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Sindoor, Shawkat and Sheikh Shelim!
The recent communal massacre in Godhra, a municipality in Panchmahal district in the Indian state of Gujarat, has had a direct link with the region since the Partition of India in 1947.

On January 5, 2022, I received a video that inspired me to write this article. My previous article titled “Do not buy from Muslims’: BJP leader in India calls for boycott.” In the recent history of India, the most horrific communal genocide took place in Godhra in Gujarat on February 26, 2002, only because a coterie of overactive activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) blamed Muslims that they were playing their hand instruments. The feud was kindled on the train and without any factual reason the Police and local administrative authority took no actions against the perpetrators. One cannot forget the fact that Godhra was a communal trouble spot, particularly during the Partition of India in 1947.
The VHP had been hell-bent on building a Hindu temple on the site of Babri Mosque. Experts believe that by this time the communal massacre, which has had a keen link with Godhra, has already been stored in their mindset infested with communalism and deep hatred with the rest of the religious minorities living in India.
India has had a track record of such events e.g. the massacre in Nellie and Assam in 1980s, and the ensuing killing of Sikh children in 1984 when former prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. In all cases, the surviving children were set on fire by pouring kerosene oil on them, or their throats were cut off, or they were simply beaten to death with a heavy wooden mallet. India has been the centre of communal violence instigated against Muslim communities since the Partition, while the Police and the concerned security agencies have been reluctant to protect Muslims.
Today, more than 140 million Muslims live in India, but only 7 percent of them have government jobs, 5 percent of Muslims are railway workers, 4 per cent are employed in the banking sector and only 2.2 percent of Muslims, totaling 29,000 Muslims out of 1.3 million military personnel, are serving the Indian armed forces.
Regrettably, Muslims have to change their names for their survival. "When I came to Kolkata 15 years ago, almost every restaurant, every street shop refused to give me a job, because of my Muslim identity," told Sheikh Shelim to the Washington Times (Tuesday, August 21, 2006). "But soon I met a Muslim worker who cooks in a Hindu shop with Hindu identity. With his advice, an aristocratic Hindu owner hired me to work at his food stall. "He has a very common Hindu name, Shankar Maiti, in Kolkata and his shop was running well as "Shankar's Fast Food".
All the customers are Hindus there. If somehow the message leaked, one can only guess what will happen! He added: "I know many Hindus hate Muslims just because of their religion." In a similar vein, Shawkat Ali renamed himself as Shawkat Das while coming to Kolkata to pursue a Masters' degree. He even had to mount a statue of the famous Hindu goddess Kali on his wall. Ali, 24, lamented, "It's a pity I can't reveal my identity." Muslims are also seen as victims of deprivation in education and high levels of uncertain employment. They are even more in danger than other minorities such as Christians, Sikhs, etc.
Similarly, Jahanara Begum showed her silver bracelet with "Allah" written on it and went to work while putting sindoor (vermilion) on her forehead. She works there in a fish farm named Parvati, named after a Hindu goddess. A lot of Hindus usually do injustice to Muslims.
"They are ruthlessly deprived of many of their rights and freedoms," Anjan Basu, a skilled social worker and assistant editor of the Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin, told the Times.
Basu said, “Many Hindus think that Pakistan is made for Muslims and they have no right to stay in India. Even after six decades of independence, Muslims are utterly deprived."
“Keep one thing in mind and tell everyone openly: There is no need to buy vegetables from ‘Miyans’ [Muslims].” The message was filmed by a legislator named Suresh Tiwari from Deoria town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. His mobile phone video went viral in January.
In 2016 when Hafiz Ahmed, president of Char Sapori Sahitya Parishad (CSSP), a literary organisation representing Muslims of erstwhile East Bengal origin living in sand islands of Brahmaputra in Assam in India, wrote a poem about the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and posted it on his Facebook page. Ahmed wrote:
I am a Miya
My serial number in the NRC is 200543
I have two children
Another is coming
Next summer.
Will you hate him
As you hate me?
Here we see Ahmed’s protest against the NRC focusing on the word ‘Miya’ used for Muslims across South Asia as ‘gentleman,’ but in Assamese parlance, it is used as ethnic slur for those who migrated from Bangladesh. The genre called the “Miya Poetry”, has had its repercussions in Assam and outside India, including the USA. Mayans’ are held criminal because they are Muslim. The Indian Hindu leader’s attitude also proves that Muslims have no right to survive. (This article was written on January, 05, 2022). ![]()
The writer is a blogger and freelance contributor. She can be reached at naznoma@yahoo.com. She also runs her website www.nazmamustafa.com


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