Tag: Jahangirpuri Violence

‘Atmosphere Is Poisoned But Kindness Is Not Dead’

By LokMarg

Shariq Husain, a Delhi-based garment trader and activist, could not sit at home after seeing children wailing at the destruction of their houses in Jahangirpuri. Husain narrates the story

When municipality bulldozers wreaked havoc on select households in Jahangirpuri after a communal polarization on April 20, a small news clip shook me to the core of my heart. It was about a little boy called Asif. He was crying and collecting whatever little was left from the ruins of his family’s modest cold drink stall, including the coins scattered on the street. It was disturbing that a child had to go through such tragedy. I found it difficult to sit at home with hollow sympathy.

I noted down the information from the news clip and immediately went to the affected locality. After some enquiring, I found Asif. I also met his mother, Rahima, who too also in tears. I documented the family’s condition and posted it on social media, with an appeal for help. Compassion is not dead; help poured in.

The family had lost around ₹1 lakh of their savings which they had invested on the little shop. We were able to raise ₹6 lakh. I made another video wherein Asif thanked everyone for the help, and said that now they had enough and hence, “Please don’t give us anymore”. It was heartening to hear: “Now my mother is happy, and she is not crying.”

There were others who also needed help. Rihana had a vegetable shop on the pavement. It was destroyed by the MCD. Guptaji had a neighbourhood grocery store which was damaged beyond repair in the mayhem.

Husain with Asif and his family in Jahangirpuri

We helped Rihana and Guptaji pick up the scattered straws again. Their losses too were recovered via social media resources. I am happy that in spite of some vested interests vitiating the atmosphere, people haven’t mislaid their moral compass.

ALSO READ: ‘We Stood Like A Wall In Front of Bulldozers’

I saw similar camaraderie during Covid waves. I would go out with food packets every day for the migrant workers because I thought they have worked on our fields, homes and factories, and thus they cannot be left alone in the scorching summer highways, walking miles on foot! I asked my friends to help, and they happily joined the efforts. We organized vehicles to carry food to the highways and provided whatever little relief we could, from morning till late.

Similarly, during the second killer wave, I wasn’t alone when I stepped out to organize oxygen cylinders for the needy. Hundreds of people felt it was their duty to make available the most crucial medical necessity for those running from pillar to post with no help from the government. It was not a favour or a sacrifice; we felt it was our duty to help our fellow citizens in crisis. That is why I did my bit, and, will continue to do so, whenever the call comes.

The poor and the marginalized citizens too have a right to live with dignity in this country. They too have dreams and aspirations, and they have a right to rise high in society. All they need is a chance, a foothold. It is a pity, instead of being provided opportunities, they are being ravaged and brutalized every day, especially in contemporary India when things have gone from the bad to worse.

As told to Amit Sengupta

‘We Stood Like A Wall Between Bulldozers And Muslim Households’

By LokMarg

Ravi Rai, a Communist leader, recounts how he along with a group of committed comrades, staked his life and body in front of the bulldozers at Jahangirpuri on April 20

It was after midnight on Tuesday that out party members came to know that the BJP leadership was hell-bent on demolishing the poor Muslim basti in Jahangirpuri, not only as revenge politics, but, also to push communal polarization to its peak after the violent and pre-meditated assaults on Muslim religious places in northwest Delhi. We call it premeditated because in several other towns and cities, especially in BJP-ruled states, similar pattern was followed to target Muslim households.

Sensing the urgency, a small group of the CPI-ML activists and volunteers rushed to the spot at around 10 in the morning on Wednesday. We stood like a wall between the heavy bulldozers and the Muslim houses till the time the Supreme Court order arrived, stopping all demolition at the site, around 11.

It is no coincidence that the six-seven bulldozers were operating in around 300 meters of the Muslim residential colony at C Block, where the mosque stood – the same mosque which was attacked by a group of goons during Hanuman Jayanti procession. The entire area and its by-lanes were under siege, with heavy police deployment and barricades. As if these homes of poor Indian citizens belonged to some terrorists!

We had earlier argued with the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (North), with no respite coming our way. He said he had no written orders and that the demolition was part of routine action taken time to time. Same were the tactics employed by the Delhi Police even while the bulldozers unleashed their terror in what seemed like an ‘occupation zone’.

CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat and her comrades joined in soon. Thereby, we decided to physically block the bulldozers.

Rai (encircled) on the site with his comrades and volunteers

I was pushed and manhandled, removed repeatedly by the cops, but I would come back with more conviction each time I was assaulted. We waved the Supreme Court orders at the bulldozers. They seemed to care a damn. This went on for two hours in the scorching heat. Seeing our peaceful and stoic resolve, finally, the administration decided to turn away their bulldozers.

ALSO READ: ‘Indian Muslims Must Remain Patient’

That this was a sinister plan and clearly politically motivated is borne out from the fact that the BJP Chairman of the MCD (North), had earlier written a letter asking for action against what he branded as encroachments. This is a blatant lie. These 22 square foot plots were given to the citizens by the government long time ago, and most of them come from Medinipur, West Bengal. They are hardworking and honest people.

In contrast, every area in Delhi has encroachments where the poorest of the poor, working in the informal economy, have set up make-shift tenements and live in sub-human conditions. So, why target only the Bengali Muslims of Jahangirpuri?

The cold-blooded response of Arvind Kejriwal and his party is much too predictable. That that they have chosen to bring in the Rohingya and Bangladeshi angle, typically smacks of infamous BJP propaganda. They are playing the same jarring note as they did during the state-sponsored communal violence engineered against the Muslims during the non-violent Shaheen Bagh protests against the communal CAA. Indeed, the stance of Kejriwal and his party leaders is truly sad and deplorable.