Marching For Communal Harmony and Peace/The Forest

A report and poem by Mamta Sagar 

On the 30th of April 2022, a group of people including lawyers, activists, writers, poets, social scientists, Dalit-, women- and LGBTQIA-groups met in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park[1] to protest against Islamophobia generated and spread across the country – especially in coastal Karnataka – by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation.  

Titled ‘Karnataka Against Hate’, the protest was organised by Bahutva Karnataka (Karnataka in Plurality), a citizens’ group comprising many organisations and activists who had come together to resist the politically motivated right-wing violence against Muslims. During this protest meet, it was decided that a march for peace and harmony should be organised at sites where RSS and BJP use religion to initiate violence, and that we would begin from Udupi, which was the hot bed of all the recent controversies.  

A preliminary meeting was organised on the 4th of May where it was decided that a ‘march for communal harmony and a state convention for peaceful coexistence’ would be held in Udupi on the 14th of May. Protestors would march from Hutatma Chowk in Ajjarkad through the streets of Udupi to the Christian School (popularly known as Mission Compound). An open call went out to the people of Karnataka (and elsewhere) to participate in this peace march, and stand by the residents of Udupi who were tired of being surrounded by rabid expressions and instances of Islamophobia. 

Here, I would like to trace the trajectories of Hindutva hatemongers that led to people from Udupi feeling the need to go on such a march requesting peace and harmony in their day-to-day lives.  

It all began with the CAA[2] and NRC[3] and continued with the abolition of hijab in schools and colleges, restricting Muslim vendors from putting up stalls at the temple fairs, and stopping the sale of halal meat at meat stalls run by Muslims. 

Hijab 

In February 2022, five girls from the Government Pre-University College in Udupi filed a petition at the Karnataka High Court questioning hijab restrictions. The petition stated that the students’ right to wear a hijab is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 14 and 25 of the Constitution, and is an essential practice in Islam.  

On 15 March 2022, the Karnataka High Court upheld the ban on hijab by educational institutes. The court ruled that hijab is not an essential religious practice under Islam and, hence not protected by Article 25 of the constitution, which sets out the fundamental right to practice one’s religion. 

Following this announcement, a big group of male students – mostly teenagers, flaunting saffron headgear – attacked individuals as well as small groups of hijab-wearing girls. The saffron group[4] targeted the hijab-clad girl students while chanting slogans of Jai Shri Ram (Hail Lord Ram). A video showing a student in a burqa being heckled by a large group of these slogan-shouting, saffron scarf-wearing boys in a college in Mandya town went viral on social media. 

In Udupi, more than a hundred male students raised slogans against Muslim girls donning the hijab at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College (MGM), confronting them as they exited their classrooms. The face-off resulted in a clash of slogans, with the saffron-scarved young men shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram,’ and the hijab-wearing girl students countering with ‘We want justice’. Many of the male students identified themselves as being members of the ABVP[5] and the Hindu Jagarana Vedike[6]. It almost looked like a harangue by Hindu men against Muslim women. 

What the hijab controversy underscored is that a woman seeking to exercise her right to education can, and in fact, does experience sharp and violent misogyny being executed in the name of religion. Dress codes, restrictions based on religious contempt, physical and psychological threats from male counterparts, and hatemongers from the mainstream socio-political realm complicates and creates new problems in a scenario where accessing education is still a challenge for women in India.  

Restricting Muslim vendors at temple fairs 

The temple fairs in Karnataka represent the culture and traditions of the specific areas where the festivals are held, and are usually celebrated by people of all castes and religions. I grew up in a small town called Sagara where the Ganapathi temple shares an old wooden door with the adjacent mosque. As children, we boasted that ‘we are from a place where a temple and a mosque share the same door!’ The truth was that the Hindus locked the door from inside the temple while the Muslims locked it from inside the mosque. This did not matter to us. The very fact that the wall had a door suggested that the intention was to open it rather than close it i.e. allow entry rather than forbid it.  

Sagara hosted town fairs like Ganapathi Jaatre and Maari Jaatre, celebrating Ganesha and the goddess Marikamba, respectively. The former was an annual event whereas the latter was a biannual event. During these two fairs, local people who had migrated to other towns and cities for studies, marriage or business would come home to attend the fair. It was a time of reunion for families and friends. Christian and Muslim vendors set up stalls along with Hindu vendors. (Vendors from neighbouring towns and villages also had their own stalls.) These vendors, who were largely poor people, or from the lower middle class, earned a bit during these fairs by selling sweets, savouries, cool drinks, toys, flowers, knick-knacks, and handmade craft materials that attracted the buyers who would hang around the fair meeting friends and family. Similar fairs are celebrated all over Karnataka and they are mostly homecoming events pepped up with local and regional flavours, where displays of local folklore, food, and customs go hand in hand with the celebration of local gods and goddesses, representing diverse castes (brahmin, non-brahmin or Dalit). In coastal Karnataka, popularly known as the Dakshin Kannada region, many such fairs are celebrated every year, and people have always participated beyond the strictures of caste and religion.  

This year, right-wing groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishat (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Sri Rama Sene issued a call to restrict Muslim vendors from putting up stalls during these temple fairs. This led to the surfacing of communal exclusion in work and play, life and business, at the village level in the state. In some places, like Kaup town in Udupi at the Marigudi temple festival and Padubidri temple festival celebrated in the name of goddess Marikamba; the threats were so strong that Muslim vendors did not even dare to think of putting up their stalls. Banners announcing that Muslims cannot pitch their stalls were displayed at the annual fair of the Boppanaadu Durgaparameshwari temple. There were instances where vendors from the Muslim community did put up stalls at Boppanaadu, and were later asked to remove them.  

Halal 

Seen in the context of communal violence, religious belief translates into my god versus yours. Fanaticism pits one religion against another, and one human being against another, and in accumulative effect, exerts tremendous control over people.  

The word ‘halal’ refers to the slaughter and preparation of meat in line with prescribed Islamic practice, where the blood of the slaughtered animal is drained from the body. Before any slaughter, God’s name is invoked, beginning with ‘Bismillah’ (in the name of Allah). The other method of slaughter commonly referred to as ‘jhatka’ is where animals are slaughtered by a single strike or ‘jhatka’ to the head, cutting it off from behind – this is the non-Islamic practice. It is to be noted here that both Muslims and non-Muslims eat meat, and slaughter animals in the name of God. Animal sacrifice is practiced by Hindu castes like the Vokkaliga, Gowdas, Kuruba, Reddy, Naidu, the Coorgis, the Divaru community, many scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC).  

Ugadi is the Kannada New Year, a Hindu festival in Karnataka that is celebrated by all Kannadigas (i.e. the Kannada community). Meat is not cooked on the day of the festival. Sweets and savouries are cooked and shared, and the festival is celebrated with family and friends regardless of caste and religion. The day following Ugadi –Varsha Thodaku – is celebrated by cooking meat. This is a custom followed by all castes and communities other than the Brahmins. Shops selling mutton and chicken earn the most during this time!  

Mohan Gowda, state spokesman for the Hindu Jana Jagruthi Samiti said: ‘As part of Hosathodaku celebrations, non-veg food cooked in households is offered to gods and goddesses, but Muslim traders sell meat only after offering it to their god. So, it is not suitable for our celebrations. We have decided to boycott meat sold by Muslim traders.’[7] 

Right-wing groups, including the Hindu Jana Jagruthi Samiti, the Sri Rama Sene, and the Bajrang Dal, demanded a ban on halal-cut products. Muslim shopkeepers were told (rather threatened) not to sell halal food. Those that refused to sell non-halal meat were assaulted.  

With all of these events occurring one after the other, misogyny got mixed with patriarchy got mixed with fascist means that generated hate, sowing and spreading the seeds of divisiveness all over the state. The fear and hatred was at its most intense in the Dakshin Kannada region where all these issues came home to roost. With the result that Udupi – the location of the Ashta Mutthas, the eight sacred Hindu monasteries established by Madhvacharya, the preceptor of the Dvaita[8] school of Hindu thought – has now become the ground where Hindutva[9] is cherished.  

The confluence 

When a call for peace emerged from Coastal Karnataka, the land where such concerted attempts at saffronisation are ongoing, people from all over responded in order to defend peace against hatred. Hundreds and thousands from every nook and corner of Karnataka arrived in Udupi to be part of the peace march. They came in hired buses, trains, cars, and other forms of road transport, landing in Udupi on the 14th of May, 2022. From Bengaluru, a big group went in four buses. The bus I was in had women activists; members of Raita Sangha, a political party representing farmers; students and people from the media. As the bus entered the Charmadi ghats, the dense forest of the Western Ghats unravelled before our eyes. Rivulets, falls, valleys, the early morning fog-filled roads, tiny tea stalls…The mysteries of nature unfolding in so many shades of green! Dakshin Kannada, has always been represented by the mountain ranges of the western ghats and its verdant greenery. I wondered how and when this natural splendour was replaced by saffronisation, violence and hatred.  

As we were nearing Udupi, the organisers started calling me to give directions so that our bus could easily find its way to the Congress Party[10] guest house in Udupi, where our hospitality had been arranged. Our bus driver was already not in a good mood as he had to bear with so many women passengers who were bold, loud, and had undauntedly discussed home and politics all through the journey. The driver insisted that a male person should give him the directions – only then would he go into town! We wasted precious time trying to make him realise that it was us WOMEN that he had to listen to, and that unfortunately he had no option but to follow what WE told him. Everyone was exhausted, and we were at a standstill. Finally, I took matters into my own hands and told him, ‘Okay so you don’t care about taking directions from women. Fine. But do you care to reach a place where you can at least wash your bum?’ Everyone on the bus, including him, needed toilets and a bathroom to freshen up before we could do anything else!! Where all our stories on misogyny and maltreatment of women had failed, this simple appeal worked! His hard gaze softened, slowly the frown on his face disappeared, he revved up the engine, and we approached Udupi town in a spirit of camaraderie. 

The gathering  

Udupi town was filled with people who wanted peace and harmony. Farmers, labourers, other working communities, Dalit organisations, religious leaders who stood for harmony, representatives of many organisations engaged in social work, people from neighbouring towns and villages had all poured in.  

KuVemPu, one of our renowned Kannada poets, called this land ‘sarva janaangada shantiya thota’, a garden of peaceful coexistence. This became the slogan of the day. The three kilometere march for communal harmony started from Udupi’s Ajjara Kaadu (Martyrs’ Memorial) and culminated at the Mission Compound. As the people marched, it looked like a river flowing through the streets of Udupi. The rich and diverse plurality of this land was showcased with flags, fluttering colourful flags. Tableaus of Mahatma Gandhi – the leader who believed in nonviolence; Ambedkar – the architect of India’s constitution; Basavanna – who argued for a casteless society; Narayanaguru – the spiritual leader who spearheaded a reformist movement against a caste-ridden society; Haji Abdulla – who provided the necessary supplies from his repository when the eight sacred Hindu monasteries of Udupi were in financial distress – these were the presences at the forefront of the march. The coastal cultural art-forms of ‘daff’ (a folk dance from Punjab), ‘Hulivesha’ (tiger dance), ‘chande’ (the drums used in Yakshagana, Karnataka’s most popular form of folk theatrical performance), the music of the Nasik band of Udupi, and many more performances took place as we marched. I kept taking photos and videos. No slogans against the hatemongers or the state were heard. Instead, slogans calling for inclusive, harmonious and peaceful living, love and affection, a helping hand and a tolerant heart – these were heard throughout. Diversity, plurality, and inclusivity decked with the vibrant colourful notes of harmony, culminating in a convention for peaceful coexistence.  

The convention 

Delivering the introductory speech, Mr Yasin Malpe, member of the coordinating committee for the convention for peaceful coexistence said: ‘Udupi has been in the news lately for untoward incidents. It was discussed for the wrong reasons of hatred and [a] poisonous atmosphere. This convention for communal harmony is like a beautiful new morning for the world that is looking at us. For a nation’s prosperity and peace, harmonious coexistence is a must. No one can attack us. We are becoming the reason for our nation’s destruction. It is not the people from outside who are destroying our wealth. They are people from inside the country. Religious bigotry is the reason behind it. We have to firmly confront the people who are dividing us by caste and religion. The history of this nation is that of togetherness and not that of hatred. We have built this nation together.’ 

By proclaiming the idea of ‘the human race as one’ and unveiling a banner, the stage program was inaugurated in a unique way. Speakers included many religious leaders and representatives of groups and organisations working for communal harmony. Leader Balakrishna Shetty hosted the event. Gurubasava Pattadadevaru from Hiremath organisation[11] spoke: ‘We have read and listened to Basavanna’s teachings – and I feel as if Basavanna’s Anubhava Mantapa[12] is in Udupi now. Every caste, every creed has gathered here. Religion should always try to unite.’  

Udupi’s Zainul Ulema M Abdul Hameed Musliar said: ‘This gathering has given me happiness. I am proud to be Indian. I have travelled in many nations. But I have not seen a nation like India. This is the gift given by the creator.’ Puttur’s Malankara Catholic Church’s Bishop, A. M. G. Varghees Mar Makariose spoke of the need to spread the message of peace and togetherness given to us by Jesus. Christians have been serving everywhere in this context, and the message of this convention should spread across the nation, he said. 

The words of the political analyst, Yogendra Yadav, held up a mirror to the current situation. Referring to the right-wing state, he said, ‘They talk about sedition. They give certificates about (sic) patriotism. I will give only one certificate. Whoever builds this nation is a patriot. Those who bring enmity between Hindu, Muslim, Sikh are true anti-nationals. They are bulldozing the idea of India and its constitution. Those who are trying to save it are patriots. Secularism was born in India, not outside.’  

Basava Prakasha Swamiji of Belagavi’s Basava Dharma Peetha announced that he has received death threats: ‘They have written a letter warning that they would kill me. They wrote, “You are talking about the Constitution wherever you go, and you will be killed by a bullet.” We do not want Hindutva; we need a peaceful garden with everyone living in harmony. Babasaheb Ambedkar has provided the opportunity for everyone to celebrate their religion. We should not shed blood in the name of Hinduism. We should unite to live respectfully with the maxim of equality and cooperation. Ours is a country that professed “God is one with different names”. We don’t need Hindutva, but we need bandhutva (friendship).’  

Not Hindutva, but bandhutva 

With those words resonating in our ears, it seemed as if a fragrance of hope and positivity lingered in the air of Udupi as the citizens tried to take back their endangered right to live in peace, to enjoy the freedom to eat, pray, love and live a life more inclusive and harmonious.  

While on my way back home in the same bus with the same driver, I dozed off and had a nostalgic dream where I was a little girl again, playing hide and seek in the Ganapathi temple premises in Sagara. I counted numbers, 1-2-3-4, leaning against the old wooden door shared by the temple and the mosque. This old door had cracks and holes in it. The numbers I counted seeped through the cracks of this door and knelt on the floor of the mosque while the breeze from the mosque carried the azaan[13] into the temple.  

With thanks to Madhu Bhushan for her inputs on The Convention