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Muslims desert homes as Jagannath rath yatra nears

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD July 5 . Wasim Khan, who is working with a non-government organisation in a riot relief camp here, has sent his family to some relatives' house in Karnataka. Nazir has already sent his children to Anand and now plans to shift his wife and other women there.

They are not alone, hundreds of panic-stricken Muslim families in Dariapur, Shahpur and other minority-dominated localities in Ahmedabad on the route of the Jagannath rath yatra on July 12 are moving out of Gujarat or to smaller towns or villages in the State.

The shifting is out of the apprehension that the rath yatra might spark another round of bloody riots in case the huge Hindu congregation is attacked at any point when the chariots pass through the communally-sensitive areas.

The fear has gripped even the Muslim-dominated localities in Juhapura from where some 200 families in six housing colonies including the Anjum, Al-Hamja, Aravalli, and Sahewas Park societies have moved out or are in the process of moving out till the yatra is over. Juhapura is far away from the yatra route but the people there are apprehensive because of an attack on them last month when even police allegedly sided with the hooligans to beat up the minorities, including women. A former Congress corporator, Farzan Khan, confirmed that a large number of Muslim families preferred to stay away from the city.

The organisers of the Muslim relief camps are worried that a large number of people might flock to the safety of camps as the yatra date approaches. Even after the State Government's efforts to forcibly close down all but three relief camps, at least 10 are still running on their own providing shelter to over 20,000 families because the inmates have refused to return to their houses till at least the rath yatra is over.

Mohsin Kadri, organiser of the Shah Alam Roza relief camp, by far the largest relief camp for the riot victims providing shelter to 7,000 people, admitted about the widespread apprehension among the minorities over the rath yatra. Even the local police are aware of the large-scale shifting of the Muslim families from the rath yatra route and from Juhapura. Those in the mixed localities and have no family friends and relatives outside the city, are, instead, flocking to Juhapura.

The Jagannath rath yatra will pass through several sensitive areas covering a distance of 14 km from the Jagannath temple in the minority-dominated Jamalpur locality and back. While a kilometre-long procession includes a large number of trucks, camel carts, elephants and thousands of people on foot, two lakh devotees will witness the event. The yatra provided the flash-point for violence several times in the past, particularly in 1985 and 1992.

Police intelligence has identified17 highly-sensitive points on the route from where it fears the yatra could be attacked. Hence, the police have requested the State Government to prevail upon the Jagannath temple trust to either cancel the rath yatra this year or change the route. The temple trust, which was also under pressure from trade and business organisations as well as many prominent citizens, was initially willing to consider a change of the route but later changed its stand on the ground that this year being the 125th rath yatra, a change could hurt the sentiments of the people.

The security adviser to the Chief Minister, K. P.S. Gill, has also reportedly advised against cancellation of the yatra or a change of the route apprehending "unrest" among the Hindus. The chairman of the temple trust, Mahendra Jha, when approached today, said there was no question of changing the route though the temple had decided to reduce the number of trucks and other carriages in the procession. The size would be cut by one-third to ensure that the yatra was completed before sunset. Normally, it is well past midnight that the chariots return to the temple.

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