Can’t fight, want to carry on with trade, say Muslim traders ‘evicted’ from M.P. fair

Muslim traders were allegedly forced to shut their stalls at a fair in M.P.’s Damoh by organisers and Hindu outfits

Muslim traders who were allegedly forced to shut their stalls at a fair in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh recently said they want to take their business to some other place and not file a complaint.

At least 10 traders from various States had booked their stalls at the ‘Swadeshi Mela’ organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch from November 14 to 24. However, on their arrival, members of local Hindu outfits, after enquiring about the identities of the traders, asked them to pack up their stalls and leave.

“We just want to carry on with our business. We are not locals or from a nearby place. We cannot fight the organisers. So, we did not approach the police or the administration and left,” a cloth merchant from Kashmir told The Hindu. He said he spent ₹30,000 on transport and had paid ₹5,000 in advance to the organisers for the stall.

Mohd. Rashid, a shoemaker from Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, says that he had spend about ₹8,000 on transport besides paying the booking and registration fee for the fair. “I have travelled to several places across the country but never have I faced this kind of discrimination. But I do not want to drag this further because nothing is going to happen. I have come back to Agra now,” he said over the phone.

“We reached Damoh about five days before the fair but the organisers did not say anything then. We also paid ₹1,500 as the stall fee for one and a half days. They did not refund anything,” Mr. Rashid said, adding that the locals who visited the fair were also angry over the move.

Narrating the incident, Mr. Rashid said the fair was inaugurated on November 14 and the next day some men came to ask their names. “They said it was for making identity cards for entry. But on November 16 evening, they came and asked us to pack up. I even showed them my artisan card issued by the government, but they did not care,” he recalled.

Ram Patel, co-organiser of the fair, however, denied the allegations and termed it a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the event. “This is not a matter of Hindu-Muslim. We are providing a platform for local products and local craftspersons,” he said, adding that the fair committee had given a contract to a vendor named Ranu Chouhan to call the traders and he was the one who sent them back.