Rumours shaped drunken brawl into ‘communal violence’

The Trilokpuri area of East Delhi which has been simmering with communal tension for the last few days is situated very close to Mayur Vihar and posh suburbs of Noida, areas where educated middle-class and upper class people stay. So what exactly went wrong in the congested by-lanes of this place that caused the situation to go out of control?

As most of the residents say, tension started brewing when some young men fought among themselves on the issue of consuming alcohol in a park situated in front of a ‘mata ki chowki’ that was put up from the days of Navratras in late September. ‘Mata ki chowki’ is a makeshift temple which has been in Block-15 area for forty days from the beginning of Navratras.

It will continue to be there for five more days.

“On the night of Diwali, some people were doing puja at ‘mata ki chowki’ when they noticed a group of young men consuming alchohol in the park and making loud noise. They asked them to keep it down but they did not pay heed to it and a fight ensued between the two groups. Soon, a rumour was spread that a Hindu-Muslim clash had started in the area because the park is adjacent to a masjid,” said a resident staying close to ‘mata ki chowki’.

“A fight between some drunk boys escalated into a large-scale communal violence only because some people with wrong intentions spread rumours,” said Sunil, another resident of the area.

“Hindus and Muslims live peacefully in this area. We do not have any problem with the other community. All this is a situation created by a handful of politicians who are trying to divide people on religious lines,” said Sunil.