On Saturday, 10th February, a panel assembled at the leftist portal ‘The Wire’ comprising Arfa Khanum Sherwani and Yaqut Ali from the portal, along with alleged ‘journalists’ Trilochan Bhatt and Umakant Lakhera. The panel tried to whitewash the Islamist mob that attacked police personnel in Haldwani with stones and petrol bombs.
In her monologue before the discussion, The Wire’s Arfa called the riotous mob “common citizens” and “minority community”. She added that the “common citizens” attacked the police that went with the administration to demolish a structure being used as a madarsa and a mosque.
Arfa quoted a report from another leftist portal Scroll to claim that the demolition action was taken without a court order. She further linked different matters and claimed that the minority community’s religious structures were being targeted using various claims such as “there was another religious place underneath” and “encroachment”.
The encroached structure, in this matter, actually stands on government land. Arfa, and the other panelists, during the discussion, agreed to that fact in one way or another, but argued as if the government overstepped into the “minority community’s area” and demolished their structure.
They also claimed that the matter related to the illegal structure was in court, and the date was set, but the administration acted harshly. Notably, the matter is indeed in court, but there was no stay or orders to maintain the status quo by the court, making it a perfectly legal demolition by the administration. The structure was already labeled for demolition a couple of years ago via court orders.
While speaking at the panel, Yaqut Ali confirmed that someone had called ‘The Wire’ for “help” as the demolition was happening. Not to forget, a few months back, OpIndia had reported how a “journalist” was training Muslims in Haldwani how to speak on camera. The ‘journalist’ at the time claimed to be associated with The Wire. Yaqut said he received a call at around 9 PM as the situation was “deteriorating”. He accused police personnel of opening fire at the houses of the Muslims living in the area.
Ali further claimed that the locals wanted the administration to talk to them to resolve the matter. He added that the “bulldozer action” was sudden and stated it was a “wrong way” to begin with. Furthermore, he claimed the locals told him that male police beat up women with batons as they were trying to protest.
Trilochan Bhatt, who is one of the signatories who has written to the Governor against the police action in Haldwani after the Muslim mob attacked them, claimed that the administration wants to demolish the whole colony, which is “Muslim majority”. He further accused the administration of taking action after noon and forcing “poor Muslims” to go homeless.
Interestingly, he admitted that stone pelting and attacks on police personnel took place but claimed that does not give the right to the police and administration to take action against the rioters. He said, “Now the Chief Minister is saying that we will identify every instigator, and preparations are being made to file cases under RASUKA. We are accepting that they had engaged in stone pelting, but is it okay to demolish a religious place?” Siding with the riotous mob, Bhatt sympathised with the Islamists who attacked the police personnel and said imposing cases on them would be like “if they are terrorists”.
Umakant Lakhera, another panelist, claimed that such riotous mob action could not have been pre-planned as the locals could not have known that the demolition could happen. He further targeted the Uttarakhand government by linking the action against “Muslims” in the state to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) that was recently introduced in the state. He claimed that Muslims, as a community, are being targeted in the state.
Furthermore, he claimed that in the case of the illegal structure, the administration played the role of the judge and passed a judgment to demolish it. He said, “We are accepting it was illegal, but you have to apply some mind before taking such action. You went with a bulldozer in the evening. You should have discussed it with the locals first.” He claimed that an atmosphere is being created against the Muslims given the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He repeatedly questioned the administration for “not showing humanity” and choosing bulldozer action directly.
Accusing the state government of demolishing Muslim structures, the panelists claimed that recently the state government destroyed a series of Mazars in the states that Hindus built. Calling it ‘Mazar Jihad’, the panelists claimed those structures were built as the locals believed in a higher power and were constructed to calm the spirits. However, they failed to acknowledge that the structures demolished by the state government were illegal.
Haldwani violence
On 8th February, an illegal madrasa and mosque built on government land in Banbhoolpura were demolished. It resulted in a wave of violence across Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, leaving at least six people dead. Superintendent of Police Harbans Singh confirmed the same on 9th February. Uttarakhand authorities have registered three First Information Reports (FIR) against 5000 unnamed, and 19 known individuals. As the administration is taking action against the mobsters, intellectuals and left-liberals have come out in support of the encroachers-turned-rioters who attacked the police personnel on the eventful day.