As dusk falls, Nand Kishore, priest of the lone temple in the communally-sensitive Plokhadi area of Meerut, rings the bell frantically — a call to devotees to join him in prayers. But, no one turns up. The reason: no Hindu lives in the locality now. As the bell ring drowns in the ‘azans’ from nearby mosques, he prays in isolation and locks the temple till next day.
Though there have been no riots in the area in the past two decades, Hindus have left the mixed localities and shifted to places such as Sham Nagar, Vikas Nagar or the posh Cantonment area. Similarly Muslims have move from Shastri Nagar, Jananpuri and other Hindu majority areas to Hapur road, Hashimpora, Sidique Nagar, etc.
From Meerut to Aligarh and other regions of Uttar Pradesh that are infamous for bloody communal clashes, ghettoisation is almost complete. “After the 1987 riots that saw 50-odd Muslim youth being killed by PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary), Hindu families have slowly migrated to other areas. “From Indira Chowk to Hapur Road, just two Hindu households reside here now,” says Laiq Ahmed, president of the local unit of Muslim Majlis.
Pointing to the temple, he says that now even the priest depends on local Muslims to maintain the temple.
More than social engineering and Mandal agitation, locals believe it was the ghettoisation, which has created virtual boundaries between the communities, and more importantly economic factors that have put an end to the communal riots.
Asked about the communal tempers, Aligarh-based retired nuclear scientist Saeed-u-Zafar Chugtai and Laiq Ahmed in a dusty Meerut alley squarely blame the Congress. “The party used to keep us in a state of perpetual fear to reap political harvest,” they say. Chugtai, who headed the nuclear spectroscopy department at Aligarh Muslim University, recounts the riots affecting Aligarh for months.
Prof Mohammd Zahid, meanwhile, says economic factors have contributed to ending the flare-ups. “Hindu businessmen romp home almost Rs 200-300 crore due to the University. Since 85% of the labourers are Muslims, they have realised that supporting riots is no option,” he says.
He also says mixed colonies are a rarity in Aligarh now. New posh Muslim localities have come up, while Hindus have moved out from these areas, completing ghettoisation in the city.
“There is now a clear demarcation between Hindu and Muslim areas. Muslim shopkeepers have vacated Zafar Building at Subash Road in busy Aligarh market,” Mohammad Zeeshan, an industrialist, pointed out.
He, however, also cites globalization and India’s growing clout internationally as reasons that contributed to putting and end to riots. “Strife is still there. Small riots are reported from rural areas, but for the sake of international image, the state does not collaborate with the rioters,” he says. More so, he believes that induction of Muslim officers in the PAC and UP police has also helped. Earlier, it was this government force that used to collaborate and provide fuel to communal fire.
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