NAYABANS,India: Nayabans isn't remarkable asnorthern Indian villages go. Sugar cane grows in surrounding fields, womencarry animal feed in bullock carts through narrow lanes, people chatter outsidea store, and cows loiter. But this week, the village in Uttar Pradesh statebecame a symbol of the deepening communal divide in India as some Hindu menfrom the area complained they had seen a group of Muslims slaughtering cows ina mango orchard a couple of miles away.
That infuriatedHindus, who regard the cow as a sacred animal. Anger against Muslims turnedinto outrage that police had not stopped an illegal practise, and a Hindu mobblocked a highway, threw stones, burned vehicles and eventually two people wereshot and killed - including a police officer. The events throw a spotlight onthe religious strains in places like Nayabans since Prime Minister NarendraModi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power at thenational level in 2014 and in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. Tensions are ratcheting upahead of the next general election, due to be held by May.
The BJP said itwas "bizarre" to assume the party would benefit from any religiousdisharmony, dismissing suggestions that its supporters were largely responsiblefor the tensions. "In a large country like India nobody can ensure thatnothing will go wrong, but it's our responsibility to maintain law and orderand we understand that," party spokesman Gopal Krishna Agarwal said."But people are trying to politicize these issues."
Nayabans, justabout three hour's drive from Delhi, has about 400 Muslims out of a populationof 4,000, the rest are Hindu. Relations between the communities begandeteriorating around the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last year when Hindus inthe village demanded that loudspeakers used to call for prayer at a makeshiftmosque be removed, local Muslims said. "For 40 years mikes were used inthe mosque, calls for prayer were made five times a day, but no oneobjected," said Waseem Khan, a 28-year-old Muslim community leader inNayabans.
"We resistedinitially but then we thought it's better to live in peace then create adispute over a mike," he said. "We don't want to give them a chance tofan communal tensions." Reuters spoke with more than a dozen Muslims fromthe village but except for Khan, no one else wanted to be named for fear ofangering the Hindu population. Several among a group of Muslim women and girlsstanding outside the mosque said they have been living in fear since the BJPcame to power in the state in 2017.
They said thatHindu groups now hold provocative processions through the village during everyHindu festival, loudspeakers blaring, something that used to happen rarelybefore. They said they felt "terrorized" by Hindu activists."While passing through our areas during their religious rallies, theychant 'Pakistan murdabad' (down with Pakistan) as if we have some connection toPakistan just because we are Muslims," Khan said.
Hindi priest CM
The subcontinentwas divided into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu-majority India at the time ofindependence from British colonial rule in 1947. During the violence on Monday,many Muslims in Nayabans locked themselves in their homes fearing attacks. Somewho had attended a three-day Muslim religious congregation some miles awaystayed outside the area that night to avoid making themselves targets for themob.
Muslim villagerssay they are particularly fearful of the top elected official in Uttar Pradesh,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is a Hindu priest and senior BJP figure.Hindu hardliners started asserting themselves more in the village after he waselected, they say. Uttar Pradesh sends 80 lawmakers to the lower house ofparliament, the largest of any state in the country. Considered the county'spolitical crucible, it has also been the scene for spiralling Hindu-Muslimtensions.
Adityanath saidthe lead up to the rioting in Nayabans was a "big conspiracy", butdid not elaborate. In the only statement from his office on the incident,Adityanath ordered police to arrest those directly or indirectly involved inthe slaughter of cows and made no mention of the death of the police inspector.He announced 1 million rupees ($14,110) as compensation for the family of theother dead man, a local who is among those accused by police for the violence.
Both men wereHindus and died of bullet wounds, although police said it was not yet clear whoshot whom. Police say they have arrested up to five people for the cowslaughter but have not given their religion. Locals say all the arrested peopleare Muslims. Four Hindu men have been arrested for the violence leading to thedeaths. "All invidious elements who may have conspired to vitiate thesituation will be exposed through a fair and transparent investigation,"Anand Kumar, the second highest police official in Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters.
Asked if therewas any bias against Muslims, Uttar Pradesh government spokesman Sidharth NathSingh - who is also the state's health minister - told Reuters: "Webelieve in equality and our motto is sabka saath, sabka vikas", using aHindi phrase often used by Modi that means "collective effort, inclusivegrowth".
Relative harmony
The twocommunities in Nayabans have lived in relative harmony for years, residentsfrom both groups said. But now Hindus in the village, who mostly say theysupport Yogi, accuse the Muslims of trying to turn themselves into the victimswhen they weren't. "Can't believe they are raising our processions withjournalists!" said Daulat, a Hindu daily wage labourer who goes by onename. "They are making it a Hindu-Muslim issue, we are not. Their peoplehave been accused of killing cows, so they are playing the victim."
At a middleschool, metres from the police outpost near where the two men got killed, twowomen teachers, sitting on a veranda soaking in the winter sun, said its 66students stopped coming for classes in the first few days after the violence."We worship cows and their slaughter can't be accepted," said one ofthe teachers, Uma Rani. "Two Hindus died here but nothing happened to thecow killers." Both teachers were Hindus.
Politicalanalysts say relations between the two communities are likely to stay tenseahead of the national vote, particularly in polarized states such as UttarPradesh. The BJP made a near-clean sweep in Uttar Pradesh in 2014, helping Modiwin the country's biggest parliamentary mandate in three decades, but pollsterspredict a tighter contest next year because of a lack of jobs and low farmprices. "Facing economic headwinds and lacklustre job growth, Modi willrally his conservative base by selectively resorting to Hindunationalism," global security consultancy Stratfor said last month.
Muslims say theyincreasingly feel like second-class citizens in their own country. "TheBJP will definitely benefit from such incidents," said Tahir Saifi, aMuslim community leader a few miles from the area of violence who supports aregional opposition party in Uttar Pradesh. "They want all Hindus tounite, and when religion comes into the picture, other issues like developmenttake a back seat." - Reuters