In less than a month after the bombing of Afghanistan by the US began, Muslims in Malegaon , one of the three main powerloom towns in Maharashtra state, were victims of sweeping attacks , both by the police and Hindu communal organisations. The anti-Muslim atmosphere whipped up once again by the BJP led NDA Govt at the centre after the Sept 11 events is clearly manifest in the riots that broke out in Malegaon on Dassera , Oct 26. The prejudiced outlook of the police and the SRP – the strong view that all of them are anti-national and supporters of terrorism—the use of communal sentiments by electioneering politicians for selfish personal gain, the atmosphere created due to the war launched against Muslims by the US in the name of fighting global terrorism, all combined to create a tinderbox that would lead to a conflagration at the first spark. And it did , to devastate the community and beat it down into submission and poverty.

On October 19, Nihal Ahmed, a former MLA and leader of the Janata Dal (secular) led a satyagraha against the bombing of Afghanistan. The procession got a good response in the town. Malegaon a bustling powerloom centre has a population of 6.5 lakhs , 70 % of which are Muslim. Most of the muslims are weavers, who have migrated from UP, descendants of those who fled from North India in the wake of the 1857 war of independence, and from the Deccan. A small section of them espicially the Ansari Muslims from UP, have prospered through small businesses espicially the powerloom industry. But most of the muslims are weavers employed in the powerloom industry. For most of the muslims life is extremely insecure because of the wild fluctuations in the powerloom industry. In the villages surounding Malegaon and other parts of Nasik district Muslims are in a minority. Communal politics has had its effect in Malegaon and surrounding areas though there have been no riots in this area in the recent past. The ShivSena has spawned a local organisation called Zaanta Raja Sangathana which has been active in the surrounding villages. The procession got a good response with over 20,000 attending and it received widespread publicity. But most of the media publicity was blatantly communal, focussing on the fact that some of the processionists had carried portraits of Osama bin laden. The stereotype of the terrorism supporting Muslim was thus reinforced in the eyes of the common person espicially Hindu.

Several days later, on October 26, after Friday prayers some youth started distributing handbills in the vicinity of the Jama Masjid. The pamphlet titled "Be Indian, Buy Indian", was in Urdu.It exhorted people to boycott goods of American companies and gave a list of the companies to be boycotted. The extent of the prejudice among the police can be guaged from the reaction of the SRP to this totally secular call. An SRP from the van deployed nearby seized the handbills,and without even verifying the content, tore them up, assaulted the young man distributing them and arrested him, dragging him to the van. The people around, angered by this assault by the SRP started gathering around the van. The Imam of the Jama Masjid and others tried to intervene but the crowd managed to release the youth. In this process a pandal put up for the Navaratri festival was damaged. Immediately the police started a lathicharge and started pushing the crowd towards the main market road. At the same time as if on cue, leaders of the Zaanta Raja Dada Bhuse and a crowd arrived to protest against the damage to the pandal. This Shiv Sena crowd started moving towards the Sangameshwar masjid attacking and destroying the muslim shops in the area. The SRP and the police continued their lathicharge against the muslim crowd and then opened fire on them on the market road. The reason given for the firing was that they were pelting stones. The Zaanta Raja crowd continued their destruction unhindered. Hearing the news that four people had died in police firing Muslims of other localities gathered to protest and they were fired upon in the Azad nagar the same evening and near Mira Datar dargah two days later on Oct 28th.. While a total of 12 people died in the police firings, including a woman drying clothes on the first floor, two men, one Muslim and one Hindu, were murdered in the riots. All those who were felled by police bullets were Muslim. What clearer proof can there be of police bias against Muslims in the State. Concrete evidence that nothing has changed since the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai, inspite of all the anti-communal trumpeting of Chaggan Bhujbal and the Congress in power in the state. .

Looting and arson continued in Malegaon for three days inspite of the deployment of special armed police and then the army.While in an overwhelming number of cases muslim houses and businesses were destroyed some property of hindus were also destroyed . The Navkiran Powerloom Cooperative headed by Nimba Kadam situated in Dyanegaon on the outskirts of Malegaon was also destroyed by mobs. In the surrounding villages the looting and destruction continued for days after, spreading day by day further and further from Malegaon. In the villages in all the cases the property of Muslims faced damage and destruction. Powerlooms and sheds were destroyed, houses, furniture burnt or damaged and looted. Vehicles were burnt. In this round of riots the tactics changed. There were not many incidents of Muslims being physically assaulted. The target was their property. It was clearly an effort by Hindu communal organisations to strike at those sections which had economically prospered and to reduce the community as a whole to penury. In the villages they were being driven out as well. The riots spread to over 100 villages in the district and in villages more than a 100 kms away Muslims were being terrorised to leave the villages. Everywhere the pattern was the same. A crowd of 400 to 500 people would come shouting slogans select Muslim houses /businesses and loot and destroy them.

Hindu communal organisations and local ruling class politicians are responsible for whipping up this communal frenzy. The Zaanta Raja, Bajrang dal have been active in this area and the Zaanta Raja has spread with the active support of the Shiv Sena leader of Thane district, Anand Dighe who died recently. They have been succesful in creating a communal atmosphere among the people in this area which had been peaceful all these years. During the riots they spread false rumours about Hindus being attacked to garner active support for their attacks. The former Chief Minister, Shiv Sena’s Narayan Rane kept making false allegations in the press and in meetings that Hindu women had been molested thus sparking more frenzy. Nihal Ahmed after serving as MLA for six terms was dislodged by Congress man Rasheed. In all the years that he ruled, ( he was a minister for some time) he did nothing consistently for the downtrodden and backward weaver muslims. After some efforts at unionising the poor severely exploited powerloom workers years ago he played the communal card to preserve his votebase all these years. Now having lost power and popularity he was busy maneouvering to regain both..The Municipal Council elections were just round the corner. Local people have expressed the view that he had made a secret deal with the Zaanta raja and encouraged their spread so that they could together undermine the Congress support . The local Congress leaders held him responsible for the riots. In all allegations and counter allegations of these ruling class politicians the question of the right of the people to protest against the war, to call for an economic boycott was completely sidetracked and this is precisely what the BJP led NDA Govt is banking on when it is pushing through the POTO.

The NCP Home Minister Chaggan Bhujbal was busy defending the police actions. A former Shiv Sainik Bhujbal has been instrumental in the spread of communal politics in this his home district. The Congress Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh took the riots lightly neither feeling the need to pay compensation to those who had died nor ordering an inquiry into the riots. But prompted by fears of what these riots would do to their prospects in the coming UP elections Congress president Sonia Gandhi forced Vilasrao Deshmukh into ordering a judicial enquiry into the events and compensation for the dead and injured. She made a visit to Malegaon to win back local support. For this is the first major communal riot recently and that too in a Congress ruled state. The leaders of ruling class parties, Congress, Shiv Sena, BJP or JD (Secular) shamelessly stand exposed for their cynical use of communal politics and the riots to further their narrow political ends.

As a result of these riots it is unofficially estimated that property and business worth atleast 50 crores has been destroyed. Police estimates peg the loss at 13 crores. The town’s electric supply, water supply were affected. The daily turnover of business in Malegaon is estimated to be about 100 crores. Yarn worth 10 crores is used daily. A town, known as the Manchester of Maharashtra it developed it s own indigenous industries like small manufacturing units for plastic pipes without any help from the State or central Government . And yet there has been no development of infrastructure in the town, not even a proper drainage system. Already due to the new economic policies, the hike in the price of electricity, the import of cheap cloth from abroad the powerloom business was affected. It has already been through an extended recession. These riots have meant a further setback for the region, serious unemployment for the weavers and other workers.