Ayodhya aftermath: Must friends turn into foes?

Communalism promotes suspicion and corrodes the foundations of trust within a neighbourhood, even where there has been a long history of friendship and cooperation.

Jwala Prasad, the priest of the Durga temple in Kotana Gali in Daryaganj, holds his Muslim neighbours responsible for not resisting a violent mob that attacked the temple on January 27. “Nobody came to help me that day even thought we have a Muslim majority in our lane,” the priest mourned. “A mob came from outside, vandalised the temple, broke the idols and even stabbed my 18-year-old son.”

Prasad, who has been a broken man since, says, “Even now my Muslim neighbours look away when they see me. I don’t feel like talking to them either.”

Prasad’s neighbour, Mohammad Yaqoob, regrets that the attack on the temple has cost the priest’s friendship. “I was not around at the time,” he says. “But later, I asked our other neighbours why they hadn’t stopped the mob and they said they were scared because the mob was armed. I admit this is not a good enough excuse. Apne jaan par khelkar bhi bachana chahiye tha (They should have risked their own lives to protect the Prasad family).”

But Yaqoob did help Prasad soon after the attack. He replaced the damaged, wooden door of Prasad’s house with an iron door. Even so, the rift between the neighbours has not healed. Says Yaqoob, “Our families have been very close. But now they shut their doors when we come out on the balcony. What have we done? Main is nafrat ko unke dil se kaise nikaloon (How do I weed out this hatred from their hearts)?”