Celebrations of Shimga, the Konkani version of Holi, were marred this year by visuals of a restless mob outside the main mosque in Rajapur, Ratnagiri, on the evening of March 12. Nitesh Rane, Minister and MLA from Konkan, said slogans from the mosque had provoked the crowd.
The Konkan coast has a large population of Kokni Muslims who speak local dialects of Marathi and are integrated into the local society and economy. However, recent incidents of communal unrest have jarred the peace. In February, a scrap shop owned by Muslims was demolished after a boy from the family was accused of abusing the country during an international cricket tournament. Visuals from Thursday evening show a crowd trying to break the gate of the mosque using a Shimga (a holy wooden structure) and there are allegations that the police did not intervene or were overwhelmed by the huge crowd.
Social activists said Konkan has been largely free from communal unrest, with exceptional incidents like the landing of explosives for the 1993 Mumbai blasts at a coastal village in the area. “These divisions are recent. Kokni Muslims are culturally integrated. So much so that other Muslims often called them ‘kacha Muslims’ (not Muslim enough). They are mocked for their fish diet,” said Irfan Engineer, director of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism.
Educationist Salim Alware, whose family roots are in Guhagar, Ratnagiri, said, “Konkanis are, by and large, peaceful. I have not seen any communal tension in the Konkan except for small local incidents. The arrest of a 14-year-old boy and his parents at Malvan for no reason and the demolition of his father’s and uncle’s shop is another example of increasing polarisation in Konkan,” said Alware, who blamed hate speeches by politicians and right-wing groups for the situation.
“What happened on Thursday is a result of these speeches. I do not know why this is happening. If the motive of the speeches was to incite people, they have successfully done it,” said Alware.
Engineer said the communal situation changed after Eknath Shinde became the state Chief Minister. “Maharashtra till then used to import speakers from outside like T Raja Singh from Hyderabad and Kajal Hindustani from Gujarat to spew hate on Muslims. Now, leaders like Nitesh Rane are doing the work. The morchas and gatherings by Sakal Hindu Samaj have also increased the communal polarisation,” said Engineer.
Rane said that the Rajapur incident was a reaction to provocation by Muslims. “I spoke to the Hindu community in Rajapur. “They were taking out the jatra (procession), an old tradition done every five years. The jatra has always used the same route and was not a problem in the past,” Rane told GPlus. “That night when the procession was passing by the mosque, a group of 10 to 15 Muslim youth shouted slogans like ‘Allah ho Akbar’. That provoked the procession.”
Hussain Dalwai, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly and Member of Parliament from Konkan, said the area has no history of Hindu-Muslim conflict. “There is an attempt to destroy the harmony. When the Mahalaxmi temple in my village, Mirjoli (in Ratnagiri) was renovated recently, Muslims contributed to the work. The first kaman (welcome gate) for the celebration was erected by Muslims. At Rajapur, the jatra passed near the gates of the mosque. This time, the procession tried to enter the mosque. Maintaining good Hindu-Muslim relations is the responsibility of both the groups,” said Dalwai.
