“I HAVE LIVED HERE FOR 40 YEARS”... “IHAVE lived here for 40 years”.…Hamid Hassan is inconsolable and repeats these words in a wobbled voice as he moves about unsteadily from one room to another. His two-storeyed house, despite having a fresh coat of paint, looks like a dump yard of run-down goods. A lot of things are causing him anxiety: the relentless swish of the baton, images of women being shoved and beaten, and the horror of a midnight raid. Folding his quivering body tightly under a blanket, the 73-year-old Muzaffarnagar resident says he is numbed by the fact that the police did this because he is a Muslim.
Hamid Hassan’s words find resonance across the divided city of Muzaffarnagar. From his neighbours at the centrally located Jaswant Puri on Sarwat Road to the peripheries and beyond, the minority community is fretting. Muslims see the police vindictiveness as a manifestation of a howling campaign of hate that aims to create an intolerant atmosphere and lead to their ultimate expulsion.
Muslims across Uttar Pradesh said that Hindutva elements were carrying out “deliberate and targeted violence” with a vengeance, more often than not in connivance with and the active participation of the police. The affected people alleged police provocation in several instances.
This story is from the January 17, 2020 edition of FRONTLINE.
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This story is from the January 17, 2020 edition of FRONTLINE.
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