Communal Riot in Mau: A Report

Roop Rekha Verma Nasiruddin Haider Khan



On behalf of “Saajhi Duniya” the undersigned tried to
understand the reality of riot-hit Mau and visit this
city on October 20, 2005. We saw those areas in Mau
which were affected by violence; we talked to some
people who had witnessed the violence. We also looked
into the local news papers. We tried to know what the
immediate cause of the riot was ; what the role of
Mukhtar Ansari (identified as the main culprit by all
variety of the media) was ; whether there was any role
of any other individual or organization in the riots;
whether Hindus had really been massacred en mass and
they have lost everything; what the role of the
administration was and whether this riot could have
been averted.
After having returned to Lucknow we thought it
necessary to share the facts collected by us with
wider public, and prepared this report. But it should
not be taken as the report of an inquiry. It is only
an effort to connect scattered facts and an attempt to
make a passage to find out further facts.
Moreover we have given community –based analysis
despite the fact that for us dividing the statistics
of loot and murder on the basis of religion is
inhuman, because the media has mostly presented
religion-based statistics and we did not find the one
–sided picture given by media as correct. The account
of what we saw, heard, understood and felt, is given
below.

Beginning of Tension
In Mau Bharat Milap (enactment of a scene from
Ramayan) has always been very important and sensitive
occasion. The traditional cite of Bharat Milap is
adjacent to the Shahi Katra Mosque. For a long time
Bharat Milap ceremony is held on this cite. Some years
ago during the renovation of the mosque a controversy
arose that a gate of the mosque had occupied about one
foot more space than it should have. This controversy
reached the court. Later the prominent persons of both
the communities reached an agreement that the gate of
the mosque may remain as such and when the chariot in
Bharat Milap turns around near this gate, the chariot
can touch the gate thrice. Now it has become part of
the ritual that during Bharat Milap the chariot strike
at the mosque gate thrice. This practice does not
cause any tension now. The Bharat Milap event has, for
a long time, been treated as very sensitive by the
administration and they have been deploying heavy
police force around this occasion.
This year Bharat Milap coincided with Ramzan. On the
13th October 2005 when the loudspeakers were blowing
on the Bharat Milap cite, it was time for Taravih in
the mosque and people in the mosque objected to the
blowing of the loudspeakers. When an elderly person
objected, loudspeakers stopped blowing but after a
short while they again started blowing. On this, it is
reported, some young boys snatched away the wires of
the loudspeakers. The police beat them up and locked
them up in the police thana. Later the boys were
released under pressure. This angered the Ramlila
Committee. During all this episode the administrative
and police arrangement at the cite was not as it used
to be the previous years ; it was much lesser this
year. After some time members of Ramlila Committee,
BJP MLC Ramji Singh, other leaders of BJP and people
in administration reached Shahi Katra. After
discussion it was decided to postpone Bharat Milap to
October, 29, 2005. This seemed to be the end of the
whole controversy.
But this was not to be. The next day morning the
workers of Hindu Yuva Vahini and Hindu Mahasabha,
under the leadership of Ajit Singh Chandel, Punit
Singh Chandel, Sujit Kumar Singh & others, jammed the
traffic at Mata Pokhra and at the Sanskrit Pathshala
Trisection near Shahi Katra Mosque in protest against
the postponement of Bharat Milap. The residence of
Chandel is also situated on this spot. This place is
supposed to be very sensitive. The space around the
trisection is very narrow too. The demonstrators were
raising provocative slogans. They were also against
Ramlila Committee and local BJP leaders. The
demonstrators alleged that these leaders and
committee-members had shown cowardice by postponing
Bharat Milap. On this occasion too the police presence
was meager and the administration was lax. During the
demonstration chaos prevailed. Police warned of
firing, stone-throwing started and Ajit Singh Chandel
started firing from his rifle, injuring several
persons who are still in hospital. In fact, violence
started from this incident.
People with whom we talked belonged to both Hindu and
Muslim community and they said that Mukhtar Ansari was
seen on the streets some hours after violence had
started. Although none of the persons we talked to
could quote any provocative pronouncement by him, they
all maintained that his mere presence was sufficient
to encourage lumpen elements.

Violence and Loot
After the abovementioned incident near Sanskrit
Pathshala about a dozen shops at Sadar Chowk, Rauza,
Kaudi Building and Sindhi Colony were looted. Among
these shops were Jaiswal Vastralaya, Sindhi Bidi,
Metro Sareewala, Deenanath Agarwal Cloth shop, saree
shop of Ramgopal, Jugal Prsad Vishwanath Prasad Saree
wholesale, Gopal Traders of electronic goods, Barnwal
stores etc. All the shops looted in this area belonged
to Hindus. Some of these shops were quite big and old.
The estimated loss runs in lakhs. Three of the looted
shops looked entirely burnt and destroyed. Dozen other
shops of Hindus near these looted shops were safe and
intact. Some damaged shops, people say, had
long-standing tenancy disputes. It is likely that
taking advantage of chaos and violence some people
adopted this method of resolving the disputes. As per
the information gathered till now maximum damage to
Hindu population was done in this area. In this area a
godown of soaps belonging to a Muslim and housed in
Goenka Bhavan behind Mr. Chandel’s hose was looted.
Further ahead in Bal Niketan area which is inhabited
mainly by Hindus, everything looked safe and intact
excepting burning down of a kiosk of a Muslim.
In Sahadatpur area the Muslim-owned shops in Ali
Building were looted and burnt. The damage is
estimated in crores. The adjacent shops of Hindus were
intact. Two purely vegetarian restaurants owned by
Muslims, Girhast Plaza and Paris Plaza on the Ghazipur
Trisection were victims of heavy damage and loot.
Further up on the bypass road Habib Hospital of Dr.
Asghar Ali Ansari was damaged and his new Scorpio Jeep
and motorcycle were completely burnt down. Dr. Ali
escaped to Ghazipur. Further on the same road in
Brahmsthan area a big trading complex housing Ahmad
Beej Bhandar was totally looted and burnt. Even after
5 days we saw smoke still blowing from this building.
On Salahbad turning Shimla Saree, a famous factory
owned by a muslim, was looted. The estimate is that
about 16 thousand sarees, 3 electronic machines and
computer were looted. After this loot a big crowd of
Muslims from a nearby place indulged in rampage and
loot for two-three hours and no administrative
intervention was visible. Here, people say, Mukhtar
Ansari was called by some persons to intervene and in
his presence firing was done by someone, killing one
person.
As a reaction to this, it is said, the colony of
Muslim weavers in Alinagar was attacked and about 100
houses were looted and then burnt. All the power looms
were destroyed in the arson. Due to rains, absence of
proper road and late night we could not go to this
place despite our strong desire. People told us that
nothing was left in this colony; it was totally
deserted. Some other establishments which suffered
loot and/or arson were mobile oil shop and junk
dealers store on bypass, Kanpur Machinery Store (
engine, motor, thrasher, etc.) , Airlite machinery
near old government hospital, dying factory in
Ranvirpura, retail sellers on Bhiti and Azamgarh
Trisection, school of municipal chairman in Matlupur,
some shops in Ratanpura. They all belonged to Muslims.
These establishments included the tent-house which
used to provide tents, etc. free of cost for Durga
puja every year. Some of the adjacent villagers like
Faidullapur and Kurthi Jafarpur also suffered
violence.

Casualties
According to the administration nine persons were
killed in this riot whereas the newspapers have
reported the number as fourteen to seventeen. Among
these five Hindus have been identified. Mehtab, a
Muslim, died in police firing. Five charred bodies
were found in the burnt colony of Alinagar. Since this
colony was inhabited by Muslim weavers only, the
surmise is that five burnt bodies were of Muslims.

Shining examples of humanity in the midst of
Barbarism.
Mau has not one but several exceptional persons who
helped restore our faith in humanity in the midst of
brutality and violence. On the one hand there were
Haji Vakil, Abdul Sattar, Abdul Samad who challenged
rioters in Sindhi colony or Salim Ansari, Kamaruzzaman
and Haji Irfan who stopped the fanatic elements from
indulging in violence. On the other hand there were
Ashok Singh who saved the plaza from arson, Anil Rai
who stopped rioters from looting a furniture shop,
Ramchandra Singh who saved Noorkamal near Ali
Building, Dr. Udai Narain Singh who saved two lives or
Ashok Gupta who sheltered nine Muslims. In Indaara a
Muslim sheltered some Hindus to save them from a
frenzied mob and had his fingers chopped off while he
was closing the doors of his house.

Comments :

i) It is clear that the picture presented by most of
the media, that the aggressors were mainly Muslims and
mainly Hindus were the sufferers is not correct.
Muslims have heavily suffered in terms of life and
property.
ii) The role of Hindu Yuva Vahini and Hindu Mahasabha
has been almost missing in the media whereas they
played crucial role in the beginning of the riots and
in worsening the situation.
iii) The statements of exaggerated and exclusive
losses of Hindus, by some BJP leaders and leaders of
Hindu Yuva Vahini like Yogi Adityanath have been
partial and provocative.


Roop Rekha Verma Nasiruddin Haider Khan
Secretary Saajhi Duniya
M-1/14, Sector- B,
Aliganj,
Lucknow – 226 024.
Tel: 0-93359-05337