Kasganj violence a result of post poll pent up tensions
Hindus say BJP’S win in last year’s polls had frustrated the Muslims and the latter accuse rightwing of becoming more aggressive after the saffron party came to power
KASGANJ: By 9 am on January 26, Kasganj was set for a confrontation. The Hindu boys had arrived in Prabhu Park riding motorbikes and carrying tricolour and saffron flags to take out a Republic Day rally. The Muslim boys had finished decorating Baddunagar Chowk for a Republic Day celebration: rangoli, chairs, balloons, and a flagpole holding up the tricolor.
“This is the first time I joined the Republic Day rally from its origin. I was very excited,” said Mayank Maheshwari, a 19-yearold college student at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s office.
“We had put so much effort into organising the event this year. Everyone was here — old people, young people, children,” said a young resident of Baddunagar who identified himself as “doctor” Asif.
At 9.45 am, the Hindu rally— nearly 150 boys on nearly 70 motorbikes — rode out from the park. Seconds after, mobile phones in Baddunagar started buzzing with updates of the rally’s movement.
By 10.15 am, the town had turned into a battleground. The motorcycle procession charged into the narrow lane through Baddunagar, the Hindu boys demanded a passage, the Muslim boys stood their ground, the Hindu boys demanded the Muslim boys chant ‘Vande Mataram’ or leave India, the Muslim boys scoffed at the swagger, and as both sides later said in their accounts, there was “tu-tu-mainmain”( verbal confrontation) and “haatha-pai”(physical fights).
Then things turned more violent. Overpowered by the Muslim boys, the Hindu boys left behind their bikes and ran away. They returned for revenge in 45 minutes, this time armed with lathis and firearms, to another Muslimmajority neighborhood called Tehseel Road.
The two sides faced off again, someone in the crowd opened fire, and a bullet hit a 22-year-old man called Chandan Gupta. By the afternoon of January 26, he was declared dead at the government hospital. Over the next two days, several Muslims homes and shops were set on fire in retaliation.
A week into the first incident on January 26, Kasganj remains on edge. Some shops have opened, but the market is deserted. Policemen roam the streets in packs, and everyone claims that “everything is normal” until you ask them what they really think. There is only thing that unites the town: the belief that January 26 was just waiting to happen. Hindu-muslim tensions had been building up in Kasganj, where their relationship largely remains “normal”, since the change of political regime in Uttar Pradesh in March. Long called a “bellwether” constituency, Kasganj, seat number 100 in the UP assembly, has voted for the winning party since 1974.
In March 2017, the BJP candidate from Kasganj defeated his Samajwadi rival by 52,030 votes, shifting the power dynamic between the town’s Hindus and Muslims. The last time Kasganj voted for the BJP was in 1991. The last communal riot in Kasganj was recorded in 1992.
“Yogi’s win first caused fear among the Muslims,” said Vinay Raj, a local businessman who leads the town’s chapter of the VHP. “Then, after some time, things returned to normal, but the feeling of frustration among them hasn’t left. They felt as if their votes lost their power,” he added. This feeling, Raj said, was heightened in the Muslim-dominated areas of Kasganj. “When they are among us, they are fine, but when they are among their own, they are different,” said Raj. It is to remind Muslims of their place in Kasganj that the Hindu boys wanted to take their Republic Day rally through Baddunagar.
“Since the last elections, the Hindu community has been acting with aggression and impunity,” said Farooq Bhaddan, a community leader and an established businessman. The sentiment echoed through Baddunagar, where the rangoli was fading, the balloons had turned to shreds, and a piece of saffron cloth hung from an electrical wire crisscrossing the chowk. “If the intention was to celebrate Republic Day, why were people carrying saffron flags in that rally?” asked Asif.