US President Barack Obama had a lot to do with the fact that a bearded old Muslim in a kurta-pyjama could go about his work in the Shiv Sena-dominated central Mumbai neighbourhood of Lalbaug on Tuesday afternoon, the site of Hindu-Muslim clashes less than 48 hours earlier.



For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party that controls both Maharashtra and the Centre, nothing will be allowed to cast a shadow over Obama’s impending visit to India for the Republic Day parade later this month – certainly not a full-scale Hindu-Muslim riot. So what happened in Lalbaug on the night of Eid-e-Milad, the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, on Sunday must be seen as a “local issue”, said Manoj Kotak, BJP group leader in Mumbai’s municipal corporation.



“It could have happened anywhere,” Kotak said. “There’s no point giving it a Hindu-Muslim angle and making too much of it.”



The combination was explosive: young Muslim bikers, high on religious fervour, going for the annual Eid-e-Milad procession, getting into a scrape in Lalbag, the Shiv Sena’s bastion. Yet, though five Muslim bikers were assaulted, one bike burnt and an unknown number of cars smashed, Mumbai didn’t see a full-fledged riot.



Man of the moment



The biggest reason for this was Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria rushing to the spot. The efforts of community relations activists such as advocate Yasmin Shaikh, who stopped young Muslims in Nagpada, incensed by WhatsApp rumours, from rushing to Lalbag to “save our womenfolk”, also went a long way in preventing large-scale violence. What was new this time, however, was the role played by local political leaders, both Hindu and Muslim.



Anil Salaskar, former secretary of the Lalbagcha Raja Ganpati Mandal, which hosts the most revered idol during the annual Ganesh festival, smiled when asked why leaders of the Shiv Sena, not exactly known for restraint, were busy trying to control the furious Hindu mob rather than leading it as they did during the 1992-‘93 riots. “We are in government now,” he replied. “We can’t afford a bad name. The ‘92-‘93 riots took us back ten years. We can’t afford another one. At that time we were caught up in the frenzy of those days. I was young. Now I have children!”



The spark for Sunday night’s violence was a seemingly routine mishap: a motorcycle colliding with a woman. It became a flashpoint given the general perception of Muslim bikers in Mumbai: dismissive of traffic rules and defiant towards the traffic police. In fact, their clash with a traffic policeman on Sunday night at Lalbaug was one major reason for the near-riot situation. While Salaskar said he saw a group of bikers strike a traffic cop in his chest when he tried to stop them, others speak of a scuffle. Shiv Sena workers rushed to the spot, only to be ordered to retreat. But the angry youth started halting bikes and smashing vehicles going for the Eid procession.



Bike riders



From Saturday night, across Mumbai, Muslim boys had started zipping around three on a bike, green flags in their hands, preparing for the procession. According to Salaskar, from Sunday noon, they had been going past the Lalbaug flyover, shouting not only religious slogans but also slogans against Shivaji.



“In all these years I have not seen such rowdyism,” Salaskar said. “Our Ganpaticha Raja [statue] passes through their area [on the last day of the Ganesh festival] and they welcome it with puja. They are good people – except for a few. So many Muslims are willing to die for the country. So I’m beginning to think this whole incident was planned to disrupt Obama’s visit. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen. “



However, a shopkeeper who saw part of the clashes said a similar fracas had also taken place during last year’s Eid-e-Milad celebrations. But this year, violence erupted before anyone could intervene. According to him, a Hindu boy got hurt when a group of bikers brushed past him, and he confronted them. “All they needed to say was sorry,” the shopkeeper said. “Such collisions happen during Ganpati too, when our boys go overboard. Instead, they started abusing the boy. “



On their part, Muslim leaders also stepped in to defuse the situation. Samajwadi Party corporator Rais Shaikh was in Byculla, at the main venue of the procession, when he heard about the clashes in Lalbaug. He phoned his colleague, the BJP's Manoj Kotak, who in turn consulted MLA Ashish Shelar. Lalbagcha Raja office-bearers were contacted. Very soon, Shiv Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhury and ex-MLA Bala Nandgaonkar of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, were on the streets, restraining the mob.



With WhatsApp messages coming in thick and fast, journalist Sarfaraz Arzu, vice-chairman of the All india Khilafat Committee and chief organiser of the Eid-E-Milad procession, decided to check out for himself the number of casualties. “I found just five boys had been injured, four of them had been discharged already, and one was waiting for a CT scan – he had been brought there by his Hindu friends,” said Arzu. “We also heard that the local Hindus had helped some Muslims to safety. We immediately passed on this information and forced the processionists to go home as soon as possible.”



Police get praise



For the first time in a Hindu-Muslim clash, the Mumbai police are being appreciated by both sides. A Muslim delegation met Commissioner Maria to thank him. Perhaps the biggest compliment came from All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen MLA Waris Pathan. A WhatsApp message urging Muslims who had been beaten up or had their vehicles damaged to take legal action was doing the rounds all of Tuesday. It gave the phone numbers of corporator Fayyaz Ahmed of the Congress, and Waris Pathan. Both Ahmed and Pathan denied having sent any such message. “I’ve asked the police to find out who has sent this message,” said Pathan. “The police took timely action, and saw to it that no untoward incident took place. There’s nothing for me to do. We are all very thankful to them.”



In August 2012, then Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik had saved Mumbai from a riot by ordering his men to exercise restraint after they were attacked without any provocation by a Muslim mob. Though two Muslims died in police firing, Patnaik was abused by the Sena, the MNS and by most Mumbaikars, and transferred to an insignificant post as punishment.



On Sunday, the violent mob was Hindu. Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria controlled them without firing a single shot. The entire city hailed him as a hero.



