Dhule: Not a 'riot' but another massacre of Muslims by the state!

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• published: 18 Feb 2013
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The name of Dhule flashed in media reports on the 7th and 8th of January, that spoke of an outbreak of communal violence in the area after an altercation between the Hindus and Muslims over the payment of a hotel bill. Following the quarrel, the police "had to resort to firing to restore order" since the situation was getting 'out of hand'. However, as more reports trickled out the picture that emerged was very different. To further investigate into the incident and what transpired before and after the police firing, a 6 member DSU fact-finding team comprising students from JNU and DU visited Dhule on 19th& 20th January 2013. After speaking to the locals, it became clear that the incident cannot be called a "communal riot". Our interviews with the locals clearly exemplified how this was another massacre of the Muslims by the Indian state, closely following similar other massacres in the recent past from Rajasthan to UP.The incident demonstrates the complete communalisation of the state machinery which has simultaneously propped up a parasitical class that sustains itself through the systemic oppression of the Muslim community. In Dhule, the locals told us how a mafia class has emerged over the past few years mostly holding monopolies over essentials such as kerosene or running alcohol or drug shops.They have close connections with the police and the administration and have played a frontal role in attacks on Muslims.There is a sense amongst these influential sections that control most of the resources and also constitutes the so called civil society, that the police action was "admirable".Apart from reconstructing the sequence of events that took place on the 6th of January, we also tried to contextualise it within the process that has led to the overall marginalization of the Muslims. Visit DSU blog for more detail: http://dsujnu.blogspot.in/2013/01/fact-finding-to-dhule-preliminary.html