Small communal fires across state stoke larger concerns

There have been numerous public rallies organized by the Sakal Hindu Samaj where hate speeches have become routine, prompting the Supreme Court to pass strictures against the Maharashtra government for failing to act against the speakers

Mumbai: The devastated family of Vilas Gaikwad, 41, killed this Saturday in a riot at Akola, is still clueless about why he was targeted by the mob. The electrician had been returning home from work when he was caught in stone-pelting and killed.

Akola: Police and other security personnel attempt to maintain law and order after a clash broke out between members of two communities over a social media post, in Akola, Maharashtra, Saturday, May 13, 2023. (PTI)

Vilas, the only one in the family with a job, had left home unaware of the communal tensions that had gripped the city after an objectionable post on social media about Prophet Mohammad. The post was subsequently taken down. Seevanand Wankhede, inspector at Akola’s Old Town police station, said a case of murder had been registered against unknown persons. In the mob that had gathered, it was difficult, he said, to ascertain whether Vilas Gaikwad had been killed by a stone cast by a Hindu or a Muslim.

Akola’s communal flare up is but one of the many fires that have been stoked over the last six months across Maharashtra. Earlier this week, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the setting up of an SIT to investigate the allegedly forcible entry of a group of Muslims into the Trimbakeshwar temple at Nashik.

As the state moves into an election cycle that will culminate in civic, assembly and Parliamentary polls next year, there is a growing effort to harden the political divide.

There have been numerous public rallies organized by the Sakal Hindu Samaj where hate speeches have become routine, prompting the Supreme Court to pass strictures against the Maharashtra government for failing to act against the speakers. The widely-attended rallies and the incendiary speeches have all led to a rise in the communal temperature. Apart from Saturday’s Akola riot, there have been three incidents of communal clashes in the state in the last three months alone: A Ram Navmi procession on March 30th resulted in clashes in Aurangabad and in Malvani-Malad in Mumbai, and then this Monday, violence erupted in Ahmednagar during a procession to celebrate Sambhaji Maharaj’s birth anniversary. Most have been contained to stone pelting, arson and damages to shops and establishments, but the frequency of these small clashes has begun to cause concern.

The Hindu Sakal Samaj’s campaign reached a crescendo after the gruesome killing in Delhi of Vasai resident Shraddha Walkar, who was allegedly murdered in Delhi by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala. The Walkar murder became the springboard to launch a state-wide campaign against ‘love jihad’, a term which has no validity in law, but is used to collectively brand interfaith marriages.

The first of these rallies was organised on November 20th in Parbhani district. After this, the ‘Sakal Hindu Samaj’, an umbrella body of right-wing organizations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, Sanatan Sanstha among others, held Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morchas demanding a law against ‘love jihad’, against religious conversion, stoking the idea of land jihad, and campaigning against the sale of halal food.

A former BJP MLA from Telangana, T Raja Singh, became the star speaker at most of these rallies. In videos that went viral on social media platforms, Singh can be seen and heard openly exhorting violence against Muslims and calling for boycott of their businesses.

Sakal Hindu Samaj held about 50 such rallies which were stopped after the Supreme Court passed strictures against the state government and Singh was booked by the police in Mumbai and other parts of the state. But the coarsening of the state’s communal fabric has already happened.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds home portfolio, has said that the state will punish those who attempts to create trouble, but well-known socialist Dr Kumar Saptarshi blames the BJP for attempting to polarize Maharashtra on religious lines. “Communal riots are always political, and have nothing to do with the society. There is a template of creating communal clashes. It is being done by spreading misinformation,” he said.

Meanwhile, last December, the Shinde-Fadnavis government set up a committee to look into any complaints about interfaith marriages in the state. However, so far, not a single case of ‘love jihad’ has been referred to the committee.

Maharashtra BJP vice-president Madhav Bhandari defended these rallies and said they were in reaction to the action and it would be wrong to hold BJP responsible for communal clashes in the state.

“It is completely wrong to say something like that. For example, when a particular community raised slogans such as “sar tan se juda” (one will be beheaded) then all these people were quiet. When the Hindu community reacted and held rallies then they were being held responsible for disrupting social harmony,” Bhandari said. He added that Shraddha Walkar case is an example of ‘love jihad