ON 28 August 2018 about one thousand goons belonging to the VHP and Bajrang Dal attacked the Muslim neighbourhood of Rahmatganj in Masaurhi (Bihar) with open swords and chanting aggressive slogans of ‘Jai Bajrang Dal’. They first targeted small shopkeepers near the Masjid and gradually attacked the entire mohalla. One section of the rioters rained bricks and stones upon a dense residential basti area. Another section targeted Muslim shopkeepers on Station Road and east and west of the Railway Gumti, viciously attacking them and beating them up. More than a dozen Muslim shopkeepers were prey to their attacks.
Last year also the RSS and Bajrang Dal had tried to incite riots in Masaurhi during Ramnavami. One day prior to Ramnavami, 70 swords had been seized from a high school and the police had nabbed members of the Mukesh Sharma gang from Gokhla in Bhagwanganj Thana.
For the past one year three criminal gangs have been very active in Masaurhi. These gangs comprise mostly of school and college students and operate mainly from the Gandhi Maidan area. These three gangs are: 1) Taj Miyan gang; 2) Golu Singh alias Plastic Gang; 3) Mahakal Gang. On 28 August there was firing between members of the Taj Gang and the Golu Singh Plastic Gang at the Rahmatganj crossroads in which one member of the Golu Singh Gang, Suraj Pandit (age 30, s/o Ramanand Singh, resident of Kumhartoli) was injured. The Taj Gang leader Sonu Yadav was the chief among those who shot him. After the firing both Golu Singh and Sonu Yadav ran away shouting that “Miyan has shot and killed a Hindu”.
The police arrived after the incident but left after some cursory tokenisms. The Bajrang Dal blockaded the road at the DSP’s residence; at the same time stone pelting and attacks on Rahmatganj were started. The residents of Rahmatganj pelted back stones in self-defence.
Meanwhile, Bajrang Dal activists gathered together about a thousand students between the ages of 15 and 20 from coaching centres (especially Vidya Coaching Centre) and tried their best to ignite anti-Muslim passions in them. They jammed the Patna-Gaya railway for 3 hours. That was the day the human chain against sexual violence in Muzaffarpur and other Shelter Homes had been organized in Patna. Most leaders and activists from Masaurhi and Dhanrua were in Patna on that day and while returning 50-60 of them alighted at Masaurhi station. They had got news of the incident at Rahmatganj.
The CPI (ML) Party office is also in the Gandhi Maidan area. When they formed a group and started going towards the Party office, the police stopped them. The police had stopped about 500 people alighting from that train, the Patna-Gaya Intercity Express, from leaving the station complex. Masaurhi city was in the grip of terror and all eyes were on the CPI (ML) activists carrying red flags. Opposing the police the ML leaders formed a rally and started towards Rahmatganj. Inside the mohalla they stopped at various places and spoke to members of the Muslim community, appealed for maintenance of peace and gave them the courage to oppose the attackers. During this period of interaction the people of the mohalla started moving in and out of their homes.
On 29 August a CPI (ML) team visited Rahmatganj and Kumhartoli mohallas. The team comprised Central Committee member Gopal Ravidas, State Committee member Satyanarayan Prasad, District Committee member Kamlesh Kumar, ML leader Vinesh Choudhury and social worker Shammi Miyan. The team met the injured people and appealed to all the people to participate in the Peace March to be held on 30 August. The Peace March was held on 30 August in which about 150 people participated, including good numbers from the Rahmatganj Muslim basti. CPI (ML) and CPM leaders also participated in the Peace March which traversed through the city and the bazaar. A meeting was organized at the station complex and the rioters were sternly warned to desist from their activities. Due to the impact of the Peace March, all shops near the station which had remained shut for the past few days now opened up.
Mohd Ashim from Rahmatganj who runs a shoe shop on Station Road was seriously injured in this incident and is admitted in PMCH. The rioters had entered his shop and attacked his head with a sword. Watch shop owner Mohd Rizwan, Khaini shop owner Mohd Akbar Hayat, shoe shop owner Mohd Amal Miyan, specs shop owner Mohd Kalam Saheb were also attacked, their shops vandalized and their kin beaten and injured.
Spreading false and baseless rumours regarding the Rahmatganj incident, Sangh-BJP members tried to intimidate and attack Muslims in Kashmirganj, Dahibhat, Gadihara, Malikana, Bijora, Dhaspura and other villages. Chhote Miyan and his family who are the sole Muslim residents among Bhumihars in Harvanshpur were attacked and attempts were made to kill them. The CPI (ML) stood firmly against all these attacks and foiled them. Similar attacks were also foiled in Karauti and Gausganj (Paliganj Block).
These criminal gangs enjoy the protection of both the BJP and the JD(U). JD(U) leader Mrityunjay Seth who is also the Mukhiya of the Noora Panchayat is the patron of the Taj Gang. The BJP-Bajrang Dal gives political protection to the Golu Singh Plastic Gang. The police have registered cases by name against 81 persons including the heads of these two gangs. Describing the incident, the Zonal Officer has stated that the rioters had attacked with open swords, bricks and stones, and were raising slogans praising Bajrang Dal and trying to vandalize the Masjid.
The CPI (ML) played an important role in curbing the riots at Masaurhi. Even now, meetings are on at poor and dalit mohallas to emphasize the need to maintain peace and harmony and to guard against mischievous rumours spread by the BJP-Bajrang Dal rioters. The administration is trying various ploys to hush up the names of BJP and Bajrang Dal in this riot. The Masaurhi SDO has even threatened filing of cases against CPI(ML) leaders.
