Ram Navami violence is not sporadic: If one read RC Majumdar, one would know that history, leading up to 1947, is being repeated right in front of our eyes

Aftermath of attack on Hindus in Himmatnagar (Photo Credits: PTI)

Every year, Hindus come under attack when they take their religious processions out and this year was no different. During the Ram Navami Shobha Yatras, Hindus came under attack as Muslim mobs pelted stones, created arson, attacked unsuspecting Hindus and then, blamed Hindus for their own persecution.

In Bengal, when Hindus came under attack, Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister, said it was the Hindus who pelted stones at their own procession because the Muslims can’t possibly commit violence during the month of Ramzan – they would be busy doing Namaz, after all. “Minority community was not at all involved as they were busy with Ramzan and Namaz”, she said. Not only that, she essentially insinuated that Muslims should annihilate the Hindus.

“Can’t you step up now and stop these rioters and goons? If women are with me, then, I will show my power to the rioters…”, she was heard saying in another speech in April. “Ki sonkha loghu bhai bona ra, Allah Tallah er kache doye kore danaga baaj der khotom korte parbe na (Can’t my brothers and sisters from the minority community pray to Allah to finish off these rioters),” she said.

From Gujarat to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and beyond, Hindus were hounded, attacked and humiliated while celebrating one of the most sacred festivals – Ram Navami and even as the intolerant minority went on a rampage, from Islamists to Leftists and even politicians blamed Hindus for coming under attack because they had the temerity to take out their religious processions through an area which was ghettoised by the Muslims.

For most Hindus, India is a civilisational state of their ancestors, where their faith, culture, tradition and stories lie. A soil that has been soaked with the blood of their ancestors who fought for the integrity and honour of this land. It can safely be argued that if some start believing that Hindus have no right to exist in areas which are ‘no longer Hindu’ (remember ‘Muslim areas’ is now a legitimate term by the ‘secular’ commentariat), then Islamists who tore Bharat apart in the name of Islam, must not be allowed their religious rights in a nation with a distinct Hindu nation, despite the cries of secularism. It could perhaps be argued that the Nehru-Liaquat pact which skirted the full population exchange post-partition is the true culprit of the malaise we face today. Had India been left only with Hindus and Pakistan, created in the name of Islam, only with Muslims, perhaps Hindus would not be humiliated for taking out their religious processions in their own land. These arguments are often shot down as “hate speech” because it supposedly “creates” a divide, a divide that clearly already exists and has existed for 100s of years.

For those who believe that Ram Navami processions and other Hindu religious processions have come under attack only recently after the rise of the BJP and perhaps, after the awakening of the collective Hindu consciousness in contemporary times, even a cursory reading of history would rupture that notion.

RC Majumdar is one of the most noted historians of modern India. His most noted work was his 11-volume series on the history of India which starts tracing Bharat’s history right from ancient history to the freedom struggle. The final volume of the series, ‘Struggle for Freedom’, is considered one of the most authoritative accounts of the freedom struggle and the events that shaped Bharat, especially leading up to the partition of India.

In Chapter 15 of his book “Struggle for Freedom”, RC Majumdar gives a bird’s eye view of the nature of Hindu-Muslim relations in the country, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s – a few years before the partition of India and around the same time of the Khilafat movement and the Malabar genocide of Hindus.

The Muslim League, RC Majumdar days, regained its old strength after the Khilafat movement dwindled in India and started playing its old tricks of communalism. Gandhi had managed to reach a hollow “truce” through the non-cooperation movement which was supported by Hindus and Muslims for very different reasons – Muslims, specifically, for their Khilafat dreams. As the non-cooperation movement died down in Bharat, the hollow “peace” was exposed for what it is – naked hatred for Hindus.

“At the back of it lay the old Muslim policy of deriving personal or communal advantages by cooperating with the Government against Hindus”, RC Majumdar writes.

“The revival of the old communal spirit resulted in discords over petty issues, such as music before mosques, cutting down the branches of the pipal tree, held sacred by the Hindus, which obstructed the very long pole carried in the Muslim Tajjiya procession, the killing of cows in public places during Id ceremony, and things of this sort”, he writes.

What is interesting is that RC Majumdar, the veteran historian, deemed it necessary to mention “music in front of mosques” as one of the distinct features which caused violence by the Muslim community. The slaughter of cows openly to humiliate Hindus was a feature that historically, was known, however, the fact that “music in front of mosques” got the Islamists to unleash violence against the Hindus then, a feature that is prevalent even today, is an interesting revelation.

1923 onwards, communal riots were an order of the day especially after the Hindus had started a shuddhi movement which was condemned by the Muslims, who were regularly converting Hindus by force at the time. In 1918, given the discord between Hindus and Muslims, a committee had been appointed at the Delhi session of Congress to draw up an “Indian National Pact”. A draft of the pact was placed before the committee in 1923. In the meantime, the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee, under the direction of CR Das, approved a strange “Hindu Muslim Pact”, specific to Bengal, that essentially curbed the rights of Hindus. Even in this pact, the “music in front of Mosques” played a prominent role.

Two features of the pact, which was later rejected by the Congress committee, as was the National Pact, need to be analysed specifically.

1. No music should be allowed before a mosque

2. There should be no interference with cow killing for religious sacrifices, but the cow should be killed in such a manner as to not wound the religious feelings of Hindus.

While no music in front of a mosque is something that the Muslim side specifically demanded, they also demanded their right to slaughter cows. The fact that the pact said that the manner of killing should not offend Hindus, it is pertinent to realise that any slaughter of cows would hurt the religious feelings of Hindus, regardless of the method adopted.

While this Pact was rejected later, it goes to show this history of attacks against Hindus because of the establishment of so-called “Muslim areas” where even music being played by Hindus invited violence from the Islamists.

RC Majumdar in his book then talks about incidents of violence that marred the period, with many of them revolving around music being played in front of mosques and Hindu religious processions being taken out from “Muslim areas”.

Mr Majumdar writes, “One of the worst communal riots broke out in Calcutta in May 1923. It arose out of an Arya-Samajist procession playing music while passing before a mosque. The Arya Samajists contended that they were merely following a regular practice which was never objected to before, while the Muslims asserted that the music disturbed their religious prayer. So fighting commenced and continued for several days, in the course of which there were many casualties on both sides”.

There are certain elements of what Majumdar wrote that deserve greater scrutiny.

Firstly, Majumdar writes that the Arya-Samajists said that they were following regular practice and that the processions were never objected to. Several times, when Hindu religious processions come under attack by Muslim mobs, the Hindus are left flummoxed, claiming that they were simply doing what they have done every year, and could never understand why they came under attack that specific time. Even during the Delhi anti-Hindu riots, there were testimonies reported by media portals where Hindus expressed shock over the violence, saying that they have coexisted in the area for many years. This phenomenon does not seem to be new. One possible reason could be that the Muslim population increased over the years and what was acceptable then, became “haram” later, however, that aspect would need deeper study.

Secondly, that the Muslims asserted it disturbed their prayers, is also an argument that is often used today to blame Hindus for the violence committed by Muslims. After the Ram Navami violence in Bengal in 2023, a Muslim cleric justified the violence by citing exactly the same reason. When the cleric was asked his views on the violence unleashed in Shibpur, Howrah on March 30, the cleric said that this is the month of Ramzan and when the Hindus were taking out the procession, it was time for Muslims to break their fast with Iftar. It was the state administration’s duty to make sure that the ‘Sobha Yatra’ passed the area either half an hour before or after the Muslims broke their Roza. He stated that the incident occurred in the evening during Maghrib Azaan. He claimed that if the procession had been held in the afternoon, this would not have happened. The violence occurred since Hindus chose an evening schedule for the ‘Sobha Yatra,’ which clashed with the Azaan time.

Therefore, it is safe to say that the reasons employed by Muslims in the 1920s to attack Hindus are being used in 2023 to attack Hindus as well. To assume that there is any authentic grievance that leads to violence against Hindus would be naive. Essentially, everything points to the fact that the violence by the Islamists is a mere tool for religious supremacy because the very existence of Kafirs in spaces they assume to be their own offends their religious sensibilities.

The fact that violence is indeed a tool for religious supremacy is proved by another incident narrated by RC Majumdar in his book. He writes, “The cause of the riot on Bakr-id day, 15th July, was an official notice closing an additional route through the Hindus quarters for cows destined for slaughter. The attempt of the Muslim butchers to take by force a cow through the prohibited road caused serious rioting in which about 12 Hindus were reported to have been killed and about a hundred seriously injured. Order was not restored till the military was called in and opened fire. Panic prevailed in Hindu quarters and houses and shops were closed for many days. A Hindu temple was desecrated and sporadic attacks on Hindu passers-by continued for several days. According to official estimates, hospital casualties were, Hindus – dead 8, injured 44; Muslims – dead 1, injured 25 and an unknown number being privately treated. Similar but less serious disturbances occurred in many other places on the Bakr-Id day. Some of the bigger street-fightings took place in Nagpur, Jubbulpore, and other places in CP where the Muslims, being much fewer in number, suffered more heavily than the Hindus”.

Further, RC Majumdar writes, “On the day of Muharram, some Mohammedans accompanying the punja processions molested Hindu men and women whom they met on the road and afterwards entered the Sharan Vishveswar Temple, remained in possession of it for some hours and did some damage. The next day, a story went around that Hindus had caused mischief to a mosque, thereupon, Muhammadan mobs attacked all Hindu temples in the city, numbering about 15, and broke the idols. They also raided the Sharan Vishweshwar Temple and attempted to set fire to the temple car. The police were eventually obliged to fire”.

The chronology of this event seems woefully familiar. While the Muslims committed violence when Hindus passed through “Muslim areas” so to speak, they also created violence on their festivals, forcing their way into Hindu areas and displaying how they were slaughtering a cow. Further, they created violence and took over a temple, and on the basis of a rumour, proceeded to attack all temples, desecrate idols and went on a rampage.

Essentially, then and now, it would appear as though it does not particularly matter if the Hindu procession was passing a “Muslim area” or it was the festival of Muslims – the eventual brunt had to be borne by the Hindus either way – it is therefore not far fetched to say that even the outrages today aren’t about Hindus “disturbing” Azaan or “provoking Muslims”. It is merely about Hindus’ presence and the fact that Kafirs exist.

Giving further credence to this, RC Majumdar writes, “The Hindu-Muslim relations continued to deteriorate in 1925 and 1926, the Bakr-Id ceremony causing serious riots in Delhi, Allahabad and Calcutta. No less than 16 communal riots took place in 1925, the worst of which were those in Delhi, Aligarh, Arvi and Sholapur. The most serious riot in 1926 took place in Calcutta in April over the question of music before the mosque. The riot which continued in full fury on 3, 4, and 5 April, caused 44 deaths and 584 injuries, besides looting, burning and desecration of both temples and mosques. There was another riot on 22 April, and the casualties were 66 killed and 391 injured. There was a third riot in Calcutta which continued from 11 to 25 July resulting in 28th Deaths and 226 serious injuries. There were also riots in the interior of Bengal as well as in Rawalpindi (14 killed and 50 wounded) and Allahabad (2 killed and 27 injured). There were no less than 5 riots in Delhi. The government made an unsuccessful effort to control, by regulation, the hours of music before the mosque but Hindus reacted very strongly against them”.

Interestingly, even in this case, all of these riots happened because Hindus were playing music somewhere in the vicinity of a mosque. The state, then as it does now, tried to control the Hindus and impose legislation on them instead of controlling the Muslim mobs. In contemporary times, one can recall that this year itself, in 2023, almost 100 years after these riots, the Ram Navami procession was banned in Jahangirpuri because the year before, Muslims had created violence during Hindu religious processions. Now, like it was then, Hindus asserted their rights and continued with their religious procession as planned. Even in 1926, after the government tried to impose legislation stopping Hindus from taking religious processions out and playing music, the Hindus asserted their rights and ensured that their religious rights were not curtailed. In fact, over 400 Hindus were arrested after they decided to not pay heed to govt impositions to protect the Muslim sentiment.

“Several communal riots broke out in 1927. At Kulkathi (Barisal, Bengal) a Muslim mob refused to allow passage to a Hindu procession which was permitted by the local authorities to proceed. The police opened fire, killing 17 and wounding 12 Muslims. Twenty-seven were killed in a communal riot in Lahore and eleven at Bettiah (Bihar)”, RC Majumdar wrote. In this case as well, the situation was then as it is now. Despite permission and the law being followed by the Hindus, the Muslims would have no part of it and attacked the Hindus regardless.

This phenomenon of Muslims attacking processions by Hindus and insisting upon cow slaughter simply to humiliate Hindus was also written about by Dr BR Ambedkar in his book “Pakistan or the Partition of India”.

He writes, “Another illustration of this spirit of exploitation is furnished by the Muslim insistence upon cow slaughter and the stoppage of muslim before mosques. Islamic law does not insist upon the slaughter of the cow for sacrificial purposes and no Musalman when he goes to Haj, sacrifices the cow in Mecca or Medina. But in India, they will not be content with the sacrifice of any other animal. Music may be played before. a mosque in all Muslim countries without any objection. Even in Afghanistan, which is not a secularised country, no objection is taken to music before a mosque. But in India, the Musalmans must insist upon its stoppage for no other reason except that the Hindus claim right to it”.

The fact that Hindu processions were being taken out from in front of mosques and/or music was being played in the vicinity of mosques was a point of massive riots and communal unrest that claimed the lives of several Hindus and Muslims with the Muslims often starting the violence citing hurt to their religious sentiments.

During the Ram Navami violence in 2023, it was emphatically asserted that Hindus were responsible for being attacked because they had the temerity to pass through “Muslim areas”. That they deliberately provoked the Muslims by their presence in that area and that, had the Hindus not provoked them, the Muslims would not have gone on a murderous rampage against them. Their argument today is exactly the argument they were making 100 years ago – that Hindu presence in these “Muslim areas” provokes Muslims. The Hindus are saying today exactly what they were saying then – ‘this is our right’ and sometimes, ‘we have always lived in peace, how did we get attacked this time’.

Either way, it would be a grave error for Hindus or the Indian political dispensation to assume that these attacks against Hindu religious processions are sporadic and lack pattern. What happened then led to the 1947 partition based on the principle that Muslims are a distinct nation unto themselves and cannot coexist with Hindus. The “Muslim area” demarcation is merely the same theory in play on a smaller scale. To ignore this violence or to assume that such low-level outrages are not leading to much bigger outrages would be foolish. One must remember that Moplah Muslims committed sporadic atrocities against Hindus for 100 years before the Malabar Genocide of Hindus took place. We, dare I say, are today somewhere in those 100 years – where what trajectory we might take depends on how the Hindus decide to steady their heart and if the state wakes up to uncomfortable realities that history has been trying to teach us for decades.