By Justice Markandey Katju
''Kaheen firqaparasti tanaav hai kya ?
Zara maaloom karo kaheen chunaav hai kya ? ''
Bye elections have been announced for 9 constituencies in the UP State Assembly to be held on 13th November
Even before the announcement of the bye elections, the communal fire in the state has been stoked up, obviously by the party which benefits from it.
What happened in Bahraich district of UP, the largest state in India, is typical of how communal clashes are engineered for getting votes in elections.
A procession of Hindus took out a procession for immersion of the Durga idol after the Durga puja on 13th October. When this procession was passing through a locality having many Muslims, some of the processionists reportedly shouted provocative statements like '' Jab katwe maare jaayenge, Ram Ram chillaayenge '' or '' Hindustan mein agar rehna hai, Jai Shri Ram kehna hai '' etc.
One of the processionists, a young man, Ram Gopal Mishra, allegedly entered a building of a Muslim, removed a green flag, and hoisted a saffron flag on it.
Thereafter Ram Gopal Mishra was killed, though there are conflicting versions about his death.
The death of Mishra certainly needs to be investigated, and strong legal action needs to be taken against the culprits. But there was no justification for the subsequent largescale attacks on the homes and shops of hundreds of innocent Muslims in the region, with the police turning a Nelson's eye to these atrocities, or becoming active collaborators with the offenders.
A sting operation of a reporter of the well known Hindi newspa[per Dainik Bhaskar, which stated that the police gave a free hand of 2 hours to the Hindus to attack the Muslims, certainly needs to be considered in the investigation impartially.
It reminds one of the Nazi era when the police gave a free hand to the S.A. ( the Nazi stormtroopers ) to loot and vandalise Jewish homes, shops and synagogues with impunity.
The Bahraich administration, perhaps on the instructions of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ( who is well known for ordering bulldozing houses of Muslims ) had issued notice to several Muslims proposing to bulldoze their houses. However, the Indian Supreme Court has intervened.
It is said that all is fair in love and war. Indian politics is a form of war, so everything is permitted in it.
So minorities, particularly Muslims, are fair game.
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of।ndia. These are his personal views)
