Saharanpur riots were not unexpected as locals say tensions were simmering from past few weeks

SAHARANPUR: Last week’s riots in Saharanpur were not totally unexpected, say residents of the city who have witnessed numerous skirmishes between Sikhs and Muslims before fighting erupted last Friday.

Trouble had been brewing with holy months of Sawan and Ramadan coinciding in July. Several kanwars passed through the city by foot on pilgrimage to Haridwar and there were several loudspeakers installed for chanting of Shiv mantra in the area, related to the pilgrimage. Muslims had problems with the loudspeakers, as it coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, said Dinesh Sethi, the head of BJP’s Saharanpur unit.

Following the intervention of the district administration, Hindu leaders agreed to keep loudspeakers inside temples. On July 14, however, a riot-like situation built-up near Bhateshwar temple that has a mosque in its viciinity, when some Muslims requested the administration to ask temple authorities to remove loudspeakers facing the mosque.

“While we agreed to that too, their other demands such as not holding Shiv Shibirs in certain Muslim areas of the city did not go down well with Hindus,” Sethi added. “Apart from this, we have also received complaints that baraats were also stopped in Muslim areas. This is not right,” Sethi said.

According to BS Dheer, president of the gurudwara committee, the land where the gurudwara stands belonged to a Muslim family which sold a ‘koti’ consisting of two houses to a Hindu family during Partition. The house originally had a private worship area, but it no longer exists. The gurudwara sabha bought it from the Hindu family in 2001 and an adjacent plot in 2010.

Following complaints from some people that a masjid was there in the area, the state government asked the gurudwara committee not to start construction until elections were over, citing law and order issues. But in the last few days, dozens of fake videos and messages were circulated that showed existence of a grave-like structure in the gurudwara campus. “Let them produce papers saying there was ever a masjid in the last 15 years and we will donate this land to them,” said Harinder Chaddha, former president of the sabha.