Hindu religious processions in Delhi turn violent
"How can they claim we are Bangladeshi?" says Rokiya, "I have lived in Delhi my entire life, was born here and got married here."
On April 20, Rokiya’s seekh kebab stall was among many structures that were demolished in the anti-encroachment drive by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).
Rokiya has lived in Delhi's Jahangirpuri for her entire life.
However, the Delhi BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) have accused these residents of being Bangladeshi immigrants, but locals claim they came from West Bengal during Indira Gandhi's administration and were assisted in settling in the Delhi neighbourhood.
The anti-encroachment drive comes just four days after communal violence hit Jahangirpuri when Hindu right-wing groups across the country held a march or "shobha yatra" to mark Lord Hanuman's birth.
Three such processions were seen in Jahangirpuri, a neighbourhood in North Delhi. These “peaceful” processions devolved into yet another violent incident in the country's recent spate of communal violence.
A total of nine people were injured, including eight police personnel and one civilian.
What happened in Delhi's Jahangirpuri?
The Hindu religious procession began at E-Block near Bajrang Bali Mandir and stopped outside a mosque after peacefully going through multiple places.
The first two rallies, held in the afternoon, were peaceful.
"In the afternoon, the Muslims in the neighbourhood asked the Hindu devotees to avoid the mosque's route, and the devotees complied and moved on," Irfaan*, a resident of Jahangirpuri, said.
The procession arrived at C block again around 6:00 p.m., with roughly 400-500 Hindu men armed with swords and weapons shouting Jai Shri Ram slogans outside the C-block mosque as Muslims waited to break their roza (fast) inside.
"Around 4-5 young men moved towards the mosque; we knew this had happened before in Ram Navami processions, so the people in the mosque closed the door - but these men climbed on top of the gate, the mosque caretaker caught them and tried to stop them - and that's when the altercation began," Irfaan* told South Asian Today.
According to Irfaan*, people in the mosque stopped the mob from hoisting the saffron flag on top of the mosque.
However, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana refuted the claim.
One of the inhabitants of Jahangirpuri told us he has lived in the area for 40-45 years and has never experienced such violence.
"The last time we saw violence was in 1984, and we also saved many people at that time. Puran Singh Dange, a 63-year-old shopkeeper in Jahangirpuri, said.
"This is the first time we've seen violence during a religious parade," Dange said.
When questioned about the weapons brought in the procession, Dange asserts that swords and firearms were unnecessary, as were aggressive slogans.
"What's the point of carrying swords or guns, this isn't a religious procession," Dange said.
He went on to say that the procession's participants were not locals.
"Those participants weren't from our neighbourhood; this was clearly politically motivated to disrupt the unity between Muslims and Hindus in Jahangirpuri," Dange told South Asian Today.
Apparently, stones were thrown from both sides, and rounds were fired from a country-made weapon.
During the event, some vehicles were allegedly set on fire.
"The world is watching; nobody is helping us"
The decision to raze the “illegal structure” in Jahangirpuri came after Adesh Gupta, the Delhi BJP president, wrote to North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor demanding that those arrested in the Jahangirpuri riots be identified and "illegal encroachment" and construction be demolished, the Indian Express reported.
On the morning of April 20, around seven bulldozers razed multiple structures of people living in Jahangirpuri.
Though the Supreme Court had ordered a halt to the demolition, the demolition went on for two hours.
Rukaiyya, a 46-year-old scrap dealer from West Bengal's Haldia region, has lived in Jahangirpuri since 1976.
"We've been here since 1976; this land was provided to us by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; we have all the documentation," Rukaiyya told South Asian Today.
"The NDMC didn't even give us any warning before demolishing our shops," she adds.
NDMC assured Rukkaiya that only some of their belongings would be removed during the demolition, but the municipality demolished their entire shop, claims Rukkaiya.
“Where are we supposed to go now? We are poor people who rely on daily earnings and have been singled out by the government," Rukkaiya says.
She further said that only AIMIM president Asaddudin Owaisi visited them and assured them of assistance.
"Muslims in the locality were targeted; only one non-Muslim business was demolished, and the rest of the Muslims were harassed," Rukkaiya claims.
The MCD also demolished Ganesh Kumar Gupta's juice corner; he claims his shop had DDA approval since 1977.
“I have all the documents; the corporation didn’t give me any notice, I showed them my documents, but they refuse to see this,” Gupta told the media.
Rokiya's cart remains behind her while she speaks to the media. “Bismillah Seekh” is written on a now broken cart.
Holding her documents in hand, Rokiya says that she took a loan of Rs. 80,000 to set up her seekh kebab stall.
“I requested the municipality workers to let me take my cart inside, but they said they have been given the orders; I had all the documents to run my stall,” Rokiya states.
Rokiya has three children and makes a living from her seekh kebab business. She claims that only Muslims in the locality were targeted.
"How can they claim we are Bangladeshi?" Rokiya adds. "I have lived in Delhi my entire life; I was born here and married here."
She says that her neighbours assist her and her family with food and money.
"The government is watching everything; they know we can't do anything since we're poor," Rokiya says. "No leader came to us, and the rest of the world is watching."
Rasheeda, who is fifty years old, was married while she was a minor. Rasheeda, like Rokiya, owns and runs a seekh kebab stall.
"I was standing near my stall when officials from the municipality came and smashed it. The police shoved me aside when I tried to save my stall," Rasheeda says.
Rasheeda claims to have taken out a loan for one lakh and forty thousand rupees. She shows us all her documents and says, "the authorities informed me that I can produce these documents if someone comes to my stall and demands to move it." Rasheeda alleges that female police officers shoved her.
Her husband has been dead for twenty-five years.
"I have a son. What will I do now that this stand is my only source of income?" Rasheeda wonders.
Rasheeda says that she worked hard to earn money and that the family faced many difficulties during the lockdown but that they were able to eat.
"If we open another business here, they will come and destroy it again. How should I move ahead?" she says.
The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has adopted a similar procedure in razing people's homes involved in the Ram Navami violence.
24 arrested by the Delhi Police
According to a First Information Report (FIR) filed by Inspector Rajiv Ranjan of the Jahangirpuri Police Station, the Hanuman Jayanti procession proceeded peacefully until it reached the C-block mosque. A Muslim man and 4-5 others began arguing with the procession's participants. The verbal argument quickly escalated into violence, and stone-pelting started from both ends.
The police intervened and asked everyone to maintain the peace, but sloganeering and stone pelting continued after a few minutes.
According to the FIR, the police fired 40-50 tear gas rounds to disperse the mob, with one police officer injured in the shooting and seven others in the stone-pelting.
On Monday, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana mentioned that strict action would be taken against those involved in the violence - irrespective of the caste, creed, community, or religion.
Sonu, a young Muslim man, has also been arrested for the violence. He was allegedly seen opening fire during the confrontation in videos that surfaced online after the incident, according to the police.
The Delhi police arrested Siraj* and Sameer*, the alleged prime accused of the violence. According to an NDTV report - police are looking for Siraj’s** call records to see if he orchestrated the clashes or acted on someone's orders. The police claim Sameer* was involved in stone-pelting and firing rounds on the police.
According to the FIR, Sameer* is 22, but his birth certificate, which South Asian Today accessed, shows 16 years old. However, Sameer’s* family claims that Sameer was at home during the incident. When we reached out to Sameer’s family, they declined to comment.
“I am tired; I can’t talk to the media anymore - I don’t have the energy to say anything,” said Sameer’s sister-in-law.
Sameer’s elder brother Siraj has also been arrested.
Till now, 24 people have been arrested, including a woman and two minors.
"The processions was not permitted"
On Monday, the Delhi police stated that an FIR had also been lodged against the organisers of the shobha yatra (Hanuman Jayanti rally).
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Usha Rangnani stated that an FIR under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been registered against the organiser who took out the procession without permission.
As per Rangnani, the first two processions taken out in the morning and afternoon had permission, but the one in the evening that turned violent did not.
However, according to The Print, Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) national spokesperson stated that the right-wing group had all the permission.
But, on Tuesday, the Delhi police retracted their statement against VHP and Bajrang Dal after the VHP warned the police to take action against their members. The police had arrested Prem Sharma, a local VHP member in the Jahangirpuri violence case.
“The VHP will launch a battle if the police try to lodge a false case or pick up any of its activists,” Bansal told the media.
Delhi Violence: Not an isolated event
Jahangirpuri is a densely populated region with a diverse population. People from Hindu, Muslim and Punjabi communities live here.
Meeran* has a small shop in the primary market of Jahangirpuri.
When the rally arrived with swords and guns, he says that the Muslim community knew that something unpleasant would happen.
“We knew this would happen; we saw it happening in other states; they tried to hoist the saffron flag; this was a provocation,” said Meeran**.
According to Apoorvanand, a professor at the University of Delhi, the Jahangirpuri violence may have been avoided if the Delhi police had been more vigilant.
"The Delhi police's relaxed attitude is inexcusable. On April 3, they allowed a Hindu Mahapanchayat at Delhi's Burari, where Hindutva leaders spewed hate against the country's Muslims. They didn't take any action against those who organised that hate conclave, and the police allowed this shobha yatra despite the violent processions we have witnessed in the last one week during Ram Navami," professor Apoorvanand stated.
Professor Apoorvanand agrees that these religious processions follow a similar pattern.
"Carrying illegal weapons, playing provocative music, causing a disturbance, and then blaming Muslims for assaulting, and persecuting them by arresting, demolishing their properties, there is a pattern to it", professor Apoorvanand added.
Violence during the Hindu religious event isn't the latest in the country - on April 10, Hindu groups took out processions to commemorate Ram Navami in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Goa, and Mumbai.
Many of the processions were aimed to provoke anti-Muslim unrest in Muslim-majority areas.
(*Name changed to protect the identity of the witnesses as requested)
This article has been written with input from Zakir Ali Tyagi.