Shanti se boliye!

This has to be the news that immediately caught my attention. I don’t need to write anything. I salute Shafique Ahmed Mohammad Salim for his audacity in refusing the cheque. No views on the blasts now. I am waiting with fingers crossed. No conspiracy theories please. The police enquiry is underway and they have found no trace of RDX in the bomb used. This is an interesting incident

The first two hours after the blasts were tense, fears of a riot loomed large when large groups of Muslims made their way to the Wadia Hospital in the predominantly Hindu area to donate blood. Many of the local residents thought this was a mob heading towards them.

But within seconds, the “us versus them� attitude was dropped, helping hands came forward.

Read on the news from HT (10th septemper)

“WHY ARE you giving us bheekh (alms)?� That was the angry question posed by chemist Shafique Ahmed Mohammad Salim (39) to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh as they tried to distribute cheques of Rs 50,000 to families of seven of the 37 dead in the bomb-hit town of Malegaon.

“If we had proper hospitals, so many would not have died. Arrest those who caused these blasts, and we will present you with Rs 10 lakh,� said Shafique. His dead son Sajid (18) scored 84 per cent in his higher-secondary examination and was looking forward to joining a medical course at Jiujiang Medical University in China’s Jiangxi province on September 19.

Sonia Gandhi, eye-witnesses said, embarrassed by the outburst, replied: “Shanti se boliye (Talk softly).� Patil and Deshmukh hastily stepped in, thanking citizens for avoiding a communal flare-up and promised “necessary aid�.

But spurred by Shafique’s outburst, his brother Shakeel, who also lost his son Shahbad (17), joined in. “The government just levies taxes on us while we get nothing in return,� said Shakeel. “Four decades ago, Malegaon was more prosperous than even Nashik. But today it is in a state of decay.

Who is responsible for this?� Representatives of three other families, too, refused aid.

Shafique and the others told HT that they were protesting the “government’s apathy� that had transformed a town once known as the “Manchester of Maharashtra� into a “laawaris sheher (abandoned town)�, devoid of proper drains, roads and other civic infrastructure.

They may as well have been speaking on behalf of the 6 lakh people of Malegaon — at least 70 per cent Muslim — known more for a violent history of communal clashes than its struggling powerloom industry.

“All that we get are promises,� said powerloom worker Javed Sheikh.

“Arrest those who caused these blasts� SHAFIQUE SALIM Bereaved father

Shafique Ahmed with his son

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