The Vishalgad-Kolhapur violence that erupted on July 14 has left multiple Muslim families of the Gajapur village helpless and distraught, with not even a pair of clothes to change during the rainy reason. On July 14, a Sunday, disturbing visuals of a Mosque being demolished emerged from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district. A video from the ground showed a group of men belonging to an extremist Hindutva mob climbing atop a Mosque holding saffron flags and vandalising a Mosque with hammers. The video showed mobs of people standing upon the Mosque and planting a saffron flag on it. While the police rushed to the spot of the mob demolition to get a hold of the situation as the Mosque was being demolished, a mob of thousands entered the Gajapur village and wreaked havoc. As per on-ground reports, approximately 50-60 houses and shops belonging to the Muslim community were attacked, torched and loot by the mob.
Activists from the ground have now shared the plight of the locals of the Gajapur village, the worst violence hit village during the whole incident, wherein the women and children had to flee towards the nearby forest area and the fields to save themselves from the large mob of people. As told by Megha Pansare to SabrangIndia, fearing violence, the locals had to hide in the forest along with their children as the mob came bearing knives and other weapons. It is only because the locals went into hiding rather than trying to save their belonging were they able to save themselves. However, as per the report in Maktoob Media, at least 40 Muslims, including children, were attacked in the incident. Additionally, the mob caused major damage to their material belongings, with their houses burnt, food thrown or destroyed, and vehicles ransacked. Upon returning from their hiding spots, the residents of the village that is on the foothills of the fort, found themselves rid of all their belongings, houses, vehicles, books, and food. As per Pansare, activist and daughter-in-law of the slain Govind Pansare, the women do not even have a pair of clothes and everything they owned had been destroyed. Even the holy book of Quran has been destroyed and thrown in the mud. Megha Pansare is Assistant Professor in Russian language at the Shivaji University, Kolhapur. She is also an activist of CPI, now holds the position of President, Kolhapur District, National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW).
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How did it begin?
Since the past one year, a campaign is being run by the certain Hindu right-wing outfits to “free” the historic Vishalgad fort of “encroachment”. Calling it ‘Vishalgad Anti-Encroachment Movement,’ Sambhaji Raje Chhatrapati, former Rajya Sabha MP and descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and his supporters in Kolhapur have been mounting pressure on authorities to remove “illegal encroachments” at the Vishalgad fort.
The violence erupted after former Rajya Sabha MP Sambhaji Raje called upon his supporters to march to the Vishalgarh fort in a bid to protest against the inaction of the authorities over illegal encroachments on Sunday, July 14. The fort is located in Shahuwadi of Kolhapur district, about 75 kms from Kolhapur city.
As clarified by Shakir Tamboli, a member of the Indian National Congress and an activist, thousands of people had gathered after the call against “encroachment” was made by Sambhaji Raje. The police present near the fort did not allow such a big gathering to take to the Vishalgad Fort, pursuant to which the mob that was returning from the Fort resorted to violence.
As per the report in Maktoob Media, ahead of Sambhajiraje’s arrival at the fort around 9:40 am, a mob of his supporters had already started with stone-pelting on a mosque, Rehman Malik Dargah, and attacking local Muslim residents in the vicinity. Some vandals also allegedly chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ outside the mosque and raised objectionable slogans. It is essential to note that the said Mosque was on the way to Vishalgad fort, but was 6 km away from the fort.
The Maktoob Media report also alleged that the attack against Muslims occurred in police presence. As per the videos accessed by Maktoob Media, a few police personnel were deployed to guard the place to stop the Hindutva mob but were unable to do anything. After the attack on the Mosque, some of the residents then reportedly retaliated, following which the situation went out of control.
A detailed report can be read here.
The Gajapur village and the targeted Muslim families:
As per both Tamboli, as the police got busy with controlling the situation near the demolished Mosque, a mob in large numbers took to Gajapur village and targeted the Muslim families living there. Tamboli called the said violent attack to be “carefully planned in advance”, stating that the conspiracy was hatched by Hindu extremists under the guise of removing encroachments from the Vishalgad fort. A few names were mentioned by Tamboli, which included habitual hate-offenders Vikram Pawaskar and Sambhaji Bhide, who were involved in this conspiracy to target the Muslim houses in the Gajapur area. Tamboli provided that Pawaskar and Bhide had pre-planned this attack and had sheltered the goons a night before in a village called Pandharepani. On the morning, the mob had, armed with weapons, left with the ambition to attack the Muslims in Gajapur village. Tamboli even alleged that the mob had carried handmade bombs.
It Is essential to point out that the Gajapur village houses and shop are not under any contestation regarding any illegality. The said village was a part of the anti-encroachment drive being led by Sambhaji Raje.
Pansare, who was on ground meeting the affected people after the violence took place, shared with the SabrangIndia team the motivation that could have been behind the attack on the Gajapur village and the Muslim residents of the said village. Pansare provided that locals have alleged the issue of an inter-faith marriage between a Musim man from the Gajapur village and a Hindu woman from the neighbouring village to be the reason why the said village was singled out. Pansare stated that the marriage between the inter-faith couple had annoyed the relatives of the girl, especially the uncle of the girl, who then led the mob to the said village. Tamboli too confirmed that the inter-faith marriage between the couple had irked a few Hindu extremists and had caused an issue. Pansare stated that the locals want a separate FIR to be filed against the said man for his role in the violent episode, which had not yet happened.
Pansare focussed on the plight of the families following the violence. She stated how journalists, activist as well as delegations of the politicians from approaching the area. Pansare questioned the deployment of police personnel after the violence in the Gajapur, which is now stopping anyone, even the family members of those affected, form approaching the violence hit area and providing any aid to the people. She highlighted the decimated state of the houses after the mob unleashed the violence, and the people having to survive with no food and clothes. Pansare slammed the state for stopped the flow of aid by stating that “The mob has done all that it wanted with free reign, what else can they do now? Why is there police deployment in the area? Why are they stopping the flow of aid?”
Pansare provided that a delegation of politicians from the INDIA bloc parties had visited the violence-hit Vishalgad and nearby villages on July 16 and, with much difficulty and argument with the police over one hour, have been able to supply the affected families with ration that will last for one week. The delegation consisting for nearly 100 office-bearers was led by Kolhapur MP Shahu Chhatrapati, the 12th descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and Congress MLC Satej Patil. The police had stopped the delegation at the Pandhare Pani area citing prohibitory orders. However, the party workers requested the police to allow a delegation of 15 key INDIA bloc functionaries to visit to families affected by the violence.
Pansare provided that the delegation also men with the district collector, Amol Yedage, to speak regarding the violence as well as police refusing journalists, families and delegations from meeting the affected people. While addressing the media, MP Shahu Chhatrapati had said that “In the past year, such violence has taken place twice in Kolhapur, which is otherwise known for communal harmony. I believe there is a conspiracy to disrupt peace in Kolhapur. We will stay firmly with people who faced the brunt of violence and protect them at any cost, irrespective of caste and community.”
When asked about the injuries that the men, women and children sustained, Pansare stated that another delegation will be going in the evening to meet the people as they police had made it difficult for the delegation to meet with the people. She narrated how the women were forced to flee to the forest through back doors and save their lives. She alleged that the locals had narrated certain incidents of the mob clicking pictures of young women, stating that she will get more information from the family after meeting them again.
It Is essential to note that the INDIA alliance politicians will be holding a ‘Shivshahu Sadbhavana’ rally in Kolhapur city — from Shahu Memorial to Shivaji Chowk — on the evening of July 18 to condemn the violence.
The mute spectators:
Tamboli emphasised on the failure of police authorities in the enfolding of this violence. He stated that while the violence was taking place in Gajapur village, the Superintendent of Police was present not even one kilometre away. And yet, the mob ran wild by setting fire to houses, vehicles and destroying properties.
Tamboli highlighted that in the past one year, this was the second major incident of violence that had been reported from Kolhapur. For content, in June of 2023, tensions had simmered in Kolhapur, in southern Maharashtra, after Hindutva groups and representatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had created a controversy over social media post (June 6) valorising Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan. a group of Hindutva inspired extremist youth thrashed a Muslim minor for reportedly sharing a social media status hailing Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan. The status (social media) simply valorised Aurangzeb and Tipu and did not in any way attack another community or contain any words to offend or hurt the religious sentiments of any individual. Right-wing Hindu organisations had organized the rally to protest the said post. However, once the rally had concluded, certain miscreants began pelting stones at homes and business establishments owned by the Muslim community and attacking their vehicles. The police had to use lathi charge to disperse the restive crowd. (the detailed report can be read here.)
Condemning the violence that the Muslim residents were subjected to, Tamboli re-iterated the loss that the people of Gajapur village suffered at the hands of a mob that was allowed to run without any care for consequences. Referring to the issue of encroachment on Vishalgad fort, Tamboli stated that the report of the government has provided that some 160 illegal encroachments are there on the Vishalgad fort, and no one is protesting against the removal of any encroaching structures on the fort. However, the violence that was unleashed in Gajapur was separate, and was done under the guise of the anti-encroachment protest.
Speaking to SabrangIndia, Tamboli stated “You need to understand that both of these issues are separate. No one is asking the state to not remove any illegal structures. Bu the people of Gajapur had relevant documents. Even the Mosque that these people demolished was not encroachment. What happened in Gajapur was different from the Vishalgad encroachment issue. This was targeted violence, through which they want to make the state of Maharashtra Muslim free.”
Deeming both the incidents, especially the recent one, to be pre-planned, Tamboli stated that these are attempts made to target the Muslims living in the state. Tamboli alleged that inflammatory social media post were being circulated both prior to the violence, instigating the people gathering for the anti-encroachment protest to demolish the Mosque, but no action was being taken.