‘Fear, fear and only fear’: Muslims in Sambhal are on edge as government turns against them

A thin smile and a slight nod suggesting a “no”. This was the response Scroll got from many Muslims headed to Friday prayers at Sambhal's Shahi Jama Masjid last week when asked if they wanted to talk.

The strained atmosphere was the consequence of deadly violence on November 24 in which Muslim protesters had clashed with the police during a survey of the town’s Mughal-era congregational mosque ordered by a court after Hindutva claims that it had been built on the site of a temple.

This followed a similar court-ordered survey at the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. Hindu groups have also made claims on the famous dargah in Ajmer as well as mosques in Mathura, Lucknow, Jaunpur and Dhar.

Nearly a month after the violence in Sambhal, the district magistrate was on the spot, supervising security arrangements outside the mosque, as a posse of armed policemen kept a close watch on those walking in for prayers.

These bristling security arrangements were not enough: congregants were also prevented from speaking to the media. After the prayers, the police cordoned off the mosque. Worshippers were forced leave through a lane where no journalists were allowed.

The scenes during the Friday prayer demonstrate the tension in Sambhal despite the Supreme Court on November 29 staying further action on the mosque survey.

The administration in this western Uttar Pradesh town resurrected memories of a riot from nearly half a century ago by unlocking the doors of a long-shuttered temple. It even cut off the electricity for some of the town’s Muslim residents.

The Opposition has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of keeping the pot on the boil in Sambhal to push its communal politics across the state.

While the administration denied the allegations of communalism, fear and resentment prevails among the town’s Muslims, who feel they are under siege.

A ‘lost’ temple

In Sambhal town, more than three-fourths of the population is Muslim. It is part of the Muslim-heavy western Uttar Pradesh region.

The November 24 violence during the survey of the mosque left four Muslim men dead. Their families alleged that they had died due to police firing.

Days after this, the Supreme Court ordered the local court that had allowed the survey to not pass any further directions and asked the state government to maintain the peace in Sambhal.

But for the town’s Muslim residents, the trouble did not end.

Within days, the administration launched drives against power theft and encroachment, specifically targeting Muslim localities. As part of this, a portion of the house of Sambhal MP, Zia Ur Rehman Barq was demolished. He was fined Rs 1.9 crore for allegedly stealing electricity.

In the Muslim neighbourhood of Khaggu Sarai, the drive took an even stranger turn – on December 14, the officials opened the locks of a temple claiming that it had been closed since 1978 when Hindus fled the locality as a result of communal violence.

The claim has been amplified at the highest levels.

On December 15, Chief Minister Adityanath said that the temple represented the “heritage and history” of Hindus. On the same day, the police superintendent and the district magistrate in Sambhal offered prayers at the temple. District Magistrate Rajender Pensiya said the temple was hundreds of years old and had been locked since 1978. “We will hand over the temple to the community to which it belongs,” he said.

Since then, the narrow bylane in the Muslim-dominated area has been bustling with Hindu devotees, from near and far.

Said Prem Pal Yadav, a devotee from the neighbouring Benichak area, who claimed that he has visited the temple every day since December 14: “We expect the administration to reopen more such temples to promote Sanatan dharma.” Sachin Mishra, a devotee from Chandausi town, 30 km away, told Scroll that Hindus had to flee Khaggu Sarai due to the violence and that the temple remained closed since then.

However, Muslims in Khaggu Sarai refute this. “We protected the Hindus here when communal tensions were on the rise after the demolition of the Babri Masjid [in Ayodhya] in 1992,” said Mohammed Ali Warsi. “The Rastogi family which has the keys to the temple left Khaggu Sarai in 2006 and they used to offer prayers at the temple till then. There was never any animosity here. Over the years, Hindus have left this locality out of their own will.”

Two days after the temple was reopened, Dharmendra Rastogi, a member of the family which had its keys, corroborated this. He told a television channel that the family left Khaggu Sarai not out of fear, but because no other Hindu family was living in the locality. He also said that nobody had encroached on the temple, and when reopened, it was found to be in the same condition as they had left it to be.

Since then, however, Rastogi has refrained from speaking to the media.

Resurrecting a riot

Despite the Rastogi family’s clarification, the narrative has gathered steam that temples were shut due to an exodus of Hindus during riots. So has the narrative of Hindus being victims of a large-scale massacre.

Adityanath said in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on December 16 that 184 Hindus had been burned alive in the 1978 Sambhal riots. It is unclear where Adityanath got this figure from. An independent dataset of communal violence only records the toll at 16.

On the ground, the extent of the violence remains contested. For instance, the Benichak resident Prem Pal Yadav told Scroll 200 Hindus had been killed in the violence, citing a figure not far from Adityanath’s claim.

However, Mashood Ali Farooqui, an advocate who lives opposite the Shahi Jama Masjid, denied that the toll was so high. “The riots are being propped up to serve political motives,” he told Scroll. “Yes, violence did take place but about 20-25 people died, not 200.”

To prove his claim, Farooqui showed a video of a Hindu man, whose relatives had been killed in the riot corroborating that figure.

Widening Hindutva claims

Encouraged by the Adityanath government, the circle of Hindutva claims in Sambhal is growing wider.

In the town’s Sarai Tareen locality, about 5 km from Khaggu Sarai, during a drive against power theft and encroachment on December 17, the police reopened another temple. Since then, Hindus have been offering prayers at this temple, which was built in the 1980s.

Sumit Sarraf, who has taken over as caretaker of the temple, claimed that it had been shut for many years as Hindus belonging to the Saini caste who once lived in the area had to flee because of frequent skirmishes with Muslims since the Babri mosque demolition in 1992.

Izharul Haque, who has been living in Sarai Tareen for over 40 years, painted a different picture. “The Hindus sold off their homes here and built bigger homes near the main road,” he said. “There was no communal tension and there used to be puja in the temple during festivals.”

However, Sarraf maintains that the temple was unused for several years. Asked why it had been reopened now, he told Scroll: “It is because now we have Maharaj ji’s [Adityanath] government. He has asked us to protect our heritage.”

Sarraf pulled out a map that he claimed marked the locations of 19 sacred wells and 56 temples in and around Sambhal that he claims are inaccessible to Hindus. “We are in talks with the administration to reopen all these wells and temples,” Sarraf said. “They will be reopened with the cooperation from the administration.”

Sarraf said that the had obtained the map from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He claimed that the government also had a copy of the map.

The aspirations of Hindutva-leaning locals like Sarraf are in perfect sync with the Adityanath administration. A day after reopening the Khaggu Sarai temple, the Sambhal district magistrate asked the Archaeological Survey of India to use the carbon dating method to determine the age of the temple and the well. Five days later, on December 20, the carbon dating exercise was conducted.

Scared and resentful

As they watch the administration, Muslims in Sambhal said that they had no problem with the reopening of the temples, but they were concerned about the communal narrative that the administration had pushed in the process.

“The temple has always been there, the keys to it were always there,” Shakeel Ahmed, a 55-year-old resident of Khaggu Sarai told Scroll. “It has only been unlocked.”

However, his tone changed when asked about the drive against power theft during which the temple was reopened. Ahmed’s home is among the many whose electricity connections were cut off on December 14. “They just came and cut the wires and took away the meters,” Ahmed complained. “I have been paying the electricity bill. If there was something unlawful about my connection they could have told me.”

This situation has made Muslims in Khaggu Sarai take unusual steps. Outside one home, residents have put up a disclaimer saying that they have a solar power connection, communicating to the power department that their low bills are not due to electricity theft. In a lane close by, generator-run tubelights installed for a wedding have not been taken down to ensure that the road remains lit.

In a stark example of the fear that the town’s Muslims are now under, Mohammad Mateen has razed a portion of his house abutting the temple on his own fearing that it will be demolished by the administration.

Mateen’s neighbour Mohammed Fazil squarely blamed the government for vitiating the atmosphere. “Why is the police saying that the temple was found?” questioned Fazil. “The temple was always there and nobody caused any harm to it. They are doing all this to create tension and to instigate us.”

Local councillor Gauhar Khan summed up the sentiments of the Muslims: “The administration is taking action only to create fear and vitiate the atmosphere.”

The administration has denied allegations that is it prejudiced against Muslims. Sambhal Police Superintendent Krishan Bishnoi told Scroll that there was no reason for Muslims to feel anxious about the administration’s recent actions. “Checking on power theft and encroachment is a routine procedure,” he said. “Nobody will be penalised if they are not at fault.”

On reopening a temple during an anti-power theft drive, Bishnoi maintained that the matter should not be seen as a communal act. “Nobody has raised any objection to reopening the temple,” he said. “In fact, it is encouraging that a temple that was lying closed for many years has been reopened now.”

He refused to comment on whether it was appropriate for him and the district magistrate to offer prayers at the temple.

The administration’s claims have little meaning at the home of Mohammed Ayan, one of the four men who died of bullet wounds during last month’s violence. In November, his brother Mohammed Kamil had told Scroll that Ayan had been shot by the police. When we returned to his home on December 20, Kamil was nowhere to be seen. His phone was unreachable.

His mother Nafisa said that the family did not know where Kamil was. Two weeks ago, the police had come to their house to make inquiries and had asked Kamil to come to the police station, she said. “He got scared and left home that night and has not returned.”

For two weeks, there were no men in the house and the family had no income. “All that is there is fear, fear and only fear,” Nafisa said.