, the conviction rate in these cases remained zero. In March 2019, Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was hearing an anticipatory bail plea of an accused booked under the act. The accused, Israil, had a first information report (FIR number 432 dated 13 June 2017) filed against him more than nine months ago at Nuh Police Station but was not arrested to date.
Coming heavily against the inaction on the part of the police, Justice Sindhu observed, “This shows that there is a complete inaction on the part of the police of District Mewat or deliberately the accused are let go, or there is a question mark for registration of these cases,”
Justice Sanhdu also asked the DGP to provide details of all cases registered under the act so far and the action taken against the culprits.
In April 2019, DGP Haryana, Manoj Yadava submitted a report stating a threat to their lives while working against cow smugglers. As per the report, around 800 cases were filed under the act but not even a single person was convicted.
The findings of the report are listed here:
- From 2015 to 2019 as many as 792 FIRs were registered under the act out of which accused were arrested on the spot in only 96 cases. In the rest of the 696 cases, the accused managed to escape.
- Following the FIRs as many as 2156 accused were booked under the Act but only 1194 had been arrested. While 236 were arrested on the spot, 958 were arrested later on. In 386 cases, no arrests of the 856 accused were made.
- Only 13 cases went to court, but even then, not a single person was convicted. As many as 17 were acquitted.
Later, Justice Sanhdu asked the DGP to present an affidavit regarding inaction or zero conviction against the accused booked under this act. Following the affidavit, the bench issued some suggestions to the police teams.
Other than cow smuggling, what makes Nuh a notorious region is its significant shift in demography over time. The district is home to as many as 80 percent of the Muslim population, mostly from Meo Jati, with recent Rohingya settlements. As per a report by SwarajyaMag, a Rohingya Muslim settled in a refugee camp in Delhi shared his journey from Myanmar to India. He shared how Rohingyas are moved to India via the Bengal border and shifted to different parts of the country. The prime suggestions for them remain Jammu or Mewat.
Was is always like this–Here’s how the region of Mewat became a victim of Islamic radicalisation
As per the book ‘The Meos of Mewat’ by Hashim Amir, the Rajputana living in the regions of Rajasthan and Bharatpur, and Haryana did not become Muslims by political or military compulsions but due to the teachings of clerics from Delhi. In the 13th century, the epicentre of this became the shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya.
Ahead of partition, there arose a demand for ‘Meostan’ (separate state for Meos) stretching from Mehrauli in Delhi to Bandikui in the Dausa district of Rajasthan. It was pitched by Kunwar Mohammed Ashraf, a Communist leader of Meo origin, and a section of the Rajputana Muslim League, comprising Meos of Alwar and Bharatpur, who wanted to achieve it as a sister state of Pakistan by the force of guns. (My Political Memoirs or Autobiography, P.302)
The Mountbatten declaration on June 3, 1947, regarding the partitioning of Punjab and Bengal as part of India’s partition knocked of the movement for Meostan demand. Geography was against Meostan becoming a contagious state in Pakistan. As Punjab Legislative Assembly voted on June 23, 1947, on the partitioning of the state, it was evident that the eastern and southern parts of the provinces would unambiguously fall on the Indian side.
On July 1, 1947, the Maharaja of Alwar decided to join the Indian Union. Though all hopes of Meostan were dashed, the worst of trouble was yet to come. By the middle of July 1947, a large number of Meos marched from Bharatpur to Alwar. Thinking them to be peaceful civilians, the state allowed them to stay. But soon, their true colours came to light. Three Hindus, travelling in an automobile from Buntoli to Alwar, were fired upon and killed by the Meo rioters on July 29, 1947. The old Jain temple of Alwar state was desecrated, and many Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam (My Political Memoirs, P.331).
As India’s independence approached on August 15, 1947, the situation became grave in Mewat. There were large-scale riots between the Meos and Hindus in the Gurugram (Gurgaon) district. On the other hand, Meos in the Alwar State Military deserted and joined the rebels. Meos in Alwar Police also joined the rebels. On August 13, 1947, they looted Bahadurpur village in Alwar Nizamat. The state forces responded strongly when an armed mob of around 10,000 people was collected. At this time, a lot of goods looted by the Meos in Tijara were recovered.
Later, half of them fled to Pakistan, some moved to other parts of Punjab and Rajasthan, and some hundreds stayed in Mewat.
The Tabligi Movement
Within two years of this dispersion, Meos returned to Chandoli. Their leader, Maulvi Ibrahim, visited the Nizamuddin Mosque in Delhi and stayed there for a month. In Delhi, he sowed the seeds of the Tabligi movement. The beginning of this movement was to recapture the region of Mewat. This is how they did it:
- Built a Mosque in the region around 1950
- Appointed an educated cleric teacher in the Mosque
- Assembled Meo children and made them true Muslims by making them follow staunch Islamic traditions.
- As Meos were all converted Hindus, they used to follow Hindu practices, but the Islamists forced them to leave all such practices.
The Tabligi movement laid six rules for the Meos living in the Mewat region. Following these rules would prove them true Muslims. They are as follows:
- Offer Namaz, five times a day, follow the teachings of Ouran.
- Do not attend Hindu fairs and festivals
- Do not sing or attend meetings where people sing
- Do not observe the Gotra system
- Do not worship graves since it is the way of kaffirs
After the set of regulations was laid, the Tabligi movement was ready to reap the fruits. Some of the outcomes after imposing these regulations involved; illiterate Meo becoming staunch Islamists. The Meo became so religious-minded that their effect was shown in the local body elections as well. Meos stopped attending Hindu festivals and fairs. Muslims stopped sending their children to government schools and started sending them to mosques and madrasas. (Meos of Mewat, P 36)
From 1950 to 2023, the idea of Islam among Meo’s has only expanded. From almost 7 percent to now 75 percent, the Tabligi movement managed to attract non-Muslim Meos to Islam.
Reports claim it was the Tablighi Jamaat outreach activity, by Maulana Mohammed Ilyas (1885-1944) in the 1920s that led to a hardened Islamic identity in Mewat. Mewat acted as the laboratory of Tablighi Jamaat, an outreach programme that has now reached worldwide.
In October 2020, a group of lawyers and a social worker submitted a plea to the Supreme Court with a prayer to constitute an SIT to investigate the alleged crimes and forcible conversion of Hindus in the district. The petition was moved by Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who has come to the limelight in the Kashi Gyanvyapi mosque case.
No difference between Pakistan and Haryana’s Nuh
In 2020, a committee headed by a retired district and session judge presented a report to the government describing crimes against Dalits in the Mewat region. The suggestions and findings of the report were shocking, as the judge said, “Aurangzeb-like atrocities are being committed on Dalits, and there is no difference between Pakistan and Haryana’s Nuh (Mewat)”.
In 2020, Organiser reported, after years of inaction in cases pertaining to Dalit atrocities in Mewat, Shri Valmiki Mahasabha of Haryana decided to form a 4-member inquiry committee led by Judge Pawan Kumar (Retd) to bring the truth to the fore. With Kumar, Sultan Valmiki chairman of Valmiki Mahapanchayat Haryana, Kanhaiya Lal Arya, vice-president Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Haryana and Devdutt Sharma, president of Bar Association Sohna were appointed as members of the team.
After presenting a report to the government, the members of the committee addressed a press conference in Gurugram. In the meeting, Judge Kumar said, “Mewat of Haryana is becoming a graveyard of Dalits. There is no difference between Pakistan and Mewat. There are many such reports of women being forcibly abducted and raped in Mewat”,
According to the press release, “more than 200 cases of forced conversions have allegedly taken place in the region. Because of police inaction, the perpetrators have been emboldened, and pressure is being mounted on the family members of those forcibly converted to get them converted as well”.
According to the investigation committee, the atrocities against Dalits can happen only in connivance with the administration and local police. Complaints of Dalit victims are not lodged. If somehow they persist with the complaint and file FIRs against the perpetrators, police pressurise the victims, compel them to strike a compromise with the assailants and threaten them with false cases.
So, apart from the videos and clips in circulation claiming it was Monu Manesar of the Mewati YouTuber who incited the mob which led to the death of two police personnel and four civilians. For decades, the region of Mewat was involved in notorious activities, be it cow smuggling, drugs, or cyber theft.
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