“The cow is our mother too. Killing the animal is haram in Islam”

Call it the psychological impact of the lynching of one of them, due to rumours about consuming and storing beef, Muslims living in the vicinity of Bishahra village, especially where they are in a minority, have become anxious and insecure.

Given the religious polarisation, with tension lurking beneath the surface, most of them are apprehensive that any spark can lead to a big communal clash in a repeat of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar violence.

The extent of anxiety can be understood by the fact that Ehsan Ilahi Ansari, head of the Muslim-dominated Jarcha village, has started talking about the Hindu ancestry of Muslims in the region. “We are not Babar’s aulad. We were Shivaji’s sons,” Ehsan Ilahi, tells a peace meeting, a gathering mostly of Hindus, on Wednesday, appealing for peace and calm.

Then, Mr. Ilahi explains how gau mata is important for Muslims living in the region. “We don’t imagine a life without gau mata. For us, who are largely farmers, everything has been given by gau mata,” he says with emotion.

Almost like an assurance to the dominant community, Mr. Ilahi adds: “She is not only the mother of Hindus, she is our mother too. Killing a cow is haram in Islam.”

His statement raises a few eyebrows among the participants as it is for the first time the head of a Muslim-dominated village talks about the Hindu ancestry of Muslims living in the area. However, it is mostly seen as a message of compromise and peace.

Just a few metres from the Jarcha police station, where the peace meeting was held, Shakeel Ahmad, Mr. Ilahi’s friend and a resident of Jarcha, later tells this correspondent that many find Mr. Ilahi’s “newly acquired wisdom” rather “odd.”

But he gives a backgrounder. “The lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi hasn’t changed the day-to-day lives as such.” “But the fact is,” he adds, “that both Muslims and Hindus never imagined, given the close cultural and social bonds, that a Muslim could be killed brutally, just over rumours about beef. Now, they know it is possible.”

One of the by-products of the lynching is that Muslims are questioning Akhlaq’s decision to stay in a Hindu neighbourhood. Akhlaq’s is the only house, besides that of his brother, in an area populated by the Thakurs.

The ghettoisation of Muslims in Dadri and its vicinity is not the absolute norm. Almost every village, dominated by the Hindus, has some Muslims. The Muslim-only and Hindu-only villages, a trend that emerged after the Muzaffarnagar riots, still remains an exception in Dadri and this part of Uttar Pradesh. A random conversion with Muslims reveals it might change now, as the Muslims plan to leave villages where they are in extreme minority, for “more secure” Muslim-dominated villages.

Sabir Ali, in his early sixties, says Akhlaq could have been alive had he stayed in a Muslim-dominated village. “What is the point of staying in a Hindu area. What did Akhlaq get? He lost his life,” Mr. Ali says.

This view among Muslims has led to Mr. Ilahi announcing that Muslims, who are very few in numbers in other nearby villages such as Samana and Khatana, can migrate to Jarcha. “Elahi has made it known to people here, and for quite good reasons, that Muslims don’t need to stay in insecure areas. They can migrate to Jarcha. We will provide them with land to build houses and help them settle down here,” Mr. Ali adds.

Reyazuddin Saifi is a resident of Calaunda, another village in the vicinity of Bishahra. Talking to this correspondent, he makes the insightful comment that it doesn’t matter whether or not Hindus and Muslims fight — the brunt has to be borne always by the lower-caste Muslims like Saifis, who are into wood and machine works.