The psychology of the Muslim community in Coimbatore has been changing subtly, influencing fiery young men who, deeply suspicious of the police, feel desperate enough to take to arms. In Abu's personality the transformation can be discerned easily ...
Indeed, the targeting of innocent Muslims in the recent Coimbatore riots has spawned (revenge) in almost every affected Muslim household. Insulted and humiliated ... they are potential recruits for any fanatical, fundamentalist or even terrorist outfit. AI Ummah is allegedly such an organisation, and has been blamed for provoking the vicious police backlash against Muslims. In fact many from the community, too, lament Al Ummah's activities, its blackmailing and terrorising tactics, its foolhardiness in confronting the police. But there are others, eager and vocal in their support to the outfit.
There is no denying it is the Muslims who suffered most in the recent riots: 17 of the 20 people killed were Muslims, their properties worth crores of rupees were looted or destroyed. The ferocity of the attack can be gleaned from another fact - it was the first time since 1965. that the Army was called in to restore law and order in Tamil Nadu. The other starting dimension of the riots was the brazen revolt of the police: forcing the authorities to beseech their subordinates to return to work, and promising prompt action against the killers of traffic constable Selvaraj, whose death sparked off the grisly rioting in the city.
Others, however, point to the ironic twist - the fact that the city was sucked into violence after the Muslim community handed over those accused of killing Selvaraj. A senior police officer agrees his men looked the other way when the attack against the Muslim community was unleashed, but promptly denies allegations that they played a more direct role ...
... When the Muslim areas were under a veritable siege and the people were starving, no voluntary organisation stepped in to arrange food supply. Though many concede privately that the outrage was totally disproportionate to the alleged provocation, yet none has demanded compensation for the Muslims. The popular perception is: The Muslim community has been, in one way or another, responsible for the mushrooming of dangerous outfits like the Al Ummah and hence it must pay.
Meanwhile, Hindu fundamentalists are exploiting the situation, seeking punitive action against the Muslims and widening the chasm between the communities through scurrilous speeches and writings. Politicians themselves, from the local DMK MLA to Chief Minister Karunanidhi, appear more anxious to shake off the charge of having encouraged Islamic fundamentalism than in assisting the traumatised Muslims, or bolstering their confidence in the law enforcing agencies. The media, too, has remained silent on the losses the Muslims suffered, harping on the need to crush terrorism than on compensating the victims.
No wonder, for the first time in Tamil Nadu the Muslims, at least those of Coimbatore, feel completely alienated from the mainstream, and are overcome by a siege mentality - characteristic of the community in the North.
Yet oases of sanity do exist in the city. In the black and eerie ambience of Coimbatore it is heartwarming to hear the 80-odd Hindu families in Kottaimedu assert, one after another, that they live in perfect amity with the Muslims and that their neighbourhood was relatively unaffected through the rioting and the curfew.
Kottaimedu, a congested locality having a population of about 35,000 Muslims, mainly of the middle and lower middle classes ... has had bitter experiences of curfews. Says (a resident) "Way back in 1993, November-December, the police descended on the area in a full strength, cordoned it off, and systematically ransacked our houses. humiliated our women and beat up the youngsters indiscriminately. They were apparently looking for those involved in the blasts at the RSS headquarters. But it was the innocent who had to pay a heavy price ... That was the time the Al Ummah took roots here".
... The police during the Jayalalitha regime erected checkposts to monitor the alleged flow of arms into the colony. ... Coimbatore, perhaps, represents the classic dilemma before a government confronted with ethnic dissidence, terrorist or otherwise (like Kashmir). How can it shield itself from dastardly attacks of motivated fanatics even while winning over the misguided youth and an alienated population in general?
This Manchester of the South has been thrice racked by riots in the last one year alone. Some observers see in these the role of North Indian textile owners who want to strangulate the competition from Coimbatore by instigating such clashes. Those who blame the police ... say the police are upset and angry because the Al Ummah has appropriated the lucrative task of settling disputes out of court, thereby depriving the men in uniform of their booty.
There is indeed no denying that the social and political condition in west Tamil Nadu has been vitiated ...
