Communal Riots in Bareilly!!!

I came back to Bareilly on 3rd of March. When I reached the station, there were very few people there. I was surprised to see that as I had never seen such a little crowd at this place ever before. All shops were closed and there was a suspicious kind of silence all over. People were looking tensed and frustrated. There were a few autos and rickshaw but no one wanted to go in the interiors of the city. People were in hurry to go back to their places as if something wrong has happened. I tried to call few of my friends but nobody picked up the call. It increased my suspicion. I had to ask several rickshaw pullers before someone finally got ready to take me to my house. As I went through the market, I observed that all roads were empty and there was not even a single shop which was opened so that I could have bought something for anyone. There were policeman all around including several companies of RAF, patrolling gypsies and a few military personals. Everything was getting checked very cautiously. All of this was a bit scary and confusing to me as I had never seen such a kind of tensed silence in my city ever before. Finally, I reached my place and suddenly there were so many questions were shot at me at once from my family members and neighbors about my well being as soon as I entered the house. They asked a lot of things about the conditions in the city and I lied. I told them that everything is fine as I don’t want them to become tensed unnecessarily. Then I went immediately to check last few days newspapers and only then I came to know that the city was burning in the fire of communal riots since last 2 days. I was shocked!!!

Bareilly has been under curfew for 15 days now ever since the day it started with the skirmish during the procession of Barawafat (birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad) when the route was diverted from the original route plan. Residents of the area say permission had not been taken from the district administration for the diversion. Police say the matter was further complicated due to the reaction from the residents of the nearby colony. It doesn’t matter what the immediate reasons for communal riots were, but it seems that preparations for them are made much in advance. It is also a strange thing that the riot took place in that city, which had been Ala Hazarat or Ahmed Raza Khan's place of work, and even today his tomb is a place of worship for all and which has such a rich cultural history that people, doesn’t matter what religion they belong to, praise so much!!!.

There have been heavy losses to everyone because of the curfew. The market of Bareilly suffers a loss of crores of rupees because of the curfew everyday. Many shops have been burned out. According to the records, though no one has died in the violence but 28 people have been injured and property worth nearly Rs 4 crore gutted in the riots. Students who have their board exams this month have also been very badly affected. People are not been able to get the medical facilities on time. A big problem of shortage of food grains has also aroused in front of the people. But its greatest impact has been on the small shopkeepers and those people who are dependent on their each day earnings for their survival. Everyone else is trying to make the full political use of the situation. The other political parties are pointing out at the ruling government for not being able to control the communal violence in the city. A big leader was arrested and then got released just after 3 days which made the conditions even more crucial.

Everybody knows that issues like food, clothes, power, water, development, and security are more important to common man than anything else, doesn’t matter at all what community or caste they belong to. While solving these problems, the society should have no time to fight in the name of the religion. But still these kinds of things happen. It’s not right to blame only one or two people for that when whole society is responsible. Instead to point out at others, we should try to look inside ourselves. God never wants you to fight on his name. The color of blood is same for all of us, no matter, what religion we belong to. When doctor treats you he never asks which religion you are from as the treatment is same for everyone. Now the riots have been suppressed by the good administration but no doubt that loses it has caused would have a deep impact on the minds of the people and it will take a long time to heal that pain which it has left.