Muslim-Dalit alliance, Dalit fury & poetry on harassment of Muslims

Given the anger of Muslims with Congress-NCP government over the indiscriminate arrest of Muslims youths and inaction against Bajrang Dal activists accused of planting bomb near mosques in Parbhani, Nander and other areas, any third front stands a strong chance of trouncing the Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.

The Dalits are an angry lot after Khairlanji incident but their once-powerful Republican Party of India is now divided into innumerable groups. It has been due to the strong Dalit/neo-Buddhist population that BJP coalition could come to power in Maharashtra, the state that has the headquarter of RSS, only as late as in 1995 . But it seems Dalits and Muslims have come closer as witnessed in rallies across Maharashtra.

(PS: In a later deveopment, the desecration of Dr BR Ambedkar's statue led to Dalits in Maharashtra, hit the streets. Police fired at Dalit mobs and also they were cane-charged. Even children and women were not spared. Though many consider these demonstrations and protests as excessive, the fact is that the contempt of the police force towards citizens who are fired at without trying any other measure of crowd control, is unjustifiable. The problem with Dalits is that they are almost leaderless in Maharashtra. Link for Khairlanji incident.

[Time and again, the police apparently act with vengeance and without trying water canon, rubber bullets, tear gas and other measures, straight fire at protestors. In case of Muslims also, police readily opens fire--be it Seelampur in Delhi, Vadodara or for that matter on Dalits in Osmanabad/Nashik. A train has been set afire in Osmanabad. Nine compartments of Deccan Queen Express were set ablaze. I will write on the issue and the police's role later.]

The picture above shows Muslim activists (holding an Urdu banner that reads 'Dalit-Muslim Ittehad=unity) protesting and court arrests in hundreds at Dadar, a news which was again not reported in mainstream media. Clearly, if Dalits and Muslims come together, both alliances are in trouble. Muslims are fed up of Congress' double-face and the suspicion with which most Muslims are being looked at in this regime.

A Ruba'ii published in Inquilab Urdu daily:

thaane meN bulaaye jaa rahe haiN Muslim
har tarah sataaye jaa rahe haiN Muslim
pahle hii aapkii niyatoN pe shak thaa
daanista phaNsaaye jaa rahe haiN Muslim


(More rubaii's here in Urdu)
Such has been the situation in Maharashtra that supercop KPS Gill had recently termed midnight swoops by police as counter-productive because police not only barges into ordinary middle-class/poor homes but also mistreats the family and children, which injures the psyche of people.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra's former IG SS Saradkar in an interview with Urdu daily Rahstriya Sahara acknowledged that 'Muslims are facing prejudice and injustice'. He claimed that when even postings at senior levels in police are 'bought', nothing could change the existing situation as cops are ready to do anything to make their political bosses happy. 'In Khwaja Yunus's custody death, police are trying to save its skin but it would not succeed.

The culprits belongting to any community should be dealt with sternly but innocents shouldn't be harassed and one-sided action must not take place. Congress doesn't seem to realise the pent-up anger amongst Muslims and other marginalised sections with the party in the state.

Over 800 farmers have committed suicide in Vidabhra only due to crop failure and the village money-lenders who charge excessive interest on loans. The Deshmukh-RR Patil government is failing in all fronts and the public is disillusioned but will there be an alternative?.

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