On 15th February 2023, a Muslim mob indulged in violence over the installation of welcome gates by Hindus ahead of Mahashivaratri in Palamu of Jharkhand. It was opposed by Muslims who said the welcome gates could not be installed in front of the mosque. The Muslim mob not only pelted stones from the mosques but committed arson. After indulging in violence against Hindus, Muslims are now attempting to play the victim.
After the violence against Hindus, Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi proceeded to dog whistle and paint the perpetrators as the victims. “Stones were hurled at the mosque and two houses and some vehicles were burnt”, he said. However, in reality, it was a Hindu who was first hit in the head and then stone pelting took place from the mosque.
Asaduddin Owaisi didn’t stop here. He said that the welcome gate should not have been built in front of the mosque. He blamed the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for it, saying the rioters and the Sangh Parivar won. Interestingly, while the blamed the victims, the Hindus, he also justified the violence by the Muslim mob by saying that the Mahashivratri celebrations should not have taken place in front of the mosque.
Efforts are also being made to prove Muslims as victims on social media. A so-called journalist named Mir Faisal shared a video and said that Hindutva goons burnt the houses and shops of Muslims and set their vehicles on fire.
In the kind of narrative being created about the Palamu violence, an attempt is being made to prove Muslims as victims, and Hindus – who are actually victims – as goons. It is being clearly said in the media report that Hindus of Panki in Palamu were preparing for Mahashivratri. During this time they built a welcome gate on the square. The mosque is located near the square.
Locals say that this mosque, known as Jama Masjid, has been built with the help of Hindus. Locals say that this mosque is not very old nor is there much of a population of Muslims in the surrounding area. The area where the mosque has been built is Hindu-dominated.
After the construction of the welcome gate, some Muslims came out of the mosque and asked to dismantle this gate. They said that there is a mosque nearby and a welcome gate can not be built near the mosque. The Hindu side did not agree to this and said that they are building the welcome gates on the road, which is government property.
After this, the Muslim side started the violence. On Wednesday, 14 February 2023, a Muslim hit a Hindu named Niranjan Singh on the head with a stick. Niranjan Singh was seriously injured in this attack. Police were present at the time of the attack. It is said that after this, stones were pelted at Hindus from the mosque.
During this time, the rioters set fire to 4 houses, 3 shops, 1 car, and 2 bikes. Apart from this, 4 vehicles were also vandalized. Eight people, including Leslieganj SDPO Alok Kumar Tuti and Panki police station’s inspector Arun Mahtha, were seriously injured in the attack.
Manjulata Dubey – a BJP leader from Panki – said that Hindu programs are always disrupted from the mosque. Locals say that people associated with the mosque committee often create disputes in and around the market and then beat them up.
Panki-based social activist Kamlesh Singh said petrol bombs and stones were being thrown at Hindus from the roof of the mosque. Kamlesh Singh told OpIndia, “Neither it was Friday nor there is so much Muslim population in that area, nor the incident took place at the time of Namaz or any other program. Then where did such a crowd of attackers come from?” He said that this was a well-planned attack.
Kamlesh Singh described the incident in Panki Bazar as a trial of Ghazwa-e-Hind. He said that fundamentalists are weighing their strengths all over the country and preparing for where there is a shortage. Manjulata told OpIndia that she was once detained by the police on August 14 just because she was marking a place at the square to hoist the national flag. However, she was later released.
In fact, due to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s policies of Muslim appeasement, the state is becoming a refuge for illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. With the incidents of love jihad and land jihad, the killing of Hindus has become common here. In many places, tribals and Dalits have to flee due to persecution by Muslims. Hindus are struggling to celebrate their festival.
Attacks by Muslims on Hindu festivals have become common in Jharkhand. Due to Hemant Soren’s appeasement policy, section 144 has been imposed in the entire Deoghar city on the day of Mahashivratri. Not only this, the administration has banned the route fixed by the Mahashivaratri Committee for the Shiv Barat procession. The district administration has given permission to organize the Shiv Barat procession from the old route.
In August last year, people belonging to the Mahadalit Musahar caste were attacked and their houses vandalized by a mob in Murumatu village under the Pandu police station area of Jharkhand. More than one and a half dozen houses and huts of these Musahars settled near Tongri hill were demolished. Not only this, but in order to occupy these places, the Muslims, after demolishing the house, loaded their belongings on two vehicles and left them in the forest near Loto village of Chhatarpur.
Similarly, on February 6, 2022, a Hindu child was lynched by a mob of Muslims during Saraswati Puja in Hazaribagh of Jharkhand. Actually, the children were going to perform the visarjan rituals after Saraswati Puja. Muslim youths stopped the Hindu boys near Lakhna Dulmaha Imambara in Naitand village of Barhi police station. After this, there was a fight between the two sides. The Muslim youth kept beating Rupesh Kumar till he fell unconscious. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.