How (not) to deal with communal flare ups

Himachal Pradesh is reeling under a rising tide of Islamophobia, an unfortunate contagion from next-door neighbour Uttarakhand, where the state-sponsored hate campaign against Muslims is promoted by none other than Hindutva’s poster boy, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Ever since he took over as chief minister in 2021, Dhami has pursued a disturbing anti-Muslim line, claiming that the demography of the state had changed because of love jihad, land jihad and mazaar jihad. Accusing Muslims of buying large tracts of land in the hills and building mazaars illegally on forest and government land, Dhami has ranted about precious devbhoomi being swamped by ‘Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingyas’. The fact that not a single Rohingya Muslim can be spotted in the state is, of course, irrelevant.

Expectedly, anti-Muslim harangues have raked in electoral dividends. Not only did Dhami win the assembly elections with a handsome majority, the BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections in Uttarakhand earlier this year. The UCC law being in limbo has not stopped Dhami from glorifying Uttarakhand’s status as the first state to have passed the Uniform Civil Code, despite eminent jurists’ repeated warnings that no state legislation can override central laws which cover marriage, divorce, maintenance and adoption.

The BJP leadership has failed to take action against the provocative remarks routinely made by Dhami. State Congress leader Karan Mahara pointed out that the Dhami government has failed on all fronts, be it the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission recruitment scam, the patwari paper leak or the rigging of various competitive examinations. Unemployment is growing and there has been a massive exodus of industries from the state because of misgovernance and corruption. The only two industries flourishing are mining and liquor. Dhami’s anti-Muslim rhetoric is a smokescreen for all these failures.

In Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, where the BJP failed to win a clear majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the sudden spurt in violence targeting Muslims and mosques over the past three months has caught most people by surprise. It is worth noting that Muslims comprise barely 2.2 per cent of the Himachali population. (Even in Uttarakhand, Muslims comprise just 13 per cent of the state’s population.)

On 11 September, violent clashes took place between protestors demanding the demolition of three ‘unauthorised’ floors of a mosque in the Sanjauli area of Shimla. The case was apparently pending in court for the past 10 years and even the previous BJP government had paid no attention to it. In the past few months, though, several right-wing Hindu outfits led by the Hindu Jagran Manch held a door-to-door campaign, inciting people to take action against the ‘illegal construction’, linking it to the presence of Muslim migrants who they claimed were taking jobs away from the locals.

Slogans like “Himachal ne thana hai, devbhoomi ko bachana hai” (Himachal has pledged to save this sacred land) were raised by the mob outside the mosque, defying prohibitory orders. Several men and women in uniform were injured. This fracas was followed by the VHP calling for a state-wide bandh, and Hindu organisations leading protest marches across Bilaspur, Kullu, Chamba, Hamirpur and Paonta Sahib.

The contrast between the approach of the two chief ministers is stark. While the Dhami-led BJP sarkar in Uttarakhand has taken unilateral, anti-democratic and arbitrary decisions over the last three years, Himachal’s chief minister Sukvinder Singh Sukhu has been attempting to find solutions through dialogue and discussion.

The difference was visible in Sukhu’s handling of the recent tinderbox situation. State administration engaged with business communities in the troubled locations, pointing out that lawlessness and strikes would affect their main source of revenue, tourism. As a result, bandhs were restricted to two to three hours during the day.

The chief minister was also quick to clarify that the dispute had little to do with religion. While altercations between permanent traders and itinerant vendors, shopkeepers and suppliers, pedestrians and vehicle owners were indeed frequent, it was more a matter of civic inconvenience.

An all-party meeting convened by Sukhu quickly resolved to form a joint committee of legislators led by the Vidhan Sabha Speaker to recommend a policy for street vendors. He also took the opportunity to say that everyone was welcome to visit Himachal and engage in trade or business within the ambit of the law.

To his credit, Shimla SP Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi stood firm during the Sanjauli protest. 50 rioters were promptly booked for violence. Gandhi pointed out that CCTV footage helped identify VHP leaders, panchayat chiefs and their deputies, councillors and shopkeepers, resulting in eight FIRs being lodged against them.

A Track II dialogue initiated with leaders of the Muslim community also showed the way. Local Muslim organisations offered to demolish unauthorised portions of any mosque proved illegal by the court. Following up on this, the state Waqf Board and the masjid welfare committee based in Sanjauli made an offer to the Shimla Municipal Commissioner Bhupendra Attri, seeking permission to do so.

Shimla-based politician Sanjay Chauhan, finance secretary of the HP Kisan Sabha, provides some essential context to the unverified claim being used by leaders and residents to whip up communal tension—that Muslim ‘outsiders’ are robbing ‘locals’ of their livelihood.

The local Muslims, Chauhan points out, have lived here for several generations. “Following the Gurkha army’s defeat in 1815 by the British and the subsequent decision to make Shimla the summer capital of British India, the colonials began bringing skilled Muslim workers from the United Provinces to work as construction workers. Muslim weavers were brought in from Banaras and porters from Kashmir. Up to 1950, J&K had a labour officer stationed in Shimla to look after the interests of these porters,” he elaborates. “Many of these mosques date back to the last century… Which is why I maintain that Shimla belongs to everybody since we have always had a mixed population.”

Dehradun-based author S.M.A. Kazmi points out, “Following threats from right-wing organisations, dozens of Muslims, many of whom had lived there for generations, fled the town of Purola in 2023. This happened after two boys were arrested for abducting a minor Hindu girl. One Hindu and one Muslim, both boys were later acquitted after the girl informed the Sessions Court that she had made a false accusation after being pressurised by the police. The court verdict has not provided any closure since the boys ended up having to spend one year in jail and the families who fled Purola are too scared to return.”

Covid, a whimsical GST regime and an increasing number of unlicensed homestays affected business (and not just hoteliers) in Himachal is a complex and particular way. Shopkeepers augmented their income by renting the space outside their shops to migratory Muslims looking to earn a living. Additionally, the construction boom across cities in Himachal saw a large number of skilled Muslim workers from UP taking up residence in the state. In the aftermath of current communal flareups, hundreds of them have fled, much to the dismay of property developers.

Sukhu has promised to come up with a comprehensive policy to license street vendors. How far this will work on the ground has to be seen.

Tikender Singh Panwar, former deputy mayor of Shimla, believes the Sukhu government needs to take swifter and firmer action. “The ideological narrative being whipped up on social media needs to be curtailed. Also, the CM should have immediately clamped down on what his own minister Anirudh Singh said on the floor of the house. The situation flared up after that,” said Panwar.