The namaz incident in Gurgaon means Jammu-style bigotry on open display

A brazen display of communal bigotry and majoritarian bullying is cocking a snook at rule of law at a place barely 15 kilometres from the national Capital. The men and women responsible are usual suspects – radical Hindutva elements who quickly gang up to paint a fake picture of Hindu victimhood.

On 26 April, police in Gurgaon arrested six people for disrupting a gathering of Muslims collectively offering namaz at a vacant plot in the city. The arrested men, identified in a video recording of the incident, were chanting 'Jai Sri Ram' and 'Radhe Radhe' while abusing the people assembled there, and asking them to stop the namaz and leave the plot (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/disruption-of-friday-namaaz-in-gurgaon-six-people-arrested-5152491/).

Even as the men have now been released on bail, Hindutva activists are up in arms. Local members of Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena and other Hindutva organisations were quick to organise themselves under the banner of an outfit that they named Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti.

That can be loosely translated into Joint Committee for Hindu Struggle. Struggle for what, may one ask? For the right to take law into one's own hands? For the power to frighten people of other faiths and tell them that they are second-class citizens?

This platform has already achieved two of its objectives. The arrested men have been released on bail and the number of Muslims gathering at that plot has dropped significantly. Emboldened, the Samiti is now asking for more – quash the charges against the accused and impose a city-wide ban on reading namaz in the open.

In fact, Samiti members have demanded from the state government through a letter that “Rohingyas and Bangladeshis residing in Gurgaon” should be identified and marked, “permission should not be given to read namaz in Hindu colonies” and “permission should only be given in those places where the strength of 'this' population is more than 50%”.

“Otherwise”, the letter threatens, “there will continue to be a possibility of peace being obstructed.” The brazen communalism in these demands can not be overlooked. Why should Rohingyas and “Bangladeshis” be marked? Why should Muslims be obstructed from offering namaz in “Hindu colonies”? What is this awful construct that these people are referring to as “Hindu colonies”?

Why can't Muslims or people of any other faith pray in the presence of Hindus? Are kirtans, jagratas and 'chowkis' held in Hindu-only colonies? Don't temples come up at the most mundane of places and are simply accepted by the community?

The dangerous demands that the Samiti is making will not only encourage ghettoisation of Muslims, they will further divide the society that is already polarising at a rapid pace. Muslim-only neighbourhoods also render the residents deeply vulnerable in times of communal riots.

From where are these people getting the power to make such demands so vocally? The formation of this Samiti and its phoney struggle is not too different from the way Hindutva sympathisers formed the Hindu Ekta Manch in Jammu's Kathua.

The Manch was formed to express solidarity for the men charge-sheeted by Jammu police for raping and killing an 8-year old Muslim Bakkarwal girl. Members of the Manch are demanding the release of the accused and a CBI probe into the case.

This Manch received open backing from a range of BJP leaders, including members of legislative assembly and ministers. While the BJP sacked two of these ministers after facing uproar, the local MLA who also backed the Manch and its demands has now been inducted into the state Cabinet.

Another MLA, recently promoted to the position of deputy chief minister, has called the incident a 'minor' one. There is no ambiguity around BJP's support to the narrative that the Manch has been trying to propagate.

This is the source of power for such platforms. They receive direct support from the larger Sangh Parivar because they act as foot-soldiers of its campaign. So, while the prime minister will try to get away by coining empty slogans like “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” and citing the Quran in his speeches, foot-soldiers of the Parivar will keep carrying out such campaigns on the ground.

These campaigns are designed to keep the minorities perpetually scared and they must not go unchallenged.