Skip to main content

Gujarat Dalit uprising "turns" 2002 communal riots face in Ahmedabad into a symbol of Dalit-Muslim unity

 
Considered a “face” of the Gujarat riots and a “brand ambassador” of Hindu Rashtra, the recent Dalit uprising in Gujarat has made Ashok Mochi aka Parmar a symbol of Dalit-Muslim unity. Highlighting this, a report points to how he seen participating in Gujarat riots in 2002.
On the fateful day when the riots began, February 28, 2002, Mochi wore “a saffron band around his forehead, with an iron rod in one hand, arms outstretched, fists clenched, mouth open, letting out a war cry as fires raged behind him”, says the report, adding, however, this man has now “turned over a new leaf and joined the Dalit Asmita Yatra that began in Ahmedabad on August 5.”
“A cobbler by profession, Parmar sits on the footpath of a busy road between Shahpur Darwaza and Delhi Darwaza in old Ahmedabad with his makeshift establishment of a few boxes that contain boot-polish, buckles, pins, thread, big and small needles, worn-out shoe brushes and other equipment to mend footwear”, the report says.
Pointing out that the footpath has been serving as the homeless man's “permanent address” in the city for the past two decades, the report adds, “Ashok, along with his friends, many of whom are Muslims, joined the 10-day yatra in Savarkundla before it ended on August 15 in Una where seven Dalits were flogged for skinning a dead cow.”
Mochi, 40, has been quoted as saying, “Dalit-Muslim unity is the need of the hour. Both communities are oppressed and poor. And, therefore, they are being targeted on one pretext or the other – the latest one is the terror unleashed on them in the name of cow protection.”
Labelled as a Bajrang Dal member who became the face of saffron terror and genocide, Mochi insists, he is “neither”, adding, his becoming one of the rioters on the street was just a “coincidence”.
Ashok Mochi with Qutubuddin Ansari, a victim of Gujarat riots
Recalling the 2002 riots, Mochi says, on the day the riots broke out, February 28, 2002, “there was a bandh that had affected thousands of daily wage workers”, and he lost his “daily business and could not get any food”.
“Hindus were killing Muslims. I had beard which was making me look like a Muslim. I tied a saffron cloth round my forehead to save myself. Meanwhile, a photographer (Sebastian D’Souza from Mumbai Mirror) approached me asked me to pose like a rioter. I picked up an iron rod to show how angry I am. The next day I saw myself on the front page of almost all publications”, Mochi explains.
“Since then, I became a villain and face of Gujarat riots across the world. The photo landed me in jail for 14 days. Later, I was acquitted by a lower court because there was not a single bit of evidence to show my participation in the massacre,” he explains.
“If you see the photograph minutely, you will find me alone in the picture. I was not part of any mob. I was not out for rioting. I never imagined the picture would cause so much trouble,” he says.
The report, however, quotes the photographer D’Souza as strongly contesting Mochi’s claim: “I saw Mochi climb up on a signboard and spread his hands. It seemed as if he was saying, ‘I am the king.’ He looked threatening. I saw and shot him in the middle of taking many other pictures. That’s it. I do not remember seeing whether he actually burnt something or beat someone up”.
Mochi has a debt of over Rs 10,000 fighting court cases. He does not get “any support” from his family or the community in his village, Mochi says, adding. he earn a modest sum of Rs 200 a day.

Comments

TRENDING

Patriot, Link: How Soviet imbroglio post-1968 crucially influenced alternative media platforms

Adatata Narayanan, Aruna Asaf Ali Alternative media, as we know it today in the age of information and communication technology (ICT), didn't exist in the form it does today during or around the time I joined formal journalism at Link Newsweekly as a sub-editor in January 1979. However, Link, and its sister publication Patriot, a daily—both published from Delhi—were known to have provided what could be called an alternative media platform at a time when major Delhi-based dailies were controlled by media barons.

60 crore in Mahakumbh? It's all hype with an eye on UP polls, asserts keen BJP supporter in Amit Shah's constituency

As the Mahakumbh drew to a close, during my daily walk, I met a veteran BJP supporter—a neighbor with whom we would often share dinner in a group. An amicable person, the first thing he asked me, as he was about to take the lift to his flat, was, "How many people do you think must have participated in the holy dip?" He then stopped by to talk—which we did for a full half-hour, cutting into my walk time.

Breaking news? Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

Morari Bapu echoes misleading figures to support the BJP's anti-conversion agenda

A senior Gujarat activist phoned me today to inform me that the well-known storyteller on Lord Ram, Morari Bapu, has made an "unsubstantiated" and "preposterous" statement in Songadh town, located in the tribal-dominated Tapi district. He claimed that while the Gujarat government wants the Bhagavad Gita to be taught in schools, the "problem is" that 75% of government teachers "are Christians who do not let this happen" and are “involved in religious conversions.”

An untold story? Still elusive: Gujarati language studies on social history of Gujarat's caste and class evolution

This is a follow-up to my earlier blog , where I mentioned that veteran scholar Prof. Ghanshyam Shah has just completed a book for publication on a topic no academic seems to have dealt with—caste and class relations in Gujarat’s social history. He forwarded me a chapter of the book, published as an "Economic & Political Weekly" article last year, which deals with the 2015 Patidar agitation in the context of how this now-powerful caste originated in the Middle Ages and how it has evolved in the post-independence era.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

Justifying social divisions? 'Dogs too have caste system like we humans, it's natural'

I have never had any pets, nor am I very comfortable with them. Frankly, I don't know how to play with a pet dog. I just sit quietly whenever I visit someone and see their pet dog trying to lick my feet. While I am told not to worry, I still choose to be a little careful, avoiding touching the pet.

New York-based digital company traces Modi's meteoric rise to global Hindutva ecosystem over several decades

A recent document, released by the Polis Project Inc.—a New York-based digital magazine and hybrid research and journalism organization—even as seeking to highlight the alleged rise of authoritarianism in India, has sought to trace Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meteoric rise since 2014 to the ever-expanding global Hindutva ecosystem over the last several decades.

What's wrong with those seeking to promote Sanskrit? An ex-Hindi professor has the answer

Ajay Tiwari  I have always wondered why certain elite sections are so fascinated by Sanskrit, to the extent of even practicing speaking a language that, for all practical purposes, isn’t alive. During my Times of India stint in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat state capital, I personally witnessed an IAS bureaucrat, Bhagyesh Jha, trying to converse with a friend in Sanskrit.