New Delhi: Days after Hindu residents protested a Muslim woman’s purchase of a house in Bareilly, the house’s original seller, Vishal Saxena, wrote a letter to the police saying that locals, in collaboration with Hindutva organisations, had made false allegations around the sale and threatened a mass migration of Hindus from the neighbourhood in order to spread communal disharmony.
Speaking to The Wire, Saxena said: “Some 12 to 15 Hindus had previously come to me in the hope of buying the house, but none of the deals survived because part of a Sufi shrine is just behind the house and Muslims live nearby.”
He added that he did not want the house back. “This is an attempt to spoil the image of the city,” he declared.
While Saxena’s application to the police does not elaborate on the false allegations around the sale of his home, some local residents had earlier claimed that the purchase deal involved an Assamese maulana who was engaged in the illegal possession of a local mosque.
Meanwhile, Shabnam, the Muslim woman who purchased the house from Saxena, and her family have decided to sell the property to any sanatani Hindu who comes forward to buy it. All they demand is an appropriate price.
Just a few days ago, Shabnam bought that house, which is located in Punjab Pura, a predominantly Hindu locality in Bareilly.
While they took meticulous care in the purchase of the house, Shabnam’s family fell short in just one aspect: they trusted in the integrity of the communal fabric of their city, which her people had inhabited for generations.
Soon after the purchase, Hindu residents of Punjab Pura – apparently egged on by Hindutva groups – threatened a mass exodus if their demand that the house’s registry records be cancelled was not fulfilled.
Some Hindu residents were seen protesting by affixing posters and placards on the walls of their homes, declaring their intention for a “samuhik palayan [mass exodus]”.
Among the crowd of agitated residents were people who raised concerns that letting a Muslim occupy a house in the vicinity would result in the perpetration of ‘love jihad’, referring to a term used by Hindu communal organisations to describe an imaginary Muslim conspiracy to seduce Hindu women as part of a plot to reduce Hindus in India to a minority.
Anxiety about Muslims’ food habits and their potential interference in Hindu festivals also surfaced among some of the Hindus of Punjab Pura.
One resident even went to the extent of declaring Shabnam’s brother Naseem as the mastermind of the 2010 Bareilly riots, while another claimed that the prime minister and chief minister said that “Bangladeshis and Assamese” must “not step forward”, implying that people ought to be cautious of Bangladeshi and Assamese Muslims. The Wire was unable to find an instance of either leader saying this.
Following this incident, Saxena wrote in his application to the police on August 21 that he was being obstructed by the protestors in relocating his belongings that were still in the house. He also requested police protection to allow him to finish moving his belongings.
Speaking to The Wire, Saxena narrated the story of what led to the sale of his house.
He said his wife passed away in 2018 after a long illness. Exhausted of most of his monetary resources after her treatment, he suffered another jolt when his mother died in 2020 after a long period of medical care, he said, adding that he lost his job – his only source of income – after contracting COVID-19, following which he went into debt.
Saxena said he could no longer afford to repair his crumbling house and so decided to sell it after consulting his family.
In his application to the senior superintendent of police, Saxena appealed for a proper investigation into the spread of communal frenzy following the sale of his house and demanded the immediate restoration of peace in the area.
However, hopes for a resolution or for the Hindu residents to accept their Muslim neighbours faded when Shabnam’s family decided to sell the property to “any sanatani” who wishes to buy it at the right price.
Making the police’s work easier, Naseem, Shabnam’s brother who sells flowers at the nearby dargah, took it upon himself to maintain “communal harmony” in the neighbourhood. In an attempt to revive secularism in his area, Naseem declared that his family would sell the house to avoid any communal conflict in the area, he told local media over a phone call, the recording of which The Wire has access to.
He also said that while he did receive another offer for a property next to the house a few days after his family purchased it, he declined the offer, pointing to the problem their newly acquired house had created.
Speaking to the local media, a police official stated that the police were in talks with both parties and that Shabnam’s family willingly agreed to sell the house to any person from the Hindu community who came forward to buy it.
Much like he sells flowers from his shop to Hindu customers who came asking for them for ritual use, Naseem has now consented to sell away the house to any Hindu who comes forward. But in this case, there is more at stake than just the house.
