In Gurgaon, sense of unease after violence and some families begin moving out

The fear was heightened after a panchayat was held on Sunday in Gurgaon's Tigra village, asking for an economic boycott of the community.

Gurgaon, Gurgaon communal violence, communal violence, Nuh Communal Violence, Delhi news, New Delhi, Indian Express, current affairs

At Tigra village in Gurgaon on Wednesday

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

“There’s a fear that something might happen and we can’t trust anybody.”

These words by a person who hails from Malda in West Bengal and has been living in Gurgaon for years now, betray the sense of unease among Muslims in some parts of Gurgaon following the violence that hit the city after the Nuh clashes last week.

The fear was heightened after a panchayat was held on Sunday in Gurgaon’s Tigra village, asking for an economic boycott of the community. As a result of the call, several Muslim families living near the area where the panchayat was held have been packing up and heading home to parts of West Bengal and Bihar, local residents said.

“Some began to leave last week, but this increased after the panchayat. I have sent my children back home with relatives, and am now waiting to see what the situation will be like,” said the man from Malda, who works as a driver. At least two families left Wednesday evening – one was seen loading their belongings into a car and another looking for transport to the railway station in Delhi. A member of the second family, who did not wish to be identified, said they would “wait till the situation gets better” and consider returning in a month.

The panchayat on Sunday, attended by members of Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and the BJP, among others, had called for the removal of the mosque in Sector 57 as well. This mosque is the same where a naib imam was killed last week.

Said the driver from Malda: “We go home once in two years or so. I have been living here for a few years and the last time I saw such a large number of people leaving from here was around Covid. Then it was because of an infection, and now it’s because of fear…This place is more crowded in the evening, but it has emptied out now.” He said he had gone to work after the violence but his employer asked him to go home for his own safety.

A row of shops, which residents said were mostly meat shops, were found locked up in the area. A grocery shop owner from Bihar, who also asked not to be named, said, “Many from West Bengal and some from UP and Bihar here have left. People are scared, particularly after the mahapanchayat. I’m scared myself, and have not been opening the shop properly. I’ve been here for 10 years and we have never seen something like this before.”

Ram Naresh, a mason from Lakhimpur Kheri, UP, who has been living in the area for a few months, said that people began to leave after the panchayat.