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rsdalal
February 20th, 2003, 12:03 AM
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=18602



Boycott of Muslims here is enforced with a hefty fine


Land: Rajasthan village first demolished ‘madarsa’


Anuradha Nagaraj



Jakhan (jodhpur), February 16: In Jakhan village, a new fine has been imposed on residents. Any Hindu who talks or helps a Muslim neighbour will now have to cough up Rs 1,100. But the panchayat hasn’t earned any revenue because for the past two months, the Hindus and Muslims of this village are not even talking to each other.

In this dusty village — about 100 km from Jodhpur — the Hindu sarpanch and his Muslim deputy haven’t sat down and talked without a mediator for almost two months.



Behind this acrimony is a feud over the construction of a madarsa by the Muslims on a small piece of land. Things came to a head last November when the 3000-odd Hindus in the village marched up to the site and pulled down the building blocks.

Since then a boycott of the Muslims has been in force. The 250-odd Muslim residents say they have been denied access to the village grocery store, tubewells and schools. ‘‘We have no access to the water points in the village, our children are not allowed to attend school anymore and we can’t buy any of our necessities from the village kirana shop,’’ complains deputy sarpanch Lal Deen.

Says Aziz Khan, in-charge of the Shiksha Mitra Kendra: ‘‘We wanted to build a madarsa because that is where we want our children to learn. There is religious sentiment attached to it. Of course, that does not mean we will not teach them other things. Our demand was not unreasonable.’’ Deen claimed the sarpanch had given his approval eight years ago. A couple of kilometers away, in the Hindu neighbourhood, they disagree. ‘‘They were constructing the school on common village land which surrounds Jagadambe Ma’s temple. There was no way they could be allowed to do that,’’ said Kalyan Singh, wrinkling up his nose. ‘‘We didn’t start this whole thing, the Muslims did,’’ adds Mahipal Singh. ‘‘All we were saying was that they should not construct anything on the land surrounding the temple. They were given the option of another land but they were just very adamant.’’

The Hindus insist there is no boycott. ‘‘Shopkeepers don’t entertain them anymore because they haven’t cleared their dues. And, of course, their children can come to the government school. In fact, I don’t understand why they want to build a different school in the first place,’’ Singh says.

Muslims point to the little grocery store they have set up in their cluster. ‘‘See, we had to make our own arrangements. We are even getting our water from the neighbouring village,’’ says Babu Khan, warning that if their demands were not met, the situation would only worsen. The district administraton is playing mediator. A police post has been set up in the village and a series of meetings held with both communities. A confident additional collector Ashfaq Hussain says: ‘‘There is no problem. It will soon be sorted out. We will make sure peace is maintained.’’