Nabisaab Killedar has been selling fruits outside the Hanumantha Temple at Nuggikeri village near Dharwad for over twenty years now. Until April 9, when 10 Sri Rama Sene members went on a rampage and vandalised Nabisaab’s pushcart and the watermelons he was selling. Days later, a still flustered Nabisaab who says he has never faced discrimination at the temple before, is appalled at the fact that policemen stood watching silently while Sene members destroyed the fruits, his pushcart and his livelihood. The visuals of tens of watermelons smashed on the ground was widely circulated and prompted several people, including prominent politicians, to set up fundraising campaigns to give financial assistance to Nabisaab. “I don't know who all have sent me money, I have gotten a few messages about money being deposited in my account. I am grateful for the blessings of all the people,” he says. But even as the attack on Nabisaab’s cart has been used to further polarise the state, Nabisaab wants to go back to the same spot and continue selling fruits to the devotees who visit the Hanumantha Temple, if he is allowed to do so. “For close to a hundred years, we have been living together. The Hindus and Muslims here have been eating, working together for at least four to five generations. The vandals are from outside the village, not our Hindu friends,” he told TNM.
Nabisaab is a practicising Muslim and says he is religious by nature. But that has not deterred him from learning either the Hanuman Chalisa or from eloquently quoting the poet and saint Basavanna. Having grown up in Dharwad, how can anybody be oblivious to the wise words of Basavanna, he asks, even as he cites his vachanas (philosophical poems linked with the Shaiva movement from 11 and 12 century AD).
Starting from the Maari Gudi fair in Udupi, Hindutva organisations have been engaged in a malicious campaign across Karnataka for over one month now, targeting small Muslim traders who have been selling either near temples or during temple fairs. The ruling BJP too, misapplying the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 2002 law, has supported this campaign. In this case, the Sri Rama Sene justified their actions claiming that they had issued a ‘warning’ to the Muslim vendors a month ago to not sell near Hindu temples. The act of destruction was because the Muslim vendors did not relocate, they claimed.
Nabisaab denies this. “All of the sudden, without any warning, they just started destroying my cart. If Sri Rama Sene or anyone had warned us before, we would have informed the committee. If they had said don’t sell here, we would have left. There were at least ten of them and I was alone. So when they started vandalising, I moved away. I just wanted to save my life. If I lose my cart, I may be able to buy another one sometime,” he recollects.
The goons reportedly abused Nabisaab with the choicest expletives even as they smashed the watermelons, he adds. Highlighting the impunity with which the Sri Rama Sene goons ran amuck, Nabisaab says the two policemen standing right there watched the entire episode and did nothing. “I went to them (policemen) and asked why they are not stopping those who are vandalising. It was only after that, the local police sent backup” he said.
Praveen Sood, the DG & IGP of Karnataka denies this allegation. Speaking to TNM, he said, “On the contrary, an FIR was booked under a few non-bailable sections and four very important leaders who were behind this were arrested and sent to judicial custody,” he said.
“We will not tolerate any such incidents in the state and I have had a video conference with Superintendents of Police of all districts and have told them perfect law and order has to be maintained,” he added.
The temple at Nuggikeri village where the incident took place, like most other temples in the state, has a committee overseeing administration including deciding who can set up stalls outside the temple. Nabisaab says that they were no objections to him or the other three Muslim vendors selling flowers, fruits and other pooja items for many decades. “The temple committee too has had no problem with us Muslims. After this incident, we gave a memorandum to the committee and community leaders asking if we should continue selling fruits outside the temple or not. There is another place owned by our community, Anjuman Complex where at least 12 shops have been rented out to people from Lingayat caste. The secretary of that society called me and asked me to take up a shop in that complex now. So we had a peace meeting and decided that we will continue as is and live together,” he said.