Search the Internet          Tips

Faizabad indifferent to Ayodhaya crisis

Basharat Peer in Faizabad.

Ayodhya, today, is a cauldron of tension. A mere eight kilometers away, Faizabad -- joined administratively to Ayodhya -- is calm, placid, unfazed.

In Ayodhya, gun-toting policemen stop you from entering. In Faizabad, their brothers in arms allay your apprehensions, tell you there is nothing to worry about.

Demographically, you would think that Faizabad is ripe for communal tension -- 60 per cent of the populace is Hindu, 40 per cent is Muslim. Given this, and its contiguity to Ayodhya, you expect to see a tinderbox, primed and ready to flare up. What you see on the ground, however, is amity -- and unanimity -- among the two communities.

"There is no conflict between the Hindus and Muslims here," says Abdul Khaleeq Khan, convenor of the Hilal Committee, Faizabad. "The conflict is between those who do not abide by the law of the land and those who follow the Indian constitution. It is a conflict between the VHP, who are pushing the country towards madness and the rest of us who want to live peacefully."

"We want to live peacefully," agrees Mahesh Chand Kapur, former chairman of the municipal corporation and one of Faizabad's prominent Hindu leaders. "Our history has been one of peaceful co-existence. Hindus and Muslims here have celeberated every festival together. When there was curfew in the city after the Babri demolition, my Muslims neighbours sent me food, and when I could, I did the same."

Khan, Kapur and others are quick to point out that while the rest of the country burned in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, Faizabad remained an oasis of sanity. "18 Muslims were killed in the rioting that followed," says Khan, "but that was the handiwork of rioting kar sewaks from elsewhere. The local Hindus and Muslims did not go to war with one another, we did not shed each other's blood."

The most interesting aspect of Faizabad is the absence of ghettoisation. Typically, in towns that are so sharply divided between the two communities, you find a Muslim quarter and a Hindu quarter, sharply demarcated with the members of one group not venturing into the turf of the other. In Faizabad, however, the two people are mixed in together, and take a certain amount of pride in this what is more.

The elderly Samiullah, who lives and works as a mechanic in Shahdat Ganj, says he has never feared any threat to his life and property, despite living in one such mixed locality.

"We are safe here," says Samiullah. "I do not have any problems with anyone here, we mind our business, go about our daily lives. Even when there was rioting in Gujarat, things were normal here."

Amar Singh, for his part, lives in a neighbourhood where the majority are Muslims. "No, there is no hostility between the two groups," he says. "In fact, we are sick and tired of this ruckus that outsiders are creating in the name of religion. Hindus here are not particularly bothered whether the mandir is built or not, we only want to get on with our lives."

By and large, the reaction of the Faizabad native can be summed up in one word -- irritation. Irritation over the way events in Ayodhya have affected their routine life.

School and college examinations are just around the corner, but all educational institutions have remained closed since February 28, and will reopen only after March 15. In the interim, the compounds of schools and colleges in Faizabad have been turned into barracks by the various police and paramilitary units deployed here.

Thanks to the ban on movement of buses and trains to Faizabad, the business community has been hard hit. Similarly, restrictions on free movement have come at the peak of the marriage season, and dampened spirits considerably.

"We had lots of marriage bookings, but most of them got cancelled," says a local hotelier. "Since February 28, whatever marriages have been conducted have been on an austere note. Baraats comprise just the groom and a few close friends -- the administration does not permit more than that."

"All our problems are because of the outsiders," says Neeraj Srivastava, a local educationist. "They come to Ayodhya, and create problems for us. But," he adds, on a note of faith, "the madness they are attempting to spread won't work in Faizabad. It never has, it never will."

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report