Noted Social Activist, Mr. Harsh Mandar, a former IAS officer told that opportunistic politics should be rejected in order to keep the country free from Communal Riots. A political system which refrains from taking support from the voters on communal grounds should be promoted. Mr. Harsh Mandar was addressing a public meeting at Mahboob Husain Jigar Hall, Siasat Office Complex, Hyderabad. Mr. Zahid Ali Khan, Editor of Siasat Urdu Daily presided over the meeting.
Continuing his speech, Mr. Harsh Mandar told that Constitution of India guarantees equal rights to every citizen but we see that whatever promises have been made in the Constitution are being shattered which is posing a danger to the solidarity of the country. The happiest think is that still the judiciary is independent. The people responsible for Genocide have to be answerable at somewhere or the other. The Human Rights organizations have dragged the miscreants of Gujrath Communal Riots to the courts and the manner in which the courts have dealt with these cases had given a hope that Communal Riots would disappear somewhere in the pages of history but the recurrence of Communal Riots in Muzaffarnagar has shown that it has not stopped. He further told that the miscreants who engineered Communal Riots in Gujrath have changed their style. They have minimized the loss of human lives but they have damaged properties of the Muslims to the maximum possible extend and they have terrified them so that they were forced to leave their native places. Another significant thing is that the origin of Communal Riots this time is not Urban area but it has been extended to cover Rural areas as well.
Explaining the planning of Communal Riots, Mr. Harsh Mandar told that for the Communal Riots to erupt, there are three motives. Before the communal riots takes place the atmosphere is charged with hatred and then the spark of communal riots is ignited. For elongating the communal riots, the consent of the Govt. is essential. Citing his own experience as an administrator, he told that the Govt. needs hardly six hours to control communal riots but when the communal riots continue for weeks and months, it should construed that Govt. itself wants to continue communal riots. He told that the communal riot of Muzaffarnagar was a planned one and it was designed by UP Govt. It was the plan of the Govt. to ignite communal riots on a smaller scale but the situation went out of its control.
Mr. Narendra Modi had sent Mr. Amit Shah two months before his visit to UP. Communal Riots were ignited under the pretext of the false propaganda that two vehicles belonging to different communities got collided and that was the root cause of the conflict. By showing the false video clipping, propaganda was made that one Mr. Sachin was killed who was trying to protect the honour of his sister. TV already clarified that in this conflict the assassin, Shahnawaz had neither love affair with the girl nor he used to tease her but he was a complete stranger. After this incident Khap Panchayath (Save daughter, Save dauther-in-law) was held in which hatred was promoted. Those came out of panchayath meeting started destroying Muslim localities. The BJP MLA who misused the fake video clipping of Sialkot (Pakistan) incident and spread hatred was arrested yesterday where he should have been arrested long back. Had Govt. taken active steps to expose the facts and arrested the miscreants who spread venom, the communal riots could not have been prolonged. He further told that the local resident told that police was acting like silent spectators. The fact is there was no firing incident and no lathi charge. Govt. failed to take precautionary measures and after the eruption of communal riot, it failed to control it. After the communal riots, Govt. neither did relief work nor gave any ex-gratia to the victims which is the prime duty of any Govt. In the communal riots of Muzaffarnagar, more than 50 thousand Muslims were dislodged from their houses. They are so afraid that they are not prepared to go to their villages. These communal riots were engineered with an objective of getting the support of voters on communal grounds. The beauty of BSP was that it had controlled communal riots.
Stressing the need to implement communal riots bill, Mr. Harsh Mandar told that in the proposed bill, administration was given more powers earlier whereas we wanted the Govt. to make administration accountable. The officials who are negligent in performing their duties during communal riots should be punished. Action should be taken against the in charge of Military Contingent. We proposed that the erring officers should be given five years imprisonment so that with the fear of this punishment, the officers should not neglect taking action against the miscreant.
Mr. Zahid Ali Khan editor of Siasat in his presidential remarks told that the Chief Ministers of various States addressed the meeting of National Integration Council in the wake of Muffarnagar communal riots. Most of them mentioned the facilities that are given to the Muslims. The best thing Mr. Nitesh Kumar, C.M. of Bihar told was that in his childhood the festivals which used to be celebrated in his house are now being celebrated on the roads which are causing communal riots. He stressed the need to put a ban on such festivals or they should be celebrated. Mr. Zahid Ali Khan further told that Dr. M. Chenna Reddy, the former C.M. of A.P. encouraged Ganesh festival. He also pointed out that we celebrate Milad-un-nabi festival on a grand scale and we erect the large size cutout of the tomb of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) which is not appropriate. We should keep these sacred pictures in our houses and we should take care of their sanctity. Mr. Zahid Ali Khan further told that everyone in the meeting of NIC was taking about pleasing the Muslims but he believed that instead of talking about pleasing a notifications and announcements, justice should done to the Muslims and their wakf properties should be protected. Only by protecting wakf properties, the problems of the Muslims could be resolved. He wished Mr. Harsh Mandar to draft Hyderabad Charter for prevention of communal riots bill.
Mr. Syed Vikharuddin Quadri, editor of Rahnuma-e-Deccan told that Communal riots could be controlled if Govt. wants to do so but stern action is evaded against the miscreants. He told that the history of communal riots is very long in this country in which the role of administration has always been suspicious.
Mr. Syed Aziz Pasha, former Rajya Sabha MP of CPI told that Muslims had extended mass support to SP but within a short span of one year, 47 communal riots took place and the Govt. failed to control them. It is wrong to presume that the people of UP are communal. The voters of UP rejected Mr. Kalyan Singh, the then C.M. of UP saying that he had contacted the people of UP that he had fulfilled his promise.
Former MP of Rajya Sabha, Mr. P. Madhu told that the communal riots of Muzaffarnagar are a warning for all of us. The role of the State Govt. in controlling communal riots has been suspicious. He alleged that RSS and VHP have been a free hand. Mr. Mahmood Ali, TRS MLC told that we are more concerned about the unity of the people rather than getting Telangana. Mr. Hamid Mohammed Khan, President of Movement for Peace and Justice told that the communal forces are not only active in political field but the younger generation who passed out from Saraswathi Shishu Mandir are actively engaged in more than 150 fields. These activists are present in all the political parties but the positive think is that humanists like Mr. Harsh Mandar exists in society who struggle for seeking justice for the victims.
Mr. Yousuf Quraishi, former Chairman of A.P. State Minorities Commission told that Mr. Zahid Ali Khan and Siasat Urdu Daily are always on the forefront in such social activities to maintain communal harmony and to seek justice for the victims. Mr. Muneeruddin Mujahid conducted the meeting and thanked the guests and the audience.
–Siasat News