As Election Approaches, Religious Tensions Surge in an Indian Village

9 International Sunday, December 9, 2018 As election approaches, religious tensions surge in an Indian village UP village symbol of deepening communal divide NAYABANS, India: Nayabans isn’t remarkable as north- removed, local Muslims said. “For 40 years mikes were ern Indian villages go. Sugar cane grows in surrounding used in the mosque, calls for prayer were made five times a fields, women carry animal feed in bullock carts through day, but no one objected,” said Waseem Khan, a 28-year- narrow lanes, people chatter outside a store, and cows loi- old Muslim community leader in Nayabans. ter. But this week, the village in Uttar Pradesh state “We resisted initially but then we thought it’s better to became a symbol of the deepening communal divide in live in peace then create a dispute over a mike,” he said. India as some Hindu men from the area complained they “We don’t want to give them a chance to fan communal had seen a group of Muslims slaughtering cows in a man- tensions.” Reuters spoke with more than a dozen Muslims go orchard a couple of miles away. from the village but except for Khan, no one else wanted That infuriated Hindus, who regard the cow as a sacred to be named for fear of angering the Hindu population. animal. Anger against Muslims turned into outrage that Several among a group of Muslim women and girls police had not stopped an illegal practise, and a Hindu standing outside the mosque said they have been living in mob blocked a highway, threw stones, burned vehicles and fear since the BJP came to power in the state in 2017. eventually two people were shot and killed - including a They said that Hindu groups now hold provocative pro- police officer. cessions through the village during every Hindu festival, The events throw a spotlight on the religious strains in loudspeakers blaring, something that used to happen places like Nayabans since Prime Minister Narendra rarely before. They said they felt “terrorized” by Hindu Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came activists. “While passing through our areas during their to power at the national level in 2014 and in Uttar Pradesh religious rallies, they chant ‘Pakistan murdabad’ (down in 2017. Tensions are ratcheting up ahead of the next gen- with Pakistan) as if we have some connection to Pakistan eral election, due to be held by May. just because we are Muslims,” Khan said. The BJP said it was “bizarre” to assume the party would benefit from any religious disharmony, dismissing Hindu priest CM suggestions that its supporters were largely responsible The subcontinent was divided into Muslim Pakistan and for the tensions. “In a large country like India nobody can Hindu-majority India at the time of independence from ensure that nothing will go wrong, but it’s our responsibili- British colonial rule in 1947. ty to maintain law and order and we understand that,” par- During the violence on Monday, many Muslims in JODHPUR: Indian women stand in queue to cast their vote at a local polling station during Rajasthan’s Legislative ty spokesman Gopal Krishna Agarwal said. “But people Nayabans locked themselves in their homes fearing Assembly election, in Jodhpur. The Indian state of Rajasthan voted on Friday in an election that is a key test for Prime are trying to politicize these issues.” attacks. Some who had attended a three-day Muslim reli- Minister Narendra Modi. — AFP Nayabans, just about three hour’s drive from Delhi, has gious congregation some miles away stayed outside the about 400 Muslims out of a population of 4,000, the rest area that night to avoid making themselves targets for the the village after he was elected, they say. Uttar Pradesh rioting in Nayabans was a “big conspiracy”, but did not are Hindu. Relations between the communities began dete- mob. Muslim villagers say they are particularly fearful of sends 80 lawmakers to the lower house of parliament, the elaborate. In the only statement from his office on the inci- riorating around the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last the top elected official in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister largest of any state in the country. Considered the county’s dent, Adityanath ordered police to arrest those directly or year when Hindus in the village demanded that loudspeak- Yogi Adityanath, who is a Hindu priest and senior BJP fig- political crucible, it has also been the scene for spiralling indirectly involved in the slaughter of cows and made no ers used to call for prayer at a makeshift mosque be ure. Hindu hardliners started asserting themselves more in Hindu-Muslim tensions. Adityanath said the lead up to the mention of the death of the police inspector. — Reuters Modi’s maharani The combined surveys showed the India’s ruling BJP winning 110 seats, the Congress 108, and smaller groups 12 in the 230- fights key Indian member house. To rule, a party BJP seen losing requires 116 seats. The three states are state election part of the northern Hindi belt, a bas- ground in key tion of the ruling Hindu nationalists. JODHPUR: An Indian princess allied to Prime state polls Clues Minister Narendra Modi faced a tough battle “The BJP is struggling everywhere, for re-election on Friday as the hard-fought for all its bravado,” said Juhi Singh, a desert state of Rajasthan went to the polls. NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister spokesman of the regional Samajwadi Defeat for Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan’s chief Narendra Modi’s ruling party is likely Party. Modi, who came to power with a minister, in the western state of 47 million peo- to lose two heartland states while a sweeping majority in 2014, has been ple would be a blow for Modi’s image as a sure- third is too close to call, exit polls praised for improving governance and fire vote-winner ahead of general elections in showed on Friday in the final test of cutting some red tape, but has been 2019. That the charismatic but fiery Raje is a popularity before a national election criticized for failing to create enough maharani, or princess, is nothing unusual in This picture taken on December 4, 2018 shows supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) due by May next year. jobs for the thousands of young people Rajasthan, a state famous for its forts and grand greeting Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje (right) during an election rally in support of BJP Surveys broadcast at the end of entering the jobs market every month. palaces with peacock-filled lawns. It is one of candidates in Kotri village in Rajasthan state’s Bhilwara district. — AFP voting for five state assemblies showed He has also faced criticism for India’s few regions where the local royal families the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya allowing hardliners in his party to going back centuries-and outlasting British “I don’t take the people’s trust in me or the around 190 kilometres from Jaipur. “I have been Janata Party (BJP) trailing behind the undermine India’s secular foundations. rule-have flourished in democratic politics since family I come from lightly. But the trust that is in politics for three decades and have been rival Congress party in some areas. Foreign investors who largely independence in 1947. there has to be earned every day. I take it very elected multiple times as parliamentarian and a The actual votes will be counted on remain bullish on India’s long-term Raje, 65, is the daughter of a former maharaja seriously and work every day,” she said. state lawmaker. I am in constant touch with the Tuesday, and exit polls have been prospects, are watching the state polls and married an erstwhile ruler of another Ayodhya Prasad Gaur, author of a book on people, meet everyone and that is what works in wrong in the past, partly because of closely for clues to the national vote. dynasty. Her main challenger in her constituency one of the state’s leading royal families, said the politics,” he told AFP. the sheer scale of Indian elections “The result would be consistent with is Manvendra Singh, another blue blood from nobility’s popularity had to do with their “per- Raj Singh, a voter in Bikaner, said he voted for involving millions of votes. what most polls are showing: that we western Rajasthan. manence” compared to ordinary politicians who Kumari in the last two elections. “Unlike ordi- Still, nearly all the polls showed are heading for hung parliament,” said Another is Siddhi Kumari, also a princess and just “come and go”. “The erstwhile rulers of nary politicians, (royals) won’t indulge in local that the Congress - led by Rahul Jan Dehn, head of research at emerging a two-time state lawmaker who lives in a wing Jodhpur still receive a wedding invite-just like schemes to make money or shield criminals as Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru- markets fund manager Ashmore. of her ancestral palace in Bikaner around 340 kings of earlier times-from hundreds if not thou- that could tarnish the family name,” he told AFP. Gandhi family - will win a clear “The market may discount the kilometers (210 miles) from the state capital sands of people in the region each year. And State premier Raje, representing Modi’s rul- majority in western Rajasthan state results a little bit given these are state Jaipur. The rest, its walls decorated with family they maintain that relationship by sending a ing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and scrape through in eastern elections and there are often protest portraits of resplendent kings, queens and token amount as a gift for every invite they (BJP), swept to power in a landslide in 2013, Chhattisgarh, according a survey of votes.” But a divided parliament would princes of yore and mounted heads of hunted receive,” Gaur told AFP.

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