Omar Rashid 
New Delhi: Even as the Uttar Pradesh police and administration tried to contain communally-targeted mob violence that broke out in Bahraich during Durga idol immersion procession, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA stoked another communal fire on social media as he shared a list of Muslim journalists, casting doubts over their impartial coverage of the incident.
One person, a Hindu youth identified as Gopal Mishra, was killed due to a bullet injury and several others were injured in the communal violence in the Maharajganj area of Bahraich’s Mahasi tehsil on the evening of October 13.
Amid these developments, BJP MLA from Deoria, Shalabh Mani Tripathi, who is the former media advisor to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, posted on X, “Just read the names of the journalists sending news from Bahraich, you will understand how unbiased and true the news is. A group of YouTubers is also engaged. The whole system is engaged in saving the rioters and in spreading lies.”
With his post, Tripathi, who was himself a television journalist before he joined the BJP, attached a list of 13 journalists – all of them Muslims – along with the media group they are associated with. The list included journalists linked to NDTV, PTI, India TV, ANI, News 24, Bhaskar TV and Bharat Samachar. While many other journalists, including those from the Hindu community, are reporting on the events from the district, Tripathi only named journalists from the Muslim community in his post.
The finer details of the incident and its exact sequence are still unclear, but based on information gathered so far, it seems to have started when some local Muslims objected to loud music being played in the procession outside their residence.
According to the police, the violence was triggered after a procession carrying idols was passing by a mosque in a Muslim-populated area in Maharajganj. A tense situation was created after groups from both communities came face to face, said Vrinda Shukla, Superintendent of Police, Bahraich. “Some people started causing a riot. One person was attacked from the Hindu side, and he was killed,” said Shukla.
Things took a turn for the worse following that, added the officer.
In interviews given by local Hindus to television channels, they claimed that after the initial argument between the two sides over loud music, some local Muslims pelted stones at the procession and ran back to their homes. “They objected to the playing of music outside their door and asked us to stop. We said we won’t stop the music. They pelted stones at us and ran back to their homes. After that we sat on a protest at the site, demanding that the administration take action against them. Instead, the police lathi-charged us,” Abhishek, who claimed to be an eyewitness, told ABP news.
Bullets were fired at Mishra, who was killed, said officer Shukla. The Samajwadi Party (SP0 said that after the killing of Mishra, due to the tense situation, the immersion of idols was stopped at various places. “Taking advantage of this, some mischievous elements tried to create a riot,” she said. The processions resumed after police took over.
A video widely shared on social media showed Gopal on the roof of a building breaking a green flag and then aggressively waving a saffron flag as a mob, egging him on from the street below, shouted slogans such as “Jai Bajrang Bali” and “Jai Shree Ram.” Another video, shared on social media by several journalists, showed a person dragging down Mishra’s lifeless body from the roof of the house even as stones were being pelted at them. The Wire has not independently ascertained the veracity of the videos.
The police have arrested 30 persons in connection with Mishra’s killing, said Shukla. Search was on for the person described by police as the main accused, Salman, from whose house bullets were fired at Mishra, the police said.
On Monday, angry, rampaging mobs protested Mishra’s death and torched shops, vehicles, a private hospital and other properties. Following this violence, the police resorted to lathi-charge and flag marches to bring the volatile situation under control. “Restless crowds, some people armed with sticks and iron rods, roamed the streets and shops were set on fire as tension escalated in Bahraich,” reported PTI on October 14. Black smoke billowed into the sky from some shops, houses and vehicles set ablaze, the news agency reported.
The situation on the ground is still unfolding.
In another post on X on Monday, MLA Tripathi referred to the video which showed Mishra breaking the pole of the green flag atop a building, to further target Muslim journalists.
“The video of Gopal Mishra taking down the green flag did come out, but why was the video of the attack on the Durga idol, firing, stone pelting and then the brutal murder of Gopal Mishra from the same house made to disappear? The answer to this is hidden in this list of journalists of Bahraich,” said Tripathi.
He appeared unfazed by criticism after several social media users called him out for exposing the Muslim journalists to possible violence. When Ameeque Jamei, a Muslim spokesperson from SP, tagged the Press Club of India to draw attention to Tripathi’s tweet, the MLA replied with a communally-laced dig, “Will you not look for backward and Dalits in this? Is it because these are all your relatives? I will put out such lists. You keep whining!”
The local BJP MLA from Mahasi, Sureshwar Singh, however, put out a post on Facebook, requesting Hindus to maintain peace. “It is a humble request to all Hindu brothers that you maintain peace and order, the administration is continuously taking legal action,” he said.
Chief minister Adityanath said that those who spoiled the atmosphere in Mahasi will not be spared. He said instructions had been given to officials to identify the miscreants as well as those whose negligence led to the incident and that strict action be taken against them.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav linked the incident to the upcoming by-polls in the state for 10 assembly seats. “The coming of elections and the worsening of the communal atmosphere is not a coincidence. The public understands everything. Everyone knows whose old strategy is to resort to violence out of fear of defeat. This is the knock of the by-elections,” said Yadav on X. If the government makes real, solid arrangements instead of superficial law and order, everything will be fine, but this will happen only if the government wants it to, he further said.