Cry, the Beloved Malegaon by Mustafa Khan

Malegaon town of Nashik district was settled in large measure by local workers, soldiers who manned the land fort and the refugees fleeing from persecution of the British in the aftermath of the 1857 struggle for freedom. The former were Arabs and locals. The Arabs left with the advent of the British. The refugees were craftsmen, mostly weavers. They lived in harmony and peace and were industrous. The first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, gave example of Malegaon for harmony and unity of the nascent nation. The partition of India and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were times of great upheaval. But the easy going town had a Rip Van Winkle sleep through this period.

The forties and fifties saw handlooms giving way to powerlooms. Then the arrival of merchants from outside in sizable numbers. The economy booming saw the flourishing of the powerloom industry. After ten years of the freedom, the town had the foundation stone laid of the first college in the town (thanks to the efforts of Bhausaheb Hiray and Boa Guruji Khare). Another milestone was madrassa Milat. It was alrelady there, a big one among many other small ones attached to mosques. Those were wonderful days when there was no iota of suspicion about the functioning or aim of the madrassa. Maulana Hameed Nomani was founder of Milat and also a news reader on All India Radio. He belonged to the Congress party and was a nationalist.

Communalism raised its ugly head in the 60s. Thereafter no decade passed without scar of bloodshed and trauma the town had to go through. A series of communal flare ups and riots and then October 2001 clashes in which more than a dozen lost their lives opened the chasm of hatred and mistrust. Muslims from scores of village had to flee their heath and hearth for the first time ever in the life of Maharashtra. This was a watershed. The police had all the resources to stop and yet for more than a fortnight there was curfew with sporadic burning and looting and forced migration, searching of incoming buses for Muslim passengers. Two such passengers of Manmad were taken out and killed. History of the town would record first ever refugees. Never before did we ever see people fleeing with children and small bundles of essential things and hiding in farms and river beds to pass night. The terrifying use of gas cylinders to blow up mosques and Muslim property was horrendous but instant. But the demolition of the mosques in villages like Chichgawan was a matter of several days of steady work which went on with impunity.

The climate of suspicion was like the genii let out of the bottle. It began producing effects beyond the control of any community or individuals or even the government. This was the severest blow to the natural and organic life of the town. Time would have healed the wounds but it was not to be. The destiny of the town seemed to have passed into the hands of those who did not like the town to exist. On Friday September 8, 2006 blasts happned in the framework of this sinister design. Now as never before so many would be killed and among them would be the most helpless innocent children and beggars! The police have failed to dispel suspicion. Smruti Koppikar writing in Outlook dated September 13, 2006 says:

“That the investigators should so blatantly rule out involvement of any Hindutva outfit is cause for concern. It’s one thing for people like (Dada) Bhuse and other Hindutva leaders to assert that "no one from this side (Hindu majority area on the west bank of the Mosom ) of the river will go across and dare do something like this" but the fact remains that the cops are not chasing some clues. Take the case of "fake beard" as it has come to be known here. A tailor Aqeel Ahmed Ansari who works near the Bada Kabristan told cops and bystanders that he had picked up a body from near one of the bicycles and handed it over to volunteers in the ambulance, that this body did not have the lower part of the torso and its beard had come off in the ambulance. The suggestion being that it was a fake beard and therefore the body of a perpetrator. Coincidentally, the two hospitals that conducted post-mortems said that they had together handled 30 bodies and none was without the lower half. Besides, this body could not be found in the morgue hours later that very day. The "fake beard" part perhaps reveals something, especially when against the backdrop of several fake beards, typical Muslim and Sikh clothes, and relevant headgear were recovered from the house of a Bajrang Dal activist in the Nanded blast case.”

If there is some truth in this it confirms the widespread suspicion of the natives of the town, Hindus and Muslims alike, that the blasts were handiworks of outsiders. In the larger interest of the nation it is but natural that the investigating agencies and the government must find out who the perpetrators were. Hard solid facts and evidence and not just confession under duress would help.

People react strangely. Some have called the town as a communal pariah. They blame the government for negligence and lack of basic facilities. But conscientious people feel the need to look within and search in our soul. What has gone wrong? Have we really maintained the few facilities that we already have? True, we do not have hospitals and public parks and play grounds. But did we not let our municipal presidents/mayors and members/corporators sleep over such issues. The enormous amount of money that changes hands in election period could have gone to the better arrangements of public places, toilets, hospitals, roads and other civic amenities. Neither the blasts nor the riots have much to do with public or civil amenities. Using existing facilities including schools effectively and efficiently would have gone a long way to prevent the insidious and suspicious atmosphere in the town.

Nationalism/nationality is not the proprietorship of any one section. Nor can it be claimed and used by one section for its own advantage sometime and then by another section. It is a joint inheritance and trust and must be safeguarded by all. It requires mutual trust and belief in the larger good of all the people. This cannot come unless each one gives up a part of himself and his personal prejudices. With this feeling if the people start living together not only the resolution of the blasts conspiracy will be there but the same old life of Malegaon togetherness-and-harmony will come back!