How a few activists ensured a peaceful Ram Navami in Mumbai

Ram Navami in Mumbai was peaceful this year due to strict measures. Muslims took legal action against hate speech, ensuring communal harmony.

Mumbai Meetings with mohalla committees, stern warnings against provocative behaviour, heavy police bandobast at the entrance of sensitive roads and outside mosques, and the presence of senior police officers – all these measures ensured that Ram Navami went off peacefully in the city this year. In the last two years, Ram Navami processions had triggered violence in areas of Malwani and Govandi.

 A priest brings an idol of 'Ram Lalla' before performing pooja at Ram Mandir on the occasion of the Ram Navami festival, in Mumbai.(PTI)

Similar measures were in place in Mira Road too, which saw clashes in January on the occasion of the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The Bombay High Court had issued a directive to the state to take action against anyone who breached the peace on Ram Navami, irrespective of political affiliations. “Everyone knew the court was watching,” said Nisar Ali, a peace activist from Malwani. “This time, the fear of the law worked.”

This directive would not have come but for a new breed of Muslims who refuse to sit back while attempts are made to provoke communal violence. Tired of waiting for the police to register FIRs against those making hate speeches, these activists, independent of each other, approached the court. Their petitions were bunched together and are still being heard.

Sensing the police’s reluctance to act against a ruling party politician, Syed decided to go to court. The Association for Protection of Civil Rights filed his petition. Syed’s family has a history of political activism: his grand-uncle was Maulana Hasrat Mohani, poet and founder-member of the Communist Party of India, and his father worked in the Congress for Hindu-Muslim unity.

Nitesh Rane’s speeches in Mumbai make up a large part of Aftab Siddique’s petition. The former school teacher and social activist was driven to intervene by the SOS messages she received from Mira Road residents as communal tension built up before January 22, the day the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was to be consecrated. The tension escalated into a communal clash on the night of January 21, followed by assaults on Muslims on January 23 and 24.

“In all my years of activism, I’ve never taken up religious issues, but this time, I was forced to,” said the 58-year-old. “In the last two years Mumbai has seen too much hate. We can’t let it get worse.”

Siddique started contacting DGP Rashmi Shukla and the Mira Bhayander police commissioner on WhatsApp and email from January 23. The DGP’s office wrote to the Commissioner’s office and the latter gave Siddique an appointment, but no action was taken.

Finally, she approached advocate Gayatri Singh last month, and filed a petition along with two concerned citizens and two victims of the Mira Road violence. Though the police had filed FIRs based on these victims’ complaints, no arrests were made, said their lawyer Shahood Anwar.

Siddique’s petition has news reports and photographs of Nitesh Rane addressing a press conference on January 23 seated inside the Mira Bhayander police commissioner’s office, wherein he made remarks against Muslims. It also quotes Mira Bhayander BJP MLA Geeta Jain’s inflammatory remarks made on January 23, as well as Telengana BJP MLA T Raja Singh’s speech in a Mira Road rally on March 25. The Bombay High Court had allowed this rally only on condition that Singh refrained from hate speech.

Siddique’s petition includes a legal notice sent by the Govandi Citizens’ Forum to the top police brass urging an FIR against Rane for his speech in Govandi on February 10. Again, they took this step only after the local police refused to file an FIR.