Hyderabad: October is the festival season in India. While it is always a joyous occasion, the month was also unfortunately marked with incidents of hate and communal fights between Hindus and Muslims India. As part of Siasat.com‘s efforts to track hate-crime against minorities and marginalised groups, here is a list of such incidents that were reported on different days from across India:
October 1: As the country celebrated Garba, Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district members of the right-wing Bajrang Dal claim that it had handed over three “non-Hindus” to the police for allegedly entering a Garba venue by hiding their identities.
October 2: Savli town in Gujarat’s Vadodara district experienced communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims which threw stones at each other. The incident took place on October 1 after there was a heated argument over installing community flags over electric poles. Soon the argument snowballed into a stone-pelting incident. Around 36 people from both communities were arrested.
On the same day, in Karnataka’s Udupi district, a massive rally of 10,000 workers was carried out by the right-wing organisation Hindu Jagarana Vedike. Calls for a “Hindu Rashtra” were made and some workers were spotted carrying swords even as the state police walked alongside them. Udupi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Raghupathi Bhat was also spotted at the rally.
October 3: The Mandsaur district administration in Madhya Pradesh bulldozed three Muslim houses claiming that those were built illegally. The incident was preceded by a clash between a 14-year-old Muslim boy Salman Khan and a 32-year-old Hindu man Shivlal Patidar during the seventh day of Navratri.
Shivlal had complained to Salman’s grandfather over the teenager’s alleged rash driving. The grandfather was seated close to a Garba pandal. A heated argument soon turned into a fight. Police reached the spot, and detained three Muslims while arresting four more in a late-night search. The next day, the houses were bulldozed.
On the same day, in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah, a “singer” Dharmendra Pandey asked Hindus to be prepared to take up arms for what he termed a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. “The Prime Minister has tested you by asking you to hoist a flag on your houses, beating thalis and lighting lamps. You should all keep a sharpened sickle in your homes and the sisters should sharpen their tongs – you may need this when Modi ji gives a call for Hindu Rashtra,” Pandey said in a viral video.
In the Kawardha district of Chattisgarh, clashes broke out on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi (birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammed) over the hoisting of green crescent flags. According to Free Press Journal, members of a right-wing organisation Hindu Sena reportedly took out flags and tore them up grossly offending Muslim sentiments.
October 4: Clashes broke in the Kheda district of Gujarat during the Navratri celebrations. A group of Muslims reportedly entered a Navratri Garba venue in Undhela village and started pelting stones. Six persons were reportedly injured, according to the police. Three people were arrested. However, police officials resorted to flogging the accused in full public view instead of taking the path of law.
The video received sharp criticism from Twitter. Network 18’s news anchor Aman Chopra described the flogging incident as ‘Gujarat Police ka Dandiya’ encouraging police brutality.
On the same day, another communal incident transpired in Surat where Bajrang Dal activists and ‘bouncers’ from the minority community clashed during a Garba event. They conducted a surprise check on the eve of Garba night and found out that the organiser had hired a security team, which had Muslim bouncers. The activists asked the organiser to cancel the security service and ensure that no Muslim bouncer was on duty. However, that did not happen, and lead to a clash that occurred between the right-wing organisations and Muslim men.
October 5: Commotion prevailed at Byathole village, Kandi Mandal, in Telangana’s Sangareddy district (about 60 kms from Hyderabad) after some miscreants hoisted a saffron flag and carved Hindu religious inscriptions at an ancient mosque. The place of worship is a Golconda or Qutb Shahi era mosque (1518-1687), and was desecrated during Dussehra festivities. The village elders including the sarpanch and other leaders of the ruling party hoisted a saffron flag on the mosque and inscribed the ‘Om’ symbol.
October 6: A Hindu mob forcefully performed pooja at Mahmud Gawan Madrasa mosque in Bidar, Karnataka. A video sourced from The Hindustan Gazette shows a Hindu group, which was taking a ‘Devi procession’ on the occasion of the Dasara festival, forcefully breaking the lock.
Siasat.com spoke to a high court advocate Syed Talha Hashmi who said the incident occurred at around 1 am. “The Hindu mob was chanting slogans of Jai Shree Ram, Jai Hindu Dharam, Vande Mataram. They performed pooja on the mosque premises.” Based on a complaint filed by Mohammed Shafiuddin, who is a mosque committee member nine people were booked by the Bidar police.
October 8: On the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi, clashes between two communities were reported in Kolkata’s Mominpur area after Muslim religious flags were allegedly vandalised. Around 40 people were detained. Additionally, five people, including BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar were arrested in connection with the violence. The police imposed Section 144 Cr Pc from October 10 to 12 to maintain peace.
October 8 to October 9: Young Muslims allegedly created inconvenience to the general public by chanting provocative slogans and playing loud DJ music. In Karnataka, police detained 19 young Muslims for brandishing swords and machetes on the streets of Siddapura district. In Rajasthan, young men began allegedly raising ‘sar tan se…’ slogans, worrying local residents.
In Maharastra‘s Amravati district, two people were arrested in connection with raising inflammatory slogans. In Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi district seven people including two minors were detained by the police for raising ‘sar tan se juda‘ slogans.
October 22: In the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, a bike rally called ‘Savarkar Samrajya‘ was conducted in which Ashwini, the sister of slain Bajrang Dal activist Harsha reportedly took part. Reports emerged that Ashwini along with 10-15 persons vandalised a car of a Muslim teacher named Syed Parvez. Syed lodged a police complaint accusing Ashwini and 10 more people of damaging his car that was parked outside his house and also shouting “Jai Shree Ram”.
October 25: It was Diwali night in Vadodara, Gujarat, when clashes broke out between the two communities in Panigate area. While the police were yet to find the exact reason, one person was arrested for hurling a petrol bomb from his terrace.
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