Jump to content

Ram Navami riots: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Undid revision 1091894753 by 2400:1A00:B010:2772:414C:1D0:F689:3E1D (talk) - source for claim?
No edit summary
Tag: Reverted
Line 6: Line 6:
{{cite book |first1=Kajri |last1=Jain |title=Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8223-3926-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7LEXbIREjEC |pages=320–321 |quote=[Anuradha] Kapur traces a marked iconographic shift in popular imagery from the earlier, textually sanctioned depictions of Ram as soft, smooth-bodied, almost pudgy, smiling, benign, and above all gentle and tranquil (see figs. 93 and 129), to the more recent muscular versions whose ''rasa'' or mood is (according to Kapur) predominantly ''ugra'': "angry, exercised ... punishing" (75), emphasizing his bow and arrows in their capacity as weapons rather than as mere iconographic markers (fig. 138).... The departure from these established iconographic conventions, Kapur argues, is made possible by "the making of a virile Hinduism," which accompanies the encroachment of "realism," and particularly the depiction of a "virile" physiognomy, onto the mythic or iconic image.}}</ref>]]
{{cite book |first1=Kajri |last1=Jain |title=Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8223-3926-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7LEXbIREjEC |pages=320–321 |quote=[Anuradha] Kapur traces a marked iconographic shift in popular imagery from the earlier, textually sanctioned depictions of Ram as soft, smooth-bodied, almost pudgy, smiling, benign, and above all gentle and tranquil (see figs. 93 and 129), to the more recent muscular versions whose ''rasa'' or mood is (according to Kapur) predominantly ''ugra'': "angry, exercised ... punishing" (75), emphasizing his bow and arrows in their capacity as weapons rather than as mere iconographic markers (fig. 138).... The departure from these established iconographic conventions, Kapur argues, is made possible by "the making of a virile Hinduism," which accompanies the encroachment of "realism," and particularly the depiction of a "virile" physiognomy, onto the mythic or iconic image.}}</ref>]]


[[Ram Navami]] is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity [[Rama]].<ref>
[[Ram Navami]] is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity [[Rama]]. It falls on the 9th day of the [[Chaitra]] month every year in the [[Hindu calendar]], usually during the months of March–April. At least since 1979, if not earlier,{{sfn|Ahmad|2022|p=433}}{{sfn|Huda|2009}} [[Hindutva]] nationalist organisations, spearheaded by [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS) and [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP), have weaponised the festival to create Hindu–Muslim frictions, causing riots and deaths, in which the Muslims have been the major sufferers.<ref>
{{citation |first=Harsh |last=Mander |author-link=Harsh Mander |url=https://scroll.in/article/875325/miracles-in-asansol-as-coal-city-burnt-in-hatred-a-muslim-cleric-and-hindu-temple-healed-with-love |title=Miracles in Asansol: As coal city burnt in hatred, a Muslim cleric and Hindu temple healed with love |publisher=Scroll.in |date=12 April 2018 |quote=Never in the past was Ram Navami, the spring festival celebrating the birth of Lord Ram, an occasion for mass public festivities or processions in West Bengal. This changed over the past couple of years, when the Bharatiya Janata Party, its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and associated organisations converted the religious event into an occasion for the display of belligerent communal militancy, with an aggressive display of weapons and incendiary anti-Muslim sloganeering.}}
{{citation |first=Harsh |last=Mander |author-link=Harsh Mander |url=https://scroll.in/article/875325/miracles-in-asansol-as-coal-city-burnt-in-hatred-a-muslim-cleric-and-hindu-temple-healed-with-love |title=Miracles in Asansol: As coal city burnt in hatred, a Muslim cleric and Hindu temple healed with love |publisher=Scroll.in |date=12 April 2018 |quote=Never in the past was Ram Navami, the spring festival celebrating the birth of Lord Ram, an occasion for mass public festivities or processions in West Bengal. This changed over the past couple of years, when the Bharatiya Janata Party, its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and associated organisations converted the religious event into an occasion for the display of belligerent communal militancy, with an aggressive display of weapons and incendiary anti-Muslim sloganeering.}}
</ref><ref>
</ref><ref>

Revision as of 14:43, 9 June 2022

A Hindu nationalist depiction of Rama[1][2]

Ram Navami is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Rama.[3][4][5] Scholar Paul Brass states that Rama himself has been turned into a political emblem of the RSS family of organisations, and the Ram Navami processions are "led by or turned into provocative displays" by militant Hindutva organisations such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.[6]

Background

Baby Rama in a cradle at Chinawal village temple, Maharashtra
Main article: Ram Navami

Rama is regarded as the seventh avatar of Vishnu, who was born as the prince of Ayodhya and lived a model life upholding the Hindu principles of dharma despite all his travails. Rama's birthday (Ram Navami) which falls on the 9th day of the Hindu new year (generally in March–April) is celebrated by Hindus all over the world. The day is marked with puja (devotional worship) such as bhajan and kirtan, by fasting and reading passages about Rama's life. Special cities in the Ramayana legends about Rama's life observe major celebrations. These include Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu), Bhadrachalam (Telangana) and Sitamarhi (Bihar). Some locations organise Ratha Yatras (chariot processions), while some celebrate it as the wedding anniversary festival (Kalyanotsavam) of Rama and Sita.[citation needed]

RSS members marching with "Rama's flag"

Rama is central to the political imagination of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). RSS was launched on the Vijayadashami day of 1925, a day commemorating Rama's victory over Ravana, and it was given its name "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" on the Ram Navami day of 1926. Its first public mission was in assisting the organisation of the Ram Navami festival at Ramtek, an occasion selected by its founder Hedgewar with "great care".[7] RSS also chose for itself a flag, which in its saffron colour and shape, is deemed to have been Rama's flag, and believed to have been used by Shivaji.[8]

However, for several decades of its existence, religion was not a major part of the RSS efforts of mobilisation, but rather a 'nationalist' campaign, identifying the 'nation' with Hindus. (The religious space was at that time occupied by Hindu Mahasabha, a political party with which RSS was vaguely allied.) This changed in 1964, when the RSS founded Vishva Hindu Parishad, an affiliate organisation that would campaign for Hindus as well as the Hindu religion.[9]

According to The Hitavada, a grand procession called Shobha Yatra[a] was started on the occasion of Ram Navami in Nagpur, the home of the RSS, around 1967.[13] In contrast to traditional rath-yatras, which are organised by temples and are generally limited to nearly areas, the shobha yatras are grand processions of pomp and ceremony attempting to cover entire cities, involving "cavalcades of vehicles, each carrying dozens of men, shouting slogans and frequently wielding arms".[14] In 1987, in the midst of the Babri Masjid–Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is said to have organised country-wide shobha yatras,[15] including in Delhi, where arms were displayed and provocative slogans were raised.[16]

1979 Jamshedpur riot

The 1979 Jamshedpur riot was the first major riot on the occasion of Ram Navami, in which 108 people were declared to have died, among whom 79 Muslims and 25 Hindus were identified. The government-appointed commission of enquiry, the Jitendra Narain Commission, found the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the local MLA, Dinanath Pandey, responsible for having created the climate conducive to the riot.[17][18]

Jamshedpur was then town in the state of Bihar (now a metropolis in the state of Jharkhand), named after the industrialist Jamshedji Tata, who established India's first steel plant at the location. The entire region was originally populated by tribes, who are also called adivasis. People came from various parts of India to work in the steel plant and settle in the town.[19] The government in power at that time was that of the Janata Party, which was the result of a merger of several non-Congress parties including the present day Bharatiya Janata Party.[17][20]

In an attempt to Hinduise the adivasi population, the RSS planned the 1978 Ram Navami procession to start from an adivasi neighbourhood called Dimnabasti. However, the neighbouring locality was a Muslim area called Sabirnagar and the authorities refused permission for a procession to pass through it. The RSS campaigned on the issue for a whole year, arguing that the Hindus "in their own country" were not being allowed to freely carry out processions. The administration suggested an alternative route for 1979 that would avoid Sabirnagar, but the RSS did not relent.[21]

Tensions increased in Jamshedpur as a result of the stand-off. Hindus forced the closure of shops and a few of them were arrested. In March 1979, the RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras visited Jamshedpur and gave a polarising speech, which further exacerbated the situation. An organisation called Sri Ramnavmi Kendriya Akhara Samiti issued a pamphlet on 7 April which declared communal violence and also detailed how it would occur. Eventually, a deal was reached and a sample procession passed through the Muslim locality, accompanied by local Muslims. But the main procession, which grew to 15,000 people, stopped in front of a masjid. The local MLA Dinanath Pandey announced that it would not move till all the arrested Hindus were released.[21]

Eventually a stone was thrown at the procession from the side of the Muslims, who were also prepared for the violence. That provided the spark for the riots, which lasted several days. Thousands of houses were looted. Muslims living in Hindu areas were especially vulnerable. The police also proved to be partisan, targeting the Muslims more than the Hindu and also helping the Hindus in rioting.[22] The government of Karpuri Thakur, a socialist within the Janata Party, fell roughly ten days after the events.

1984–1993

In the early 1980s, the RSS pushed the Vishva Hindu Parishad to the forefront in an effort to create a 'Hindu vote'.[23] The VHP held a series of conferences (Dharma Sansads), calling for the liberation of the Ram Janmabhoomi (Rama's birthplace), which was at that time occupied by the Babri Masjid.[24] From then till 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished, the mobilisation of Hindus along religious lines was the main occupation of the VHP. Ram Navami as well as all other Hindu festivals were utilised for the purpose.[25]

In 1986, the Ram Navami was on 16 April, a procession was taken out by Hindus,[where?] which was protested by the Muslims and therefore there was confrontation between the two communities.[26]

In 1987, Ram Navami Shobha Yatras were organised around the country.[15] The Shobha Yatra in Delhi, which closely followed a rally organised by the Muslims in defence of the Babri Masjid, raised provocative slogans and brandished arms.[16]

The 1991 Bhadrak Communal violence was a communal incident which took place on day of Ram Navami in Bhadrak of Odisha on 20 March 1991. The riot happened during the Ram Navami procession while the procession was passing through the Muslim dominated area of Bhadrak town.[citation needed]

According to police records, 17 persons were murdered, 90 injured, 226 houses burnt and 143 shops were looted in Bhatkal, Karnataka. The riots were sparked off on April Fools' Day, when a stone was reportedly hurled at a Ram Navami procession.[27]

2006 Aligarh riot

On 5 April 2006, violence broke out between Hindus and Muslim during the Ram Navami celebration which led to the death of five people.[28]

2009 Pusad riot

Ram Navami procession in Pusad, Maharashtra was disrupted and stones were pelted which led to a violent riot. Over 70 shops were burnt and property was damaged in the riots.[29]

2014 Kanpur riot

When police and administration denied the permission for Ram Navami procession, violence broke out injuring many.[30]

2016 Hazaribagh violence

Curfew was promulgated in Hazaribagh town of Rajasthan and in surrounding areas after two groups of people clashed, torched shops and pelted stones at policemen injuring several of them on the last day of the Ram Navami festival.[31]

2018 West Bengal riots

Ram Navami procession that were scheduled to take place in Raniganj were disrupted when people from the other community objected the use of loud speakers. Soon the heated debate turned violent, and police personnel were attacked by bricks and stones. Bombing with crude bombs started as soon as mob became violent. Arindam Dutta Chowdhry Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarter), who reached the spot to monitor the situation, got injured in the bomb attack with his right hand almost blown away in the blast.[32]

2019 riots

Asansol

A Ram Navami rally taken out from Barakar Marwari Vidyalay, with most rallyist on the bikes, was pelted with stones when they attempted to pass through the Barakar Bazar. When they retaliated, the face-off turned violent.[33]

Jodhpur

A communal clash broke out on Saturday when a section of Muslims threw stones on a Ram Navami procession. Some vehicles were set on fire and mobs stoned houses and clashed with police injuring two cops in Vyapariyon ka Mohalla in Soorsagar police station.[34]

2022 riots

On the occasion of Rama Navami on 10 April 2022, India witnessed violence across multiple states.[35][36][37]

Gujarat

Violent clashes were reported which led to death of a person during the Ram Navami procession in Gujarat. Several shops were burnt an vehicles were damaged. Police had to fire tear gas shell to bring situation under control amid stone pelting.[38]

Jharkhand

Clashes were reported at least from 2 places in Jharkhand - Bokaro and Lohardaga — on Ram Navami. In Bokaro, a few youths were attacked on their way to a Ram Navami procession. In Lohardaga, the violence was on a larger scale with the rioters having set afire several vehicles. Many people were injured in stone-pelting.[38]

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh's Khargone saw huge violence during the Ram Navami procession. To maintain law and order, police had to fire tear gas shells and curfew was imposed.[38]

West Bengal

Ram Navami procession was attacked and disrupted in west bengal. Opposition party BJP alleged that the police attacked the religious procession.[38]

Goa

Clashes were reported when stones were pelted on Ram Navami procession.[38]

Maharashtra

Maharashtra's Amravati saw violent clashed between Hindus and Muslim which led to stone pelting. To maintain law and order, police imposed curfew under section 144.[38]

Notes

  1. ^ "Shobha Yatra" literally means a "shining" or "glorious" procession. One source calls it a "a long procession with great pomp and show".[10] It was traditionally associated with akharas[11] or ascetic orders.[12]

References

  1. ^ Pinney, Christopher (2004). 'Photos of the Gods': The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India. Reaktion Books. pp. 204–205. ISBN 978-1-86189-184-6. One of the most striking examples ... is Anuradha Kapur's celebrated analysis of the 'muscularization' of the god Ram. Starting in the late 1980s a series of popular images (illus. 161) appeared depicting a saffron-clad Ram (often towering above a new imaginary Rama temple in Ayodhya). Ram was endowed with a muscular armature to rival that of his simian assistant, Hanuman, and Sylvester Stallone... The angry Rama image, for instance, was first produced by the Vishva Hindu Parishad in the late 1980s and, ... several other companies produced similar images.
  2. ^ Jain, Kajri (2007). Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art. Duke University Press. pp. 320–321. ISBN 978-0-8223-3926-7. [Anuradha] Kapur traces a marked iconographic shift in popular imagery from the earlier, textually sanctioned depictions of Ram as soft, smooth-bodied, almost pudgy, smiling, benign, and above all gentle and tranquil (see figs. 93 and 129), to the more recent muscular versions whose rasa or mood is (according to Kapur) predominantly ugra: "angry, exercised ... punishing" (75), emphasizing his bow and arrows in their capacity as weapons rather than as mere iconographic markers (fig. 138).... The departure from these established iconographic conventions, Kapur argues, is made possible by "the making of a virile Hinduism," which accompanies the encroachment of "realism," and particularly the depiction of a "virile" physiognomy, onto the mythic or iconic image.
  3. ^ Mander, Harsh (12 April 2018), Miracles in Asansol: As coal city burnt in hatred, a Muslim cleric and Hindu temple healed with love, Scroll.in, Never in the past was Ram Navami, the spring festival celebrating the birth of Lord Ram, an occasion for mass public festivities or processions in West Bengal. This changed over the past couple of years, when the Bharatiya Janata Party, its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and associated organisations converted the religious event into an occasion for the display of belligerent communal militancy, with an aggressive display of weapons and incendiary anti-Muslim sloganeering.
  4. ^ Islam 2018, p. 251: "After the massive victory in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the Sangh Parivar organised the Ram Navami celebrations in some parts of the state with unprecedented fervour. People were surprised to see armed processions of Hindutva activists carrying swords, machetes, and tridents'."
  5. ^ Bharadwaj, Amit (29 April 2021), "How RSS lay the groundwork for the "tsunami" that BJP is expecting in West Bengal", The Caravan, The Ramnavami procession is a way to display aggression of the Hindu youth," Mandal told me. "It was our shakti pradarshan"—show of strength. "And the groundwork for this was being done for months, since 2016.
  6. ^ Brass, Paul R. (2005), The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India, University of Washington Press, p. 365, ISBN 978-0-295-98506-0
  7. ^ Andersen, Walter K.; Damle, Shridhar D. (1987) [Originally published by Westview Press], The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Delhi: Vistaar Publications, Chapter 1, Hedgewar selected the first mission of the young organization with great care. He wanted to demonstrate the value of discipline to both the volunteers and to the general public, and chose a popular religious occasion—Ramnavami—to do so.... For the occasion, he chose both the name and the uniform of the organization. The swayamsevaks, in their new uniforms, marched to the temple singing verses from Ramdas. According to RSS sources, they enforced queues for the worshippers visiting the temple housing the main idol, provided drinking water, and drove off the corrupt priests.
  8. ^ Basu et al. (1993), p. 18.
  9. ^ Jaffrelot 1996, Chapter 5.
  10. ^ Yogesh Atal (1993). Understanding Indian Society: Festschrift in Honour of Professor S.C. Dube. Har-Anand Publications. p. 147. ISBN 9788124100080.
  11. ^ Surajit Sinha; Baidyanath Saraswati (1978). Ascetics of Kashi: An Anthropological Exploration. N.K. Bose Memorial Foundation. p. 154. OCLC 1045990538.
  12. ^ Manisha Sethi (29 November 2020). Escaping the World: Women Renouncers among Jains. Taylor & Francis. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-00-036578-8.
  13. ^ "All set for grand Ram Navami Shobhayatra", The Hitavada, 15 April 2016, archived from the original on 22 April 2016
  14. ^ Kumar, Megha (16 June 2016). Communalism and Sexual Violence in India: The Politics of Gender, Ethnicity and Conflict. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 216–217. ISBN 978-1-78672-068-9.
  15. ^ a b Zaidi, A. Moin, ed. (1989), Party Politics in India, 1987, Volume 1, Issue 1, Indian Institute of Applied Political Research, p. 341, [BJP] has been working by proxy through the Vishwa Hindu Parishad which organised countrywide 'shobha yatras' for the nine days preceding the Ram Navami on [April 7]. It will not be long before it comes out in the open as every Hindu is emotionally involved with the Ram Janmabhoomi.
  16. ^ a b Udayakumar, S. P. (2005). Presenting the Past: Anxious History and Ancient Future in Hindutva India. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-275-97209-7. The same confused VHP that was carrying Ganga water around the country in late 1983 had gained enough confidence to display arms in their Shobha Yatra on Ramnavami day (April 7) in Delhi and several other places along with provocative slogans.
  17. ^ a b Ahmad 2022, p. 433.
  18. ^ Shakir, Moin (1997) [1984]. "Analytical view of communal violence". In Asgharali Engineer (ed.). Communal Riots in Post-independence India. Universities Press. p. 95. ISBN 9788173701023. (Quoting Jitendra Narain Commission) After giving careful and serious consideration to all the materials that are on record, the Commission is of the view that the RSS with its extensive organisation in Jamshedpur and which had close links with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh had a positive hand in creating a climate which was most propitious for the outbreak of communal disturbances.
  19. ^ Michael T. Kaufman, Religious Strife in an Otherwise Model City Puzzles India, The New York Times, 26 September 1979.
  20. ^ Frankel, Francine R. (2014). "Middle classes and castes". In Atul Kohli (ed.). India's Democracy: An Analysis of Changing State-Society Relations. Princeton University Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-4008-5951-1.
  21. ^ a b Huda 2009, p. 20.
  22. ^ Huda 2009, pp. 20–21.
  23. ^ Jaffrelot 1996, p. 346.
  24. ^ Jaffrelot 1996, p. 363.
  25. ^ Punwani, Jyoti (16 April 2022), "Ram Navami riots: Procession, galvanisation, instigation", Deccan Herald, Ram Navami was at that time not celebrated on the streets of Mumbai; but, said the RSS man, now all Hindu festivals would be used to mobilise the community.
  26. ^ "Report of Working Group of National Integration Council to Study Reports of the Commissions of Inquiry on Communal Riots 2007" (PDF).
  27. ^ "Bhatkal gets new terror tag, wounds more than a decade deep". The Indian Express.
  28. ^ "6 worst communal riots under UPA government". DNA India.
  29. ^ "Communal clash in Maharashtra, 2 killed". NDTV News.
  30. ^ IANS. "Violence in Kanpur over Ram Navami procession route injures many". India.com.
  31. ^ PTI (17 April 2016). "Curfew clamped in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh following Ram Navami violence". Mint.
  32. ^ Manogya Loiwal (27 March 2018). "Ram Navami violence in Raniganj kills one, leaves several injured including cops". India Today.
  33. ^ Mohammad Asif (16 April 2019). "Ram Navami rallies turn violent in Asansol, police rushed to spot". Times of India.
  34. ^ Rohit Parihar (14 April 2019). "Rajasthan: Communal clashes, violence mar Ram Navami procession". India Today.
  35. ^ Choudhury, Rabindra Nath (12 April 2022). "Two dead, 36 injured in Ram Navami violence". Deccan Chronicle.
  36. ^ "Not even tu tu, main main in UP on Ram Navami: CM Yogi after communal clashes in 4 states". India Today. 13 April 2022.
  37. ^ "No tu tu main main in UP, no space for riots here: Yogi Adityanath on Ram Navami violence". The Indian Express. 13 April 2022.
  38. ^ a b c d e f Abhishek Chakraborty; Alok Ranjan (18 April 2022). "10 states, 15 flashpoints, the week that was in India". India Today.

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ram_Navami_riots&oldid=1092314759"