The Stabbing Of Of Muzzafarnagar .

The gory and bloody riots in Muzzafarnagar has shaken up the whole country .It partly reflects the deep divide in our society as well as the complete failure of the administrative machinery .It also reflects how the social media can be used with such devastating effect .And it also frightens one to the bones -Muzzafarnagar is only 135 kms from the Capital of India .It is not a town in far away Bihar or Eastern U.P.,or some other state.It lies near the heart of the power centre of India -Delhi.

Muzzafarnagar is a bustling town mid way between Delhi and Dehradun .I know it well because when I used to study at the Delhi University ,I would pass through it at least 10 times in a year .Add to it ,the number of times we drove with our parents to visit our relatives in Delhi and friends in Meerut –and you will imagine that it is one city I have travelled through more than probably any other city .As one  descended from the Sivalik hills in Dehradun , we would hit Biharigarh where we would gorge into the small marble sized pakoras , and  minutes further onwards  we would  cross over the Ganga Canal and the Army Cantonment  in Roorkee ,pass through the  rather crowded mandi town of Manglaur,then reach Purkazi which was special for me because my cousins (the Joshis),managed a 100 acre farm there .I remember that once they got a huge chunk of wild boar meat which they had shot and which  we cooked and ate at our place in a winter month .Purkazi also had a Animal Husbandry Farm hoarding displayed on the main road .Whether it is still there (the farm I mean ),I don’t know .But for all of us ,it was a important landmark as we meandered through the town ..After Purkazi –we entered Muzzafarnagar .This is a large Municipality Town and sits right in the middle of the sugar belt .It was founded by Shahjahan in 1633,and has 11 sugar mills –making it one of the worlds largest sugar producing town .It also has a steel plant and plenty of factories producing iron stuff –“saryaas” and angle iron.A road forks off from Muzzafarnagar to Shamli a short distance away and brings you into a town that is famous for its brick kilns and “Shamli eent”(Shamli bricks ).It has also been immortalized in a short story by Ruskin Bond “Time Stops At Shamli”.If you haven’t read the short story –you have not read any short story .Muzzafarnagar is only 135 kms away from Delhi .Just about 20 kms away further from Muzzafarnagar is Khatuali .This is  a stopping point for everyone .Buses ,private cars ,taxis ,and even youngsters coming from Meerut and Muzzafarnagar on two wheelers  .Why ?Because it has one of the best motel /hotel/fast food/restaurant /aviary/deer park etc complexes in India  .(We once bumped into film star Navin Nischol with his entourage here ).It is a great place to stop by and have some great snacks .The bathrooms are spotlessly clean and service topclass .Once one left  Khatuali ,one always got caught in the traffic congestion of Meerut and Modinagar before one hit Delhi .

When I read about the riots in Muzzafarnagar ,I was more than just concerned or interested in a casual way .After all I know the place inside out and we had never heard of a rioting of this type ever .And frighteningly –it is only 135 kms from the power centre of Delhi .What happened ?

Trouble started when a young  Muslim man  was killed on August 27 allegedly triggered by comments passed at two Jat girls in Kawal village .The retaliation was swift and brutal .Two of the girls cousins attacked the young man leading to his death .The counter retaliation was not long in coming .The dead mans relatives caught hold of the two who had attacked the dead man and and beat them to death .The Jat Community demanded punishment for the killing of the two youth .It called for a Panchayat on the 31^st and demanded the removal of the SP for his “partisan” behavior.They also demanded a compensation of 25 lakhs for each of the deceased and called for a “bandh” in Muzzafarnagar  on Teachers Day -5^th September !!.They also threatened that if no action was taken ,then they would call a “MAHAPANCHAYAT” on September 7^th at Nagla Mandaur.

Curfew was imposed .Tens and thousands of Jats gathered defying the prohibitory orders on 7^th at Nagla Mandaur  for what the Jats called “BAHU BETI SAMMAN BACHAO MAHAPANCHAYAT” .Inflamtory speeches were delivered .Anger was fuelled even further when some of the participants were attacked .Incidents of stone pelting ,and firing took place where a IBN 7 reporter was killed .Muzzafarnagar was on a pile of gunpowder .Someone had to just light it .

This is where the old 2010 Pakistani video entered the picture .A MLA is said to uploaded it on his facebook page asking people to “see what is going on in Muzzafarnagar”.It was a video showing two men being brutally lynched by a mob in Sialkot in 2010 .This was projected as the killing of the two boys on the 27^th August .!!It just showed how fragile peace is in India at the grassroot level .No one is bothered there about the food security bill or coalgate or railgate .No one has heard about the RTE OR NREGA.There are no Delhi Public Schools ,Shriram Schools or Doon Schools there .Those issues are meant to be discussed by people who inhabit “India”.But “Bharat’’ is different .Here people are  bothered about their survival .This is a land which is called the wild west of India .Here more than 15000 people  have licensed weapons and many times more than that illegal arms .It is estimated that every second household has a weapon .Here law and order and being fair is all that is required .Here the national anthem should be

"tu hindu banega na musalamaan banega 

Insaan ki aulaad hai, insaan banega."

 And when the state tries to do the exact opposite to get votes –the people  take law into their own hands

The mayhem has continued .Why did the police not step in when the first killing took place ?Why did it not step in when the second killings  take  place ?Can the police  hide behind the fact that FIR s had been lodged ?Why did they allow people to gather for the Mahpanchayat when section 144(curfew ),was imposed ?Why did the police not go house to house and confiscate the firearms ?Is it a game plan orchestrated by political parties to polarize the communities to get votes for election 2014 ?Isnt  the CM responsible for the incident and accountable for it rather than passing  the buck on to the opposition and blame them for the “mischief”?.Why was no action  taken when the Home Minister had warned the CM that there was trouble brewing up and he should be vigilant ?Is minority politics going to create a scenario that led to horrible riots in 1946/1947 ?There are hundreds of questions that need to answered .

For me –Muzzafarnagar will always be a town through which we drove and had our breakfast or lunch at Cheetal .For me Shamli will always be a place where Sangeeta and me stopped as we drove from Rai to Dehradun to have the wonderful puri ,aloo and pumpkin vegetable.

There were no rioters then .From where ,and why have they come to haunt this lovely area ? And Ruskin Bond –why has “Time NOT stopped at Shamli”. ?