Kasganj: Shakir Ali grew up in Kasganj, a small town in western Uttar Pradesh. In 58 years, he had never witnessed a communal riot. The only time a curfew was imposed here, he tells, was for some days in 1992, when the rest of the country was burning. "But even then, this area never suffered one violent episode," he says.
All that changed on Friday, when Ali saw communal tensions flare first-hand and became its victim. Rioters broke into his house and set it and his car on fire. Since then, he, along with his family, has been holed up in his brother's house.
Along with Ali's house, half a dozen other houses and shops belonging to Muslims have been vandalized in violence in the last two days. And accounting of the damage hasn't even begun.
Residents, on the other hand, are only now beginning to realize the full extent of arson and looting that took place over the past two days.
"I along with my wife and children, saw the rioters come here on the morning of January 26, when our neighbours were celebrating Republic Day. We saw that the road was full of a mob on around 50-60 motorcycles," says Asif Khan, who runs an NGO on HIV awareness.
Khan said that soon, the mob started beating everyone up. "Then we heard about the death of a Hindu boy. We haven't stepped out of our house since," he says.
He says that local residents always hold two small ceremonies – one on Republic Day and the other on Independence Day - to salute the national flag and honour some children studying in a government school. They distribute sweets to the kids and go home.
"We saw these mobsters last Independence Day too. But that time they had made their rounds before we had even started preparations, so nothing untoward happened that day," he says.
For now, Kasganj is buzzing with talks, in hushed tones, at grocery stores and at tea stalls, about what transpired here as workers of various political parties made rounds of the main market.
Police and paramilitary forces also conducted flag marches, but the general public, not used to curfew, was still trying to make up its mind on the sort of liberty they can take with temporary suspension of curfew.
"Don't get the whole crowd outside the shop, section 144 is still in place," an owner of a tea shop says while berating his assistant.
At another place down the main market road, a boy was immediately shut up by his mother when he, looking at smoke coming out of a shop asks, "Is this the shop that was set on fire?"
On Kasganj's Dhan Mill Road, Rampal Singh, a teacher took stock of his neighbourhood. His is the only Hindu house in the area.
Comments
0 comment