After Hauz Qazi Clashes, Hindus & Muslims Unite to Restore Peace
Communal tensions had gripped Old Delhi’s Lal Kuan after a temple was vandalised in the area.
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It was a little before midnight on Sunday, 30 June, when 55-year-old Anita finally decided to call it a day and went to sleep in her small ground-floor house in Old Delhi’s Lal Kuan. However, just minutes into her sleep, the widow was woken up by loud noises from the adjacent street.
Not used to such night-time disturbances – given that Lal Kuan is a colony known for its Hindu-Muslim harmony – she decided to go out and examine the cause of trouble.
What Anita witnessed left her aghast, as she had “never seen or heard of (such events) in my entire lifetime.” Recollecting the events that unfolded that night, Anita said that as soon as she stepped onto the main road, she saw “groups of people running about and the area, chased by policemen.”
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The reason? A squabble that originally broke out over parking space – between two neighbours of different communities – had taken the form of a full-blown physical altercation. In the unrest that ensued, between these two groups, glass panes of a nearby temple were broken and this was exactly the point at which the incident took on a different colour.
‘We Want Peace’
While Anita made a dash for her daughter’s residence, Gajendra and his two co-workers weren’t as quick to find refuge. The 50-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, who works with a catering firm, didn’t step out of his one-room rented apartment, as he had nowhere to go.
Asked if the presence of outsiders from certain outfits was the cause of his worry, Gajendra said both “their presence and reaction was natural.”
“If a temple is ransacked or harmed, Hindus feel hurt. The same would have happened if a different place of worship had been attacked,” he said.
Gajendra has been living in the area for the last 15 years and he, too, had never seen a situation like this before. Questioning those who ransacked the temple, he said that “if the fight was personal, it shouldn’t have reached the temple.”
What has happened is deplorable and unfortunate, but Gajendra feels that Hindus and Muslims have been coexisting peacefully in the area and this atmosphere of communal harmony must not be disrupted.
It’s not just Hindu residents who have been disturbed by events that have unfolded in the last couple of days. Muslims, too, say they have been deeply pained by the attack on the temple and have demanded the arrest of those responsible.
Abdul Mateen, 43, who runs a Biryani shop, said there is no reason for either community to live in fear as Old Delhi has withstood several waves of such violence.
A Tense Tuesday
While it was business as usual at Lal Kuan on Wednesday, it wasn’t quite the case on the two days that preceded it. A portion of the road was cordoned-off and no vehicles were allowed near the temple lane. Shops that dot both sides of the road, too, were shut.
A road that witnesses constant movement of vehicles, was suddenly empty. So much so, that one could stand right in the middle without being knocked down by a passing vehicle.
On Tuesday, as news spread across social media, accompanied by unverified videos of violence, several groups had gathered outside the temple lane.
Throughout Tuesday, a sea of leaders from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other groups delivered speeches in which they called for strong action against those who had caused damage to the temple.
Joining the group was 20-year-old Rohit, from Chandni Chowk, who claimed that he was not a member of any such outfit but had come there in support of his community.
Rohit was not the only youngster present. Many others had joined the protesters, who raised nationalistic slogans, mixed with verses in adulations of Lord Ram.
But, on Wednesday, the crowd had disappeared and so did the shamiana (tent) over them, much to the relief of traders.
Shutters Up, Traders Happy
Manjeet Singh, who runs a hardware shop just next to the temple lane, had decided to stay indoors and shut shop for the last two days. But, as the protesters disappeared on Wednesday, Singh breathed a sigh of relief, much like other shopkeepers in the area.
Singh, whose shop is over 20-years-old, said that he had not witnessed heightened tensions in the area since the 1984 riots and wanted the situation to get better.
The Old Delhi Tehzeeb
That peace and communal harmony is the defining feature among Hindus and Muslims in Old Delhi is a recurring theme among conversations across religious lines. The area, also known as walled city, has scaled over social and religious barriers and is home to temples, mosques, gurudwaras and churches.
Perhaps, this tehzeeb is best expressed in the words of 59-year-old Hasina, who has been in Old Delhi all her life. Expressing deep regret over the attack on the temple, Hasina pointed out that it is the walled city’s peaceful nature that had allowed it to overcome such a crisis. “God is one, but we call him by different names,” she said.
Dressed in a black burkha, Hasina recounted how during the 1992 Babri Masjid riots, her husband had given refuge to two Hindu boys who were stranded near their house in Old Delhi.
This, she said, “was just one among the many acts of kindness displayed by people across religious lines. Acts, that helped India maintain its secular dogma both in letter and spirit.”
A Cure for Unrest
Yet, the most enduring picture of Old Delhi’s unity-in-diversity is that of Dr Kafeel and his patient, Arun. A painter by profession, the 32-year-old had grown anxious as tensions spread like wildfire through the narrow, serpentine lanes of Lal Kuan.
He chose to drown his anxieties in generous doses of ‘english liquor’, following which he fell sick.
On Wednesday, he lay on a bed at Dr Kafeel’s clinic, flanked by his seven-year-old son. But, even in sickness, Arun appeared to have had some coherence in his thoughts.
(Note: At the time of publishing this article, the police had arrested 9 people in connection with the incident)
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