UP: After Driving out Kutba-Kutbi’s Muslims, Jats Rue Their Future

In Muzaffarnagar’s Kutba-Kutbi villages, the Jat community is torn between RLD and BJP for the upcoming elections.

Looking through his thick lenses set in a rickety frame, Chaudhary Karan Singh offered me the long hookah pipe and said: Leh (Have a go). As I took a long drag on the pipe, the hookah gurgled into life, and the bowl turned amber as smoke curled out from the smouldering lump of charcoal and tobacco sitting in it.

Karan Singh’s octogenarian friend Chaudhary Bhagmal Singh, sitting upright on a charpoy, wrapped in a shawl with the turban sitting proudly on his crown, broke into a toothy smile at my effort. So did a few other Jats of the twin village of Kutba-Kutbi on the periphery of Muzaffarnagar district.

Quaint as its name sounds, Kutba-Kutbi, under Charthawar Assembly constituency (which elected Saleem Rana of the BSP in 2012), was the site of the gruesome massacre of eight Muslims by Jats when communal riots broke out in September 2013 across the rustic western UP hinterland.

Kutba-Kutbi is also the village of Union Minister Sanjeev Baliyan whose construction firm, A-to-Z Developers, is said to have appropriated vast swathes of land along the Meerut-Shamli highway. His name figured prominently in the list of Jat leaders who were allegedly involved in inciting the Jats to riot.

The Anti-Muslim Pogrom

More than three years after the communal frenzy, a tense peace prevails over Kutba-Kutbi, but none of the 205 Muslim families live there any longer. They fled, abandoning their homes and hearths. Some of the homesteads today are no more than ghostly shells, others have been grabbed by the Jats, while a few others were purchased at throwaway prices.

“Aaj pachhtawa ho-riya (We are now repenting),” Bablu Baliyan, a Jat sugarcane farmer said as he rued the outcome of the riots that has not helped the members of his community, save for the appropriation of Kutba-Kutbi’s Muslim houses. “Hum to Chaudhary sahib (Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal) ke voter hain (We are Ajit Singh’s voters),” Bablu said, making it amply clear which side his loyalties lie.

Jat Rethink

“The Jats of Kutba-Kutbi voted en bloc for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election even though there was no Modi lehar (wave). But today, the community is divided, torn between the BJP and the RLD. Since the arrest of hundreds of Jats who were allegedly involved in the communal frenzy and killed or maimed Muslims, the BJP has done absolutely nothing to free those who continue to languish in jail, although the party had promised it would do everything to get them out,” Bablu said as we all sipped the sugary syrup tea.

Kutba-Kutbi’s history is obscure, though Muslim elders in nearby Palda and Shahpur villages claim that its origin dates back to Mughal times when Pathans settled there. Today Kutba-Kutbi nestles in the midst of sugarcane fields washed by the waters of the nearby Ganges, the water-drawing pumps powered by a minimum of eight hours of electricity.

The Social Demographics

With the Muslims gone, Kutba now has about 3,200 voters and Kutbi 2,600. The sugarcane fields-owning Jats dominate Kutba-Kutbi. The demographics constitute other castes too: Kashyaps, Dalits, Sainis, Rajputs, Badhis (who are into carpentry) and Brahmins.

As we walked past the rows of Muslims’ abandoned houses, Mange Ram (a Jat), his lanky frame draped in a blanket, approached us. “Time pe bataoonga kisey vote doonga. Jat aise hi hotein hain (Will tell you at the right time who I will vote for. This is how Jats are),” Mange Ram said, preferring to keep his cards close to his chest.

But not for long as Bittu Baliyan (a Jat), young Rashid (a BA undergraduate student who had come over from Shahpur to play cricket with his Jat friends), Sanjeev Kumar (a chamar), Ravinder Singh (a Kashyap) and Niranjan Singh (a Badhi) formed an eclectic group representative of Kutba-Kutbi’s caste composition. From a nearby home, a buffalo bellowed and snorted.

Party Preferences

As the bidis were lit and jokes were cracked, evoking guttural laughter, Mange Ram opened up. “Dekho ji, manne to Chaudhary sahib ko hi vote dena (Look sir, my vote will go to Ajit Singh),” he said. Sanjeev was unequivocal in his preference: “Baspa (BSP),” he said, flashing a genial smile, exposing two gold fillings.

Ravinder Singh, a driver by profession, was loud in his proclamation of support for the BJP. “Apna to Hindu-Musalman ka ladhayi hai (Mine is a fight between Hindus-Muslims),” he said. And Niranjan Singh said: “Dimaag keh raha hai Bhajpa (the mind says BJP).” But he wouldn’t reveal what his heart says, as he peeled away from the group.

Also Read: In West UP, Sugarcane Remains Bitter for Both Hindus and Muslims

Effect of Demonetisation

Soon enough Ravinder Singh and Sanjeev Kumar break into a quarrel as the sensitive subject of demonetisation – notebandi in these parts of western UP – is brought up. Sanjeev has had trouble withdrawing money from the bank. In response, Ravinder whipped out a basic smartphone showing a message that he had withdrawn Rs 20,000 in cash from his savings account which was left with the meagre deposit of Rs 913.

Back in Bablu Baliyan’s house, amidst the ubiquitous charpoys and a parked tractor, he articulated what people want: An end to goonda raj, assured electricity supply and timely payment of sugarcane price and interest. “Baki raha Hindu-Musalman ka rishta, roti sekne ke liye tawa kahan se aayega? (As for Hindu-Muslim relations, where will the pan for baking the bread come from?),” Bablu said as he broke into a tirade against the BJP.

2013’s Riots Wave

“Why raise the Ram Mandir issue now? So many mosques and temples have been built. There was no Modi lehar in 2013. There was only danga (riots) lehar at that time. Today, the BJP still desires some communal spark to make electoral gains,” Bablu said as the elders – Karan Singh and Bhagmal Singh – nod their heads in agreement.

In adjoining Palda village, a canvasser for the Samajwadi Party, is holding a small strategy session with party supporters, among them Nissar Khan, a Pathan with light eyes and sunburnt cheeks that were once red.

“The Muslims of Kutba-Kutbi dare not return to their homes even now, such is the fear. The Jats of that village were emboldened enough to grab the Muslims’ land perhaps because they had the backing of Sanjeev Baliyan. Let’s wait for election day (11 February) when the combined strength of the SP and the Congress will give a fitting response to the BJP,” Khan said, raising his mud-caked calloused hands in a gesture of confidence.