Are Hindu Yatras to Blame for “Provoking” Muslim Rioting?

Are Hindu Yatras to Blame for “Provoking” Muslim Rioting?

Nationwide shockwaves have been caused by this recent outbreak of violence in Nuh, Mewat, Haryana on July 31, 2023. A Muslim mob stormed a sacred Hindu procession during Shravan Somvar in Nuh, Haryana causing chaos.

The fact that a pre-planned communal flare-up of this magnitude, which inspired retaliatory violence elsewhere, wasn’t anticipated or brought under control sooner shows, at one level, of a tremendous administrative failure. On another level, it is clear that even in a nation where Hindus constitute the majority; they lack the capacity to influence discourse or even the right to be referred to as “victims.” Although the balance is still one-sided, this power disparity is prompting Hindus to mobilise in opposition through movements like identitarianism.

Due to two factors, there is an imbalance in the victimhood among Muslims and Hindus. First, the significant intervention on their behalf by the left, “liberal,” and “secular” Hindus — a group that suffers from pathological self-hatred and has fashioned a fetish out of religious pacifism – strengthens the Muslim right (liberal Muslims are essentially non-existent).

Although it is accepted in the case of Muslims, any public display of Hindu piety or faith, such as a religious procession, is a grave provocation to this odd species.

According to the distorted narrative of Islamists, communists, and “secular liberals,” if the yatra is held in a “Muslim-majority area,” which is an unlawful term legitimised by a dialectical fraud, then Hindus are to fault for “provoking” Muslims into rioting.

Muslim victimisation is one factor that distorts the conflict between Hindu and Muslim identitarianism. Muslim victimisation is an institutionalised, untouchable position in the arena of identity politics.

Root cause of Nuh violence

The Nuh riots have given rise to a tortured narrative of Hindus persecuting Muslims, which has been naturally legitimised by the Hinduphobic foreign media. But the truth speaks differently.

The extent of pre-planning by local Muslim groups in Mewat, who were reportedly outraged by the possibility that cow vigilante Monu Manesar might be present in the religious procession, Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra, organised by Bajrang Dal, has been revealed through FIRs and reports.

There have been calls for a thorough inquiry and tighter security following reports that the rampage was an example of large-scale disturbances that were planned in advance. As racial tensions increase in the area, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other aggrieved groups have called for an impartial investigation while also receiving guarantees from Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the Rapid Action Force (RAF) would set up a permanent camp in Mewat.

At least 50 individuals, including police officers and the deputy superintendent of police (DSP), were hurt in the violence, which claimed the lives of 5 people, including two home guards. The two home guards who were killed were trapped when the Islamist mob went on the rampage, according to Nuh police. A preliminary investigation suggests that one home guard was wounded and the other passed away due to stone throwing.

Anjali Jain, an Additional Chief Judicial magistrate of Nuh, and her young daughter had to shelter in a workshop to avoid the rioters who attacked and then set fire to their car, according to the harrowing descriptions from their FIRs.

During the yatra, Hindu organisations posted Abid Hussain as a duty magistrate. In another FIR, Hussain complained that “35-40 people (ostensibly Hindus) were stuck at the temple with no means to step out.” According to a story in Indian Express, “He claimed in the complaint that 700-800 members of a community were throwing stones and using illegal weapons against yatris and police administration on Monday.”

Numerous Hindus took refuge in adjacent temples in Nuh to protect them from the Islamist mob that went on the rampage and set fire to vehicles. Workers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) also retaliated against the attack on the Jalabhishek Yatra by throwing stones back at the attackers.

After being rescued, the Hindus who took refuge in the Nalhar temple were led home while police filed FIRs to begin an inquiry.

Prior to the administration restricting internet services and enforcing Section 144 in the area, a number of films that showed the level of destruction went popular online. The footage showed a rowdy throng charging the demonstration while yelling “Allahu Akbar” in a dangerous manner.

Mewat needs CM Yogi Adityanath right now!pic.twitter.com/QSd85wBgPL

— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) August 1, 2023

The incident has sparked the customary arguments; with some so-called intellectuals appearing to defend the rioters while the debate over responsibility on social media rages on. Such instances highlight the necessity for an immediate, unbiased inquiry to determine the cause of the violence and apprehend the culprits.

VHP’s request for an NIA investigation

The VHP’s request for an NIA investigation demonstrates its worry regarding the incident’s seriousness and potential gravity. Building confidence between all the communities concerned depends on getting the whole story, which can be accomplished through an unbiased investigation. The Central Home Ministry has been proactive in its response to the predicament. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has promised to create a unique and permanent RAF base in the politically sensitive neighbourhood of Nuh in Mewat in response to Islamist violence against Hindu procession there. The action aims to address the persistent Hindu-Muslim tensions in the region and provide security to stop further bloodshed from escalating.

Since the concept was first put up in 2014 in response to similar incidents in Mewat’s Tauru, Member of Parliament and Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh has been a vocal supporter of a permanent RAF base in Mewat. The most recent event in Nuh highlights the need for such a security mechanism to uphold law and order in the area.

The underlying communal tensions in the area have come to light as a result of the violence in Nuh, Mewat, Haryana. The seriousness of the problem is shown by calls for an independent investigation from groups like the VHP and the union Home Minister’s guarantee of a permanent RAF installation in Mewat.

Establishing a permanent RAF camp can give quick response capabilities in case of any unfavourable situations and act as a visible deterrent against any potential violent activities. It can also serve as a representation of the government’s dedication to upholding regional harmony and peace.

The debates in the public sphere over this violence and bloodshed have reinforced the fact that identitarianism is on the rise in India, even though the Nuh riots are a failure of the law-and-order machinery and possibly police intelligence as well, leading to the spreading of the clashes in Gurugram.

The idea has been appropriated and even modified as a social movement and a discursive weapon by both the Hindu and Muslim groups for competitive victimhood, in contrast to its European roots, where it is primarily a reactionary movement against the unsettling Islamization of European societies.