People's Democracy

MAHARASHTRA

CPI(M) MPs Team Visit Malegaon 

P R Krishnan 

Malegaon, the power loom town witnessed bomb blasts on September 8 which killed 38 people on the spot and injured more than 100. All the three explosions took place one after another in five minutes. The first blast occurred near Bada Qabrastan about 200 metres away from the Rehmani Masjid near Mushwarat Chowk in the heart of Malegaon city. The second explosion was at the entrance of the cemetery which is next to the shrine of sufi saint Maulana Mohammad Ishque. And the third blast was near the Hamidiya Masjid very close to the cemetery. All the three explosions took place in the midst of large number people. And it happened when, devotees after their Friday namaaz were returning from Rehmani Masjid and making their way to the adjoining cemetery, the Bada Qabrastan. September 8, being a Friday, was the occasion of Shab-e-Baraat, an auspicious day for Muslims through out the world when they pay memorial respects to the dead through prayers. Muslims throughout the world perform this traditional custom two weeks ahead of the holy month of Ramzan. The death toll in the present blasts has now reached to 41 and injuries to 300. Amongst the dead and injured were large number of children and beggars. The children had accompanied their elders for namaaz and the beggars had lined up the streets seeking zakat (alms) which is customarily distributed during the occasion of Shabe-e_Baraat. Curfew was immediately imposed and section 144 declared.

Following this incidence, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau deputed a two member team for an on the spot study of the situation. The team comprised Basudev Acharya, CPI(M) Central Committee member and its parliamentary party group leader in Lok Sabha and Amitava Nandy, MP. The team was joined by Jiva Pandu Gavit MLA and Maharashtra state CPI(M) secretariat member, Kissan Gujar, state Kisan Sabha secretary, Sridhar Deshpande, Nasik district CITU president and P R Krishnan, state CITU secretary. A large number of people cutting across party lines had assembled near the CPI(M) local committee office in Malegaon to receive the party MPs.

CPI(M) leaders first visited the Rehmani Masjid and the Bada Qabrastan. The Imam of this Masjidia Hameedia, Maulana Abdul Badri Kasim was present when they reached the Masjid. The Maulana took the leaders to the different places where the bombs exploded and showed the exact spots where men and children fell dead in pools of blood. The Maulana narrated how terrific was the situation that created tension everywhere. Realising the dangerous consequences which may follow, the Imam told the CPI(M) MPs that the community leaders immediately appealed to the people to maintain peace and to see that no untoward incidents occurred anywhere. According to the Maulana, this had its effects and peace was maintained. The police inspector Saukhat Ali Shaikh who was in charge of the Masjid area and who was on duty on the day of explosions was all in praise for the Maulana who played a crucial role in seeking that no communal flare up followed.

Mushairak Chowk was the next spot the team visited. It was at this crowded place the third blast occurred. Basudev Acharya and Amitava Nandi were shown the steel shutters of the shops hit by the blasts. Hanif Qureshi, a municipal corporator of the locality told the CPI(M) MPs that joblessness and poverty were the main problems here. He also told the CPI(M) leaders that people in the town were forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day with no weekly off and on wages lower than those fixed under the minimum wages act. The town has remained undeveloped with no civic facilities. He wanted the CPI(M) leadership to take up these issues with the state and central government authorities.

The MPs also visited Faran medical hospital, 5 kilo meters away from the town. 70 people were admitted here. But because of lack of adequate equipments and facilities, many of the injured had to be shifted to Nasik medical hospital and a few to the J J hospital in Mumbai. Gradually the number of inpatients came to 30. Amongst those still in this hospital are many children. All these minors are with serious injuries and deep burns. They had their mothers at their bed sides. The suffering children and their mothers cried and asked the CPI(M) leaders what crime the children had committed for these atrocities.

The team later visited the collector’s office. But despite prior intimation, the collector was not present in the office. Therefore Basudev Acharya and Amitava Nandy talked with the deputy collector and tahsildhar in his absence. The deputy collector explained that though many of the blast victims are in the private hospitals, the doctors have been instructed to give the best possible treatment to the patients and the treatment charges and hospital expenses will be borne by the government. However one grievance they heard from the relations of the patients in the hospital was that they are being forced to purchase medicines from outside shops at their own cost. The CPI(M) MPs have conveyed this to the deputy collector and asked him to see that adequate arrangement is made in the hospital for free treatment of the blast victims.

A citizens meeting was also organised in the Isscus library hall for paying homage to the blast victims. The meeting was attended by prominent persons from different organisations and communities. Both Basudev Acharya and Amitava Nandy briefly addressed the gathering. In the meeting, several persons pointed out that there was failure of intelligence net work in this tension stricken town. Many of the participants demanded a CBI inquiry. An organisation called Jamatil Almiya handed over a memorandum to the MPs highlighting the problems of this powerloom centre . A very serious grievance brought to the notice of the MPs was that the police is picking up innocent people, torturing and forcing them to give confession. This version is now corroborated by a Times of India report on September 18, which says that a 20 year old boy Irfan, accused in a previous assault case, has now been picked up by police from his work place, tortured and offered Rs 5 lakh for confession in the present explosion case. Yet another grievance repeatedly voiced in the meetings and wherever the delegation went was utter neglect of development of this region. The leaders in their brief speeches pointed out that they will meet the prime minister and appraise him of the situation. They said that they will also raise the issue in the parliament as well. J P Gavit, MLA presided. It should be noted here that the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale had immediately condemned the heinous crime and called for a thorough enquiry. He had questioned the state government decision to withdraw the police bandobast from Malegaon soon after the Ganapati immersion. The security arrangement should have been continued till after the Shab-e-Baraat and especially when the centre had alerted the states of terrorist strikes well in advance.

According to V K Duggal, the home secretary, bombs packed into tins may have been left on bicycles. There were reports that a beggar girl was carrying tins that might have contained explosives. A team of national security guard bomb detectors have arrived in Malegaon to assist the Maharashtra anti terrorism squad (ATS) to gather forensic evidence. Following the blasts the state government has stepped up security at places of worship and around strategic establishments in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. The central government has despatched 3500 additional security forces to assist the state security agencies. 
According to intelligence sources and security agencies, the prime motive behind the terroritst blasts was to create communal tension and foment panic amongst the people to disturb communal harmony. The aim originally was to provoke the people and spread fear during the just concluded 10 days long Ganeshotsav. True, it might have been so. But if that was the case, then, what made the state home department and the security agencies to withdraw the police force from the Masjid and Qabrastan surroundings immediately after the Ganesh festival? “The government, the police, the intelligence wing, the crime detection force and other security agencies were quite aware of the fact that immediately after the Ganeshotsav was to be the day of Shab-e-Baraat. It was therefore strange that the authorities withdraw security forces soon after the Ganpati immersions and the Mosques, Qabrastan and the surroundings were left unguarded” observed Basudev Acharya and Amitava Nandy. This is a serious matter which they will take up with the government, they concluded. Shri H D Deve Gowda, former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president who came to visit Malegaon on the same day also criticised the action of withdrawal of security forces at such a crucial juncture. 

Needless to say that so far as Malegaon is concerned, it has a long history of communal clashes and riots. It is widely known that this densely populated town has a strange cohabitation history as well. The Mosam river which passes through the town has made an artificial territorial divide between the Malegaokars. The Muslim majority population reside on one side of the river and the Hindus on the other side of the river bank. Besides locals, the labouring population comprise of people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Hyderabad and few from Tamilnadu. The Hindus dominate business and commerce. Muslims are generally weavers and unskilled labourers. Socially, it has remained a disturbed area in as much as the 7.50 lakh township has witnessed frequent clashes in the past. As per media reports the British suppression of 1857 forced large number of Muslim families to migrate from Delhi. A sizable number of them came and settled here and others moved to the nearby district town Bhiwandi, which has also developed into a powerloom centre like Malegaon. Both these townships have witnessed a number of communal clashes. But so far as Malegaon is concerned, though it has long history of communal tensions and clashes, the major one took place in 1963. Both Ganapati Visarjan and Moharam fell on the same day in that year and violence sparked in the processions of both communities. Ever since then, this township has witnessed several communal clashes.

With such a history, it was highly improper for the state government to withdraw the police force immediately after the Ganeshotsav especially when the centre had given alert signals to the state government. Basudev Acharya and Amitava Nandi were accorded warm receptions by the activists and functionaries of National Railway Mazdoor Union at Manmad, Nasik and Igatpur Railway Stations.