Communal Harmony will no longer be a hostage

After my college, I had joined a travel agency. It is located on Kamraj Road (Near Commercial Street). This area is a melting pot of Indian culture. You can find people of all faiths, languages, region residing or carrying on business in this area. There used to be occasional communal riots but in the sensitive areas most of the families were so intricately woven that life used to come back to normal in a few days.

It was under this situation that the Babri Masjid controversy started simmering in Bangalore during the early 90s. Areas like Shivajinagar did not have much unrest for the reasons mentioned above.

06th December 1992 was fixed as the day for Kar Seva in Babri Masjid. Everybody knew from the papers what was going to happen on that day. Thankfully! there were no news channels those days to give breaking news (literally) and very few people knew what happened in Ayodha on that day.

My father had expired just one month back and I was just about getting out of my depression. I had gone to Venky’s house on that day and together both of us decided to roam around Commercials and Shivajinagar. By then we learnt later, the Masjid had come down. The tension was palpable; soon the shops started downing shutters one by one. We also left for our respective homes.

The next day morning I went to office as usual. The entire city was looking tense but nothing was abnormal. At around 1030 am, a group of guys wielding lathi and brandishing swords went about closing shops. My office was in the first floor and we could get an aerial view of the incidents happening. The policemen were shouting at any eye they saw peeping out. The office doors were shut from inside. There was madness to the method by this mob. They broke cars of certain people and attacked a fruit juice centre belonging to member of a particular religious community. The shop was trashed down. The mixies were on the street so was the refrigerator. A few more shops belonging to members of the same community were targeted and ransacked.

After this mob went, another mob came armed similarly and broke apart shops belonging to members of another religious community. The disgusting thing to note was some of the goondas were common on in both the mobs. There was no letting up of tension. Those days there was no phone connection at home. The only option was to call up my brother in his office and inform that the situation was very tense here but that I am safe and will reach home once everything settles down.

At around 330pm, the tension settled down a bit. Our boss who had good links with the cops contacted the local police. He said situation was normal and the staff could leave if they wanted. I was given the responsibility of dropping a girl who came from Ulsoor. Though it meant a huge deviation of route for me, it was the safest route for me because on that route most of the houses were Hindus and I would never be targeted. How bad! We were getting divided on basis of Hindu and Muslim routes but then the situation on that day was so bad. Having dropped her safely, I reached my home around 6pm.

There was no scope for stepping out for the next couple of days because of tension/rumors of tension. Whenever I called up my boss was compelling me to come to work and I did go to office on the third day (08/12/1992) only to be turned away by the cops near the entrance of Kamraj Road.

My boss did not take very lightly me not coming to work for four days and refused me leave the same month to take up my ICWAI exams. I had no option but to resign the job. Even today when I pass by that road, I remember 07/12/1992, when like me many employees in that area were almost held hostage in their office by mindless violence and disgusting politics

It was the beginning of all the hatred in India. What was sporadic until then became a clear line of demarcation between two major communities of the country. Meanwhile Ayodha is a forgotten place and those innocent guys who lost their lives on either side only left their families bereaved for no cause. They did not die as martyrs but as idiots. The people who instigated both the communities reaped sufficient political benefits and as it the case in this country were never held accountable for instigating communal violence.

When will people see through these tricks? When will people learn to live and let live? This question has been in my mind for all these sixteen years. It seems the turnaround has come. After many years, the Mumbai Terror Attacks has brought together both the communities. People have come to realise that terrorists kill without enquiring your religion. People of all religions, faith, and nationality fell to the terrorists designs and yes, a few of the outsiders fell to their bullets defending Mumbai. Will this be the end of divisive politics in India? Will those who pursue communal politics (on either side) be confined to the dustbin of history? I am confident that their fate will be so. I am confident this country can no longer be held hostage by the divisive forces.

Balu