2022 Khargone violence

Did You Know?

• Iqbal Bani, who allegedly incited the violence, was arrested in Kasrawad, located in Khargone district.
• As of 8 May, 182 people had been arrested in 72 cases registered in connection with the clashes.

Background

Ram Navami is a Hindu festival marking the birth of the god Rama, observed on the ninth day of the Hindu month of Chaitra, typically in March or April. In 2022, this festival coincided with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a rare overlap that happens about once every 33 years. On that day, Hindu nationalist groups affiliated with the Sangh Parivar organized large public processions known as Shobha Yatras across India, which led to multiple clashes between Hindus and Muslims. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been accused of fostering the religious division that sparked these conflicts. Khargone has a long history with Hindu nationalist politics: a local branch of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was established there in 1939. After India's independence in 1947, politician Ram Chandra Bade left the Indian National Congress to join the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP's predecessor, and won the Khargone legislative assembly seat in 1952, later securing a Lok Sabha seat in 1962. Although the BJP has won several elections in the area, it lost nine out of ten regional seats in the 2018 state assembly elections. Opposition parties claimed the BJP deliberately provoked communal violence to regain political ground. In the years before 2022, more than half a dozen incidents saw mosques and Muslims attacked during festivals. In March 2022, free screenings of the film The Kashmir Files were held in Khargone. Critics described the movie's graphic violence as decontextualized, one-sided, and Islamophobic.

Incidents

Every year, a community in Khargone called the Raghuvanshis, who trace their lineage to the god Rama, hold a Ram Navami procession. On 10 April 2022, that procession started around 11:00 am at Talab Chowk, where the town's jama masjid is located, and finished at the Ram temple by noon without any trouble. Shyam Mahajan, the BJP state vice-president, was upset that the police had put up barricades near the Muslim areas around Talab Chowk. He reportedly had a heated exchange with the police superintendent and threatened to have him removed. After this argument, a rumour went around that the police had stopped the procession at Talab Chowk. Mahajan is said to have urged the crowd to join a second procession later that afternoon, organised by the Gauraksha Samiti. This group, formed in 2019 after the BJP lost seats in the Legislative Assembly elections, included members from the BJP and other right-wing organisations. The organisers of the second procession used the film The Kashmir Files to stir up the local Hindu community. They recreated a scene from the film where a Hindu woman is cut up by a mechanical saw, using makeshift devices on a tractor trolley. The trolley also carried a picture of Anupam Kher's character and the slogan, "Wake up Hindus, lest other states in India become Kashmir." The film's soundtrack, including the woman's sobs, was mixed with cries of "Jai Shri Ram" and "Har Har Mahadev." The procession was allowed to start at Talab Chowk between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm, but it had not left by 5:00 pm, when Muslims were gathering for Ramadan prayers at the nearby Jama Masjid. Around 1,000 people took part, carrying swords, sticks, and saffron flags. Stone pelting began between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm. The Hindu processionists said Muslims attacked them first, while Muslims claimed the processionists threw stones at the police. Others acknowledged that both sides were throwing stones.

Demolitions

On April 11, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra stated that stone-throwers' homes would be reduced to rubble. Later that day, under curfew in Khargone, bulldozers demolished structures, including a disabled man's tin kiosk and a single-room house built with government housing subsidies on public land. A state home department document confirmed that 49 Muslim-owned houses were destroyed.

Protests

On May 10, 2022, Muslim women in Khargone protested, alleging that police were inhumanely treating their friends and family members under the 'rule of law'. They claimed police raided homes arbitrarily, crashing doors and beating male members. Restrictions were re-imposed a day after the rally; Section 144 was imposed, and a joint notification by the district administration and police banned rallies, processions, Jagarans, shobha yatras and political rallies until July 10.