A few weeks ago, on January 13, communal violence gripped the Bhainsa town of the Nirmal district in Telangana. The town, dominated by Muslims who constitute more than 50 per cent of the population, has been declared as sensitive place in terms of law and order. In 2008, the town witnessed communal violence in which many Hindus were killed.
The incident happened over some Muslim youth removing silencers from bikes nearby (and causing a ruckus with their bikes). When local from Hindu community objected to what Muslim youth were doing, they attacked the person.
The town is a stronghold of All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, member of parliament from the Hyderabad seat. The party is ruling dispensation in the municipality since the last three terms and next elections are to be held in the next few weeks. A few days ago, a big rally was organized in the town against CAA, in which more than 2 lakh people, primarily Muslims, participated.
The crowd turned into a mob which looted the properties of many Hindu families including jewellery for the bride. “In Bhainsa of Nirmal district(Telangana), stone pelter and arsonist mobs have selectively targeted Hindu properties, vandalised and lit fire. The police were helpless in controlling the mobs as they belong to KCR backed MIM groups. @AmitShah @kishanreddybjp @JPNadda @BJP4India” tweeted the MP from Nizamabad area.
The Telangana government, supported by AIMIM, has not taken any action credible against the rioters. Instead, the government slapped FIR against Sridharan Siddhu, who exposed the truth about how the Muslim community looted the local Hindus and resorted to violence.
Sridharan Siddhu reported that “On January 12, bullets and petrol bombs were thrown where a Muslim mob with cries of ‘Allah ho Akbar’, ‘Pakistan zindabad’, ‘We will keep your female Gods’, etc and attacked Hindu houses with weapons.”
After the government slapped FIR on Siddhu, he responded, “Ironically the police themselves had first confirmed the involvement of Muslims in the attack. Hindus who were injured were taken to the hospital by the police themselves who had come to the area to control the situation. But now, the same police under political pressure have registered false cases against the same Hindus instead of bringing the real perpetrators to book.”
The Bhainsa riot has not attracted sufficient media attention so far. The TV media, English as well as Hindi, have not done a single episode of the tragic event so far. Has it been a case of communal violence with minority community at the receiving end, the ‘national media’ would have spent hours on it. If the same had happened in a BJP ruled state like Uttar Pradesh, the liberal community would have gone berserk on Twitter. But, the suffering of the Hindu community in a Muslim dominated area, ruled by a ‘secular’ party in alliance with a Muslim extremist, has not received media attention and is not newsworthy. This shows that bias against the majority by the Muslim community is not imagery, as they try to convince us. But this is real, and their outrage, award wapsi drama is against the ruling dispensation at the centre, not for secularism.