What keeps sensitive Dhule simmering?

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Charred houses, cycles, handcarts and debris lie motionless on the streets of Dhule’s Machchi Bazaar. A glance at these inanimate objects is enough to fathom that an outbreak had hit the city not so long ago and now these remnants tell a deafening tale of devastation. Six people their lost lives in communal clashes that erupted in the city on the afternoon of January 6. Life, as usual, is crawling back to normalcy in the city, but normalcy has never been constant in Dhule. Uncertainty and tension can easily be felt in the atmosphere, and questions like why, how and what next loom large.

Why such animosity

The infamous city is no stranger to riots and going by what locals say minor clashes are day-to-day affairs that usually don’t snowball into mob violence. In 2008, 11 people were killed and nearly 100 injured in violent clashes that spread across the city. The pamphlets and posters put by the Hindu Rakshak Samiti (wing of the Shiv Sena) had provocative writings. During a procession for the return of local Muslim leader Shabbir Shaikh from Haj, the people in his procession were instigated and reportedly threw a stone on one of the posters. What followed was communal violence, which spread across the city.
However, this year’s riots were restricted to the epicentre — Machhi Bazaar-Madhavpura, Pala Bazaar — and a few surrounding areas.
There was tension already in the air, say some locals. In a small village of Nardana, which is 36 kilometers away from Dhule, a Muslim boy had run away with a Hindu girl and situation in the neighbouring areas deteriorated from there on. There were serious riots but none of them were reported, they add.
In Dhule this year, nobody had thought that a minor tussle between a Hindu food stall owner and a Muslim rickshawpuller over a bill would end in mobs from both communities being at each other’s throat. And the problem doesn’t end there. During the spate of these untoward events, a concoction of vandalism, looting and pernicious behaviour in the mind of the rioter results in maximum damage.
People like professor Bhaskar Darwade from Dhule’s SSVP college feel these violent eruptions are results of spontaneity, however, catalysed by multiple factors. “Leaders, intellectuals from both communities innately have an agenda for their own benefits and not in the interests of their people. Either these clashes are politically motivated or come to a boil over a period of time and long suppression,” says the 58-year-old professor of the commerce faculty.
He goes on to say that the government has made their lives all the more miserable and made them dependant. “Politicians take undue advantage of their vulnerability and in the end it is these people whose houses are burnt and lives taken. Even police action is biased and nothing but a gimmick,” adds Mr Darwade.
Dhule, which is 327 kilometres away from Mumbai, has a rough 1:2 Muslim-Hindu ratio. Most from both communities are in various small and medium businesses. While Muslims are engaged in powerlooms, leather, food and other small industries, the Hindus are into textiles, hardware, food and other businesses. Complementing each other’s trade has been a trademark of the city, says Umesh Chaudhary, a grocer from Machhi Bazaar.
“Elementary issues like water crisis, electricity and unemployment are clear enough to be seen and to be addressed. We’ve been neglected and see what has happened. All these factors, in a way, add to the mob fury. I even blame the media for letting politicians hog all the limelight. No one takes cognisance of the genuine problems that we face,” says the 32-year-old wheat retailer.
Professor Darwade asks for emphasis not only on education, but on quality education. The lack of social awareness among students in his college boggles him. “It’s a system where youngsters don’t know about their surroundings and one-another. They are aloof from ethical education and therefore can be easily brainwashed,” says Mr Darwade.
He also explains how lack of development in the city has created an atmosphere of animosity. He says that there hasn’t been any industrial development in city that consequently has sealed any job opportunities for the youth. Students who are from Marathi medium or Urdu medium cannot compete with their counterparts in other bigger cities. Both primary and higher education hasn’t been given any importance since time immemorial.
“This girl of a particular community used to walk six kilometres and come to our college. Her father, however, wasn’t keen on her pursuing higher education. In fact, her brother was also willing to drop her every day but ultimately she succumbed to parental pressure and discontinued her studies. She was a bright kid,” recalls Mr Darwade.
Questions are also being raised on role of the police during the riots in letting the situation go out of hand. A team of experts that has recently visited Dhule had concluded that police was “one-sided”. People in Dhule refuse to openly blame the police. However, they say that the police openly declare themselves as Hindus before being men in khaki.
“What ensued was a clear case of police failure and callousness. It could have averted before it took such proportions,” says Ejaz Alam, 28-year-old businessman. He feels more than being a Hindu-Muslim riot, it was police-Muslim clash.
The police should be neutral when it comes to communal tension and carry out their operations fairly but sadly this wasn’t the case, feels Mr Alam.
In 2003, affluent Hindus and Muslims, who were living in areas dominated by the opposite community, migrated to areas having more of their own. While Hindus migrated from areas like Avishkar Colony and Chaalis Gaon Road, Muslims moved from Arihant Colony and Gajanan Colony.
The events during the 2008 riots just added more momentum to the relocation. The violence doesn’t show a definite trend every year, however, minor incidents have the potential to spark off big trouble.

How riots took away lives, peace

A bolt from the blue hit Dhule on that fateful day when stone-pelting, bottle-throwing and slingshot using mobs left the city wounded. Imaran Ali Qamar Ali (25), Aasim Shaikh Naseer (24), Saud Ahmad Raees Patel (18), Hafiz Mohammad Asif Abdul Haleem (22), Ridwan Hasan Shah (22), and Yunus Abbas Shah (22) were reportedly killed in the police firing.
The trouble started at around 2 pm in the afternoon, after which people from both communities started gathering in huge numbers. Violent clashes, followed by police firing intensified the riots, adding to the toll of both who had died and injured. While most injured were taken to three private hospitals — Niramay, Aastha and Lokmanya — a few were rushed to the Sarvajanik Hospital.
The real trouble for the families began when they were informed about their loved ones’ deaths and the courage they had to muster in finding and identifying them. “I was returning from my niece’s engagement in Wanwad village in Shirpur Taluka and after I reached Dhule at around 6 pm some kids that used live in our old neighbourhood informed that Saud had been shot during the riots,” says 40-year-old Raees Ahmad Patel. With a lump in his throat, he adds, “I saw my son writhing in pain when they took him to the Sarvajanik Hospital. Due to unavailability of beds I took him to Aastha Hospital but as soon as I put him on the bed, he collapsed. I saw him dying in front of my eyes.” Saud Ahmad Patel was 17 and had on January 1 submitted an application for a three-month course in the ITI Government College, said his grieving father.
Like Raees Ahmad Patel, Abbas Shah Suleiman Shah (58), too lost his son Yunus. “It was heart-wrenching to see my son lying on the hospital bed. They didn’t allow us to see him and were asked us to leave. Someone gave us a call at 2 am the next day and told us to take him to Mumbai. Doctors at KEM Hospital tried reviving him but he succumbed to bullet wounds on January 9,” says Mr Shah, who says the riots were politically motivated. “I want to ask why people from only one community were killed,” he adds.
For Madina Bi Jaleel Ahmad (45), whatever she and her family had saved has burned down. “My younger son and daughter were supposed to get married in May this year. I lost everything. They broke the lock and looted whatever they could get their hands on,” she says. Her house is in shambles and so are her hopes. “The only organisations that have helped us are Red Cross and Rotary Club. Nobody from the administration came and spoke to us, leave alone compensated us,” she said.
Going by the police’s version, the situation was getting out of hand and firing proved to be the last resort. The collector Prakash Mahajan and superintendent of police Pradeep Deshpande weren’t in Dhule when the riots broke. Consequently, junior officers after gauging the gravity of the situation gave shooting orders.

What lies ahead for Dhule

The spate of events has left the common people traumatised. The city is picking up what is left and is in the process of rebuilding. However, the episode has forced people to question the police action, administration’s negligence and their own vulnerability.
“Nobody likes these things but given the situation we live in, their occurrence becomes inevitable and unavoidable,” says Mr Darwade.
He points out that in the 1980s, Dhule witnessed, of what seemed like, an advent of industrial advancement. “As far as I recollect it was Raymonds who tried to set up a factory, but due to various issues like manpower, water and irrigation resources, it shut and that was it. Nobody has tried to set up an industry ever since,” he says.
Due to lack of education, majority in both communities are not left with many options. These are the people living in the lowest strata and also those who are the most affected by riots. For them, it takes a lifetime to build something substantial but only a moment suffices to ruin that everything. Starting from scratch takes a long time and this constant process keeps bringing them to ground zero.
Nobody from either community knows till when this calm is going to last. Probably it’s the lull before the storm yet again, they say.
Oddly, there are some positives that people are deriving from this year’s riots. Unlike last year, the riots were restricted only to a few areas. During the course of violence, many in other areas of the city didn’t know anything about the developments.
Some say it’s a positive sign and Dhule is on the path of complete recovery.

The police version

Additional Director General of Police Javed Ahmad, who is handling the case, says that police personnel do follow a standard operating procedure, however, what happens on the ground also has to be taken into consideration.
He added that police officials do follow firing orders from seniors but sometimes they act on their own discretion. He had visited Dhule last week and will submit an inquiry report on the matter.
Pradeep Deshpande, Superintendent of Police, Dhule says it’s just a perception of a community that they were targeted. He said that the police is urging leaders from both communities to come forward and engage in dialogue. “The public shouldn’t make allegations,” he added.
The additional director general of police (Law and Order), Maharashtra, Deven Bharti said that the police force got two shooting orders. “One was given by the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) and the second one was given by sub-divisional magistrate (SDM).