In Hapur, social ties lie shattered
The Muslim Rajput and Hindu Rajput-dominated villages hit the headlines in 2018 when a cattle trader was lynched on the boundary of two villages and cow vigilantes injured a witness; Muslims say they have become used to living in fear; gaushalas want govt
e can’t be seen with stray cattle at night,” said Mohd. Umar, while tending to his cow in Madan Mustafabad village of Hapur. “Even if they maraud our elds, we wait till morning to gently push them, including the bulls, towards our Thakur brothers in Bajheda Khurd. They have a licence to hit them hard, shove them into a vehicle and send them to the cow protection centre that has come up on the outskirts.” Sarcasm is melting in April heat as his brother Usman joins in. Tense about their cow losing fertility, he added, “Abhi nayi karai hai [articially inseminated] but if it doesn’t work out, she won’t be of any use. You would be thinking we will eat her up,” he grinned.
The Muslim Rajput and Hindu Rajput-dominated villages hit the national headlines in 2018 when Qasim, a cattle trader, was lynched on the boundary of the two villages and selfstyled cow vigilantes grievously injured a witness Md. Samyiuddin. After six years, this March, a local court convicted 10 men for life and raised serious questions on police investi
“Wgation in the case.
As the sun beats down on the wheat elds, Samiyuddin is busy earning a living by harvesting wheat elds with his son and wife. It was during one such errand on June 18, 2018, that “the trouble ran into me,” he said.
One memory that has stayed with the 66-year-old is the way the accused were welcomed by some residents of Bajheda when they initially got the bail. “We were repeatedly reminded of their political clout and how they will tire us out,” said Samiyuddin, who took farming contracts in Bajheda before the incident. “Before the incident, there was no animosity. Still, every day scores of residents of Bajheda pass through our village but we have never given them any trouble.” His brother Mohd. Yasin said he pleaded with the farmers in Bajheda reminding them of their long association but he was threatened. Though given protection by the government, he said, they had become used to living in fear and dealing with the fractured social ties. There were better doctors in Bajheda Khurd but they avoided going there after the incident as they felt unwanted.
In Bajheda, Virendra
A cow protection centre at Bajheda village in Hapur.
Singh, who works in a beverage factory nearby, said the boys got carried away by the social atmosphere that prevailed at that time and that it was a crime that could not be condoned. “There was no evidence of cow slaughter. Either they should have planted remains of a cow at the scene or one of them should not be stupid enough to admit to the crime on camera.”
Ravinder Singh, another resident, remembered a few days after the incident came to light, a Bajrang Dal team came to felicitate the team and there was a buzz in the village that distributed some money among the boys. “When the television crew came, they would have thought it was a chance to earn more,” he said, referring to the sting
operation conducted by a news channel on the main accused that was accepted as evidence by the court.
He said Samiyuddin’s family had come for talks but they were humiliated and abused. “The sentiment was apni sarkar hai [it is our government]. When in the preliminary investigation it was described as an accident case, they were condent. If you so grossly cross the line, no leader can save you.”
Farmers in Bajheda admitted the village was feeling the pinch of the absence of Muslim workers in their elds.
‘Falsely implicated’ However, Prem Pal Sisodia, father of one of the 10 convicted men, said his son was falsely implicated. “It was a case of accident. It is the judiciary that has faltered. How could all the 10 accused get the same quantum of punishment,” he said.
While the residents in Mustafabad want to maintain “vote ki oat [secrecy of vote]”, Mohd Javed, the cleric of the village mosque, said he didn’t see that the administration is against the community. “Recently, there were instances of boys on motorcycles shouting slogans in front of a mosque at the time of namaz. I approached the Circle O¨cer and he directed me to the police chowki. It took some time but the nuisance stopped. The hatred on social media has also decreased.”
Using a caste-indicative word, Md. Khalid, a farmer, said the Scheduled Castes in the village were more sensitive.
Meanwhile, in Hapur, the BJP’s election o¨ce is being run from a small Dharamshala outside the Panchayati Gaushala run by a charitable trust since 1905. In the 36-member board, there is no Muslim member. “It is in our constitution. It unnecessarily creates problems,” said Suresh Kumar Gupta, the four-term Secretary and a member of the BJP.
On a phone call to get 100 trucks of fodder cleared from Shahjahanpur, Mr. Gupta said, “The local District Magistrate felt it will spike the prices of fodder in his district. I have requested the Hapur DM for help.” He said 125 trucks of fodder were required every year to feed 2,200 bovine at the sprawling gaushala, which, according to Mr. Gupta, has an annual balance sheet of «5 crore.
Mr. Gupta said when the gaushala started getting «21 per cow per day from the State government the charity from the city was depleted. “The governmentrun cow protection centres get «50 per day per cow. There are around 50 such centres that have cropped up in Hapur after 2017 but they can’t match our quality of feed and care.”
Agreeing that a political economy has evolved around cows in the State, he said there could be leakages in the system. “The monitoring would be stricter if the government spent on a bigger but lesser number of protection centres. The State should buy vermicompost, cow dung logs, and urine by forming an organisation like NAFED. It will incentivise protection centres to take better care of old cattle.”