Religious Festivals: New Ground for Spreading Communal Hate
Ram Puniyani
Eid-Ul-Adha (Bakra Eid) is the second most important festival for Muslims. Bakra Eid, widely known as Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice, is the major Islamic holiday. It honours Prophet Ibrahim’s (Abraham) unwavering faith in Allah, commemorating his willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience before Allah provided a ram in the son's place. Muslims who can afford to do so perform a ritual sacrifice of an animal, such as a goat, sheep, cow, or camel. This serves as a physical and symbolic re-enactment of Prophet Ibrahim's sacrifice. It is a profound spiritual festival for Muslims and it highlights the spirit of sacrifice and sharing, as The meat from the sacrificed animal is divided into three strictly regulated portions: one for the immediate family, one for relatives and friends, and one-third dedicated entirely to the poor and needy. This underscores the Islamic pillars of empathy, charity, and community solidarity. It has been celebrated so far on a regular basis in India.
As we witness the increasing use of Hindu festivals as yet another occasion to spread hate against them Muslims, Muslim festivals are also increasingly coming under the radar of vigilante groups and BJP politicians to turn these into yet another occasion to spread hate against Muslims. This year during Bakra Eid, Mumbai's Muslim community faced significant challenges in performing ritual goat sacrifices, despite existing municipal rules and a 2019 Bombay High Court order allowing sacrifices within residential premises (but not inside houses) under certain conditions. This year permissions for three housing societies were controversially withdrawn at the last minute, largely due to the intervention of politically connected individuals like BJP State vice president Kirit Somaiya along with Bajrang Dal, and VHP activists. This led to public spectacle and media focus, fuelling outrage against Muslims.
Jyoti Punvani, a free-lance journalist, in her article in frontline points out, “Every local and many national TV channels focussed on the story, repeatedly playing visuals of Muslims forced to take their goats out of the building societies. The result: the hounding of a community on its second most important religious festival became a public spectacle. Social media was awash with revulsion and outrage against Muslims, based as always on half-truths and hyperbole.” She tells us that in three housing complexes the sacrifice has been done in the housing complexes with Hindu Majority (for years). In one such society the goats were kept inside the complex till Eid and then taken out for sacrifice at the designated place.
This year lots of ruckus was created in one of the complexes in Mumbai’s Mira Road. In Poonam Estate cluster a lot of communal tension was created between the afternoon of 25th and morning of 26. As per earlier years the animals were kept in a temporary shed inside the compound. Many Bajrang Dal and VHP workers created a ruckus that animals cannot be kept inside the complex. No rule was being violated. But police and Municipal authorities sided with those creating tension. To cap it all; they brought pigs inside the compound to scare away the Muslims.
Usually, festivals are an occasion to spread peace and joy. But VHP-Bajrang Dal and company are not sparing even these occasions to spread communal tension. India has a long history of celebrating the spirit of festivals together and associating with each other, cutting across the religious boundaries. These incidents have created lots of tension. This type of tension is running parallel with the rise in communalism in the society. From Last few years we observed that Muslim youth were not permitted to participate in the Garba festival, particularly in Gujarat. Strict watch and checking of Aadhar cards were done before giving entry to Garba Pandals. While threatening warnings are being given against observing Namaz (Juma, Friday one) on the road, the Muslim community has to face the brunt even in Hindu festivals.
At another level we painfully observed that the Kanwar yatra, which stalks the streets without any rules being observed, the food and fruit stall owners have been instructed to display the names of owners. The idea is that participants of these yatras should not buy anything from Muslim hotels or fruit stalls. The ‘purity-pollution’ practices are being imposed with the help of state authorities.
Ram Navami and Krishna Janmashtami processions have changed their character drastically. In my childhood I used to participate in the processions with joy and happiness as prasad was distributed to all passerby people. Many a Muslim groups used to put up stalls to give Sharbat to those who were part of the procession. Now there is an emerging pattern in these festivals. To pass via the route dominated by Muslims and to shout anti Muslim slogans. There are enthusiasts who dance and shout abusive slogans in front of the mosques. And to cap it all they climb on the top of the mosque to remove the Mosques’ green flag and hoist the saffron flag.
Where this hate is taking us is a painful question. India has been the place of syncretic culture. All aspects of our culture have benefited from the ‘other’ streams, respected those streams and enhanced the joy of community life. Festivals are an occasion of interaction, joy and relief from daily mundane life. Communalism is taking away this pleasant aspect of our life.
A recent study by author duo Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade, ‘Weaponisation of Hindu festivals’ (Pharos, Delhi) is a detailed ground level study on the issue and is the eye opener about the dangers of misuse of our festivals. As communal hate is erecting the walls of Hate, the lives of Muslim community has come under more and more intimidation. This is definitely the major problem of our society. This is an assault on the values of our Constitution and in particular of the core values of Fraternity.
There is an urgent need to restore love and harmony between diverse sections of our society and that’s a major point, an effort to keep our democracy alive and in good health.
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