Meerut: The residents of Meerut’s Prahlad Nagar don’t really know what to make of the hullaballoo that’s currently surrounding their small locality dotted by old houses and rotting drains.
In the last couple of weeks, a lot of national media has descended on the area after a local BJP leader alleged that 125 Hindu families were forced to migrate because incidents of theft, ‘eve-teasing’ and bike stunts by anti-social elements of a “certain community”, purportedly referring to Muslims.
Bhavesh Mehta’s widely-reported complaint, lodged on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s NaMo app on 11 June, also said that the houses are being sold to Muslims at throwaway prices. Social media has been up in arms too.
Local residents, and police, offer many reasons for why many Hindu families have left or plan to leave Prahlad Nagar. None of them feature Muslims as the antagonist.
Fear of ‘abandoned temples’
When ThePrint visited the house of Bhavesh Mehta, his wife was teaching a Muslim girl in the living room.
For Mehta, his fears of Hindu migration is very real, but he persists the ‘Hindu-Muslim’ colour to his complaint was entirely the media’s.
“I just complained about the increasing ‘eve teasing’ and theft in the area. I did not give it the colour of Hindu-Muslim. It is given by the media. I am worried that if Hindus sell their house like this then what will happen to 10 temples of this area? I will not be able to see the abandoned temples,” said Mehta.
There are about 12 temples and gurudwaras in the area, claim local Hindu groups.
“There have been cases of air firing here. You cannot go and tell the students not to ride bikes at a high speed, whether it’s a Hindu boy or a Muslim boy, it is police’s job,” said Suresh, a shopkeeper in the area’s main market.
Jitendra Pawa, a local councillor who is associated with BJP, said he doesn’t know who these anti social elements are but they “are entering in our locality”.
“We want the authorities to take strict actions against them. We want CCTV cameras to be installed in the whole Prahlad Nagar. Yogi (Adityanath) ji has handled the law and order very gracefully. It is just the lower level officers who are not cooperating,” said Pawa.
“There is no Hindu-Muslin angle here.”
Why the migration
The residents of Prahlad Nagar, a refugee colony of Hindus from Pakistan, say families that have moved out did so either because of better opportunities elsewhere or for shifting to newer and better colonies.
“Some have gone to other cities for their jobs, some left the houses because they shifted to new colonies of the city and others sold their houses because they are well off. Who would want to live in this locality?” asked a 70-year-old woman, who didn’t wish to be identified.
“People leave the old aged parents behind. Similarly old houses have become orphans like old parents.”
But she agreed that Meerut is facing a dire situation as far as the safety of women is concerned.
“It has become a hell for young women. The whole of Meerut. You cannot step outside your home. They spare none,” she said.
Two Muslim women, her neighbours, who stood next to her in the old dilapidated house on one of Prahlad Nagar’s many dirty lanes, agreed wholeheartedly.
Anju, a 40-year-old woman who lives on another street, is selling a house and she does say that it’s out of fear for her daughters.
“I am selling this house because I have adult daughters. There is a lot of ‘eve teasing’ here. I want to move out to a good locality,” said Anju.
The main road which goes through Prahlad Nagar via Islamabad Mohalla — a Muslim-dominated locality next to it — opens on Hapur road. This road has become a headache for the locals. According to residents, the women are “eve teased” by outsiders and bike stunts have become a trend. There have even been debates about installing a gate where both the localities converge.
However, Anju said there’s no pressure on her to sell the house only to a Muslim.
“Whoever gives the right amount, I will give the house to that person. Our children have grown up with the Muslim kids. There is no such thing that ‘eve teasers’ are from a certain community. It’s not written on their forehead.”
Other families say there have been more cases of violence against women in the last 4-5 years.
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‘This house is suitable’
Many other houses on the streets of Prahlad Nagar are locked. Some even have posters — “This house is suitable” — with phone numbers on them.
“We wanted to sell this house twenty years ago but we couldn’t because of some reasons,” said a woman who has lived in the locality for 40 years.
“My brothers-in-law moved out of this area years ago. They have shifted to good colonies. Now both my children are happily married. I want to sell the house and move to a good colony. Even my son-in-law teases me over this. It is noisy and crowded,” said the woman on condition of anonymity.
She added that Hindu families like hers have “very good relations” with Muslims.
“There is no pressure on us to sell the house. In fact my neighbour Satish sold his house one year ago because all of his sons got married. The family needed a big space,” she added.
Many Hindu families have shifted to Shastri Nagar in Meerut after selling their houses in Prahlad Nagar. When ThePrint visited Shastri Nagar, they claimed the security arrangements are better and there is no traffic problem.
Many others told ThePrint that whoever can afford to buy a house in Prahlad Nagar can do so.
‘News is false’
The Meerut police is clear that not a single case of Hindu migration has happened “out of fear”.
Senior Superintendent of Police Nitin Tiwari told ThePrint, “We have got four cases registered last year from this area. The news of Hindu migration out of fear is utterly false.
“You bring us a single case which says that Hindus have left this area out of fear. They have their reasons for selling their houses.”
Of the reasons ThePrint asked about, the SHO of the Lisadi police station in Meerut said “no eve teasing case or complaint” has been registered. He added “minors were involved” in the firing cases.
“On Thursday, we called a meeting of the people from both the communities. In that meeting, we have given assurance to the people that their grievances would be addressed within the limits of the law. To solve this case, we have constituted a joint committee of the City Magistrate and the CO (circle officer). The demand of CCTV camera has also been accepted,” said Tiwari.
“The police is doing whatever we can do in the realm of law. I am saying again it is not a communal issue.”
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