There have been reports of communal strife in Nepal’s Rautahat district where Muslims named a village Islam Nagar and erected a board with it. Hindus protested when they learned about the development and removed the sign on 23rd June after which Muslims assaulted some youths of the Hindu community. The police arrived at the location upon receiving the information.
The matter pertains to Rautahat district’s Garuda Municipality Ward No. 6. A week ago Muslims put up a board with Islam Nagar at a crossroads in the Pothiyahi village. It was painted in green colour and featured Arabic and Urdu words along with pictures of Islamic places of worship on both sides of the board. An elderly Muslim man took a selfie with it which went viral on social media. The local Mulsim community also started referring to the region as Islam Nagar. The authorities reached the spot, however, took no action against the accused and Hindus charged the administration with Muslim appeasement.
Muslim community dominates despite making up only 4% of the population
OpIndia spoke to Rajesh Yadav, the national president of Nepal’s “Hindu Samrat Sena” organization who revealed that there are only ten Muslim houses in Pothiyahi village which is just 4% of the total population there. However, they conspired to change the name of the hamlet. On 23rd June members of “Hindu Samrat Sena” along with local residents uprooted the board. He mentioned that Muslims didn’t react at the time but were secretly planning to unleash violence later. On the night of 25th June, three young Hindu men were passing through the intersection when around a dozen Muslims surrounded them. The former were accused of taking down the board. Afterwards, they were first abused and then thrashed brutally.
The victims were seriously wounded in the attack and have been hospitalised for treatment. The Muslim mob was led by Chand Diwan, Rafiq, Sirajul and Manzoor among others. The incident infuriated the Hindus in the vicinity as soon as they found out about it. They came together and opposed the occurrence. Meanwhile, officials also showed up at the scene after they learned about the unrest.
Police shielded the assailants
According to the Hindu community, the police did nothing to stop the Muslim attacker and instead provided protection to the Muslim families. Hindus added that framing the instance as a mutual argument is a ploy by the country’s government to hide the truth. The police claimed that there was no communal angle in the matter. Hindu groups, nevertheless, have dismissed it as an effort to conceal the issue. The cops have reportedly been working under pressure from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist). Local Hindus have blamed Prime Minister Prachanda’s (Pushpa Kamal Dahal) government and the Left party for pandering to Muslims. The area has been gripped with tension since the incident.
Brahma Sthan has been named Madrasa Chowk
According to Rajesh Yadav on 27th June, he and his outfit together with a few other organizations would present a memorandum to the government. He declared that action against the Muslims who attacked Hindus on 25th June would be demanded in the memorandum which would also oppose the attempt to rename the village as Islam Nagar.
Furthermore, he unveiled that Muslims in the Rautahat district’s Jayanagar region of Garuda Nagar Palika had devised a similar scheme three months prior when Kadam Chowk (Brahma Sthan) was dubbed as Madrasa Chowk by some Muslims. A board was installed and stands there to this day. The chairman of the ward is a Muslim named Sheikh Wahab.
