THE HEROES OF TRILOKPURI

The Citizen Begins a 3 Part Series on the communal violence in Trilokpuri, Delhi.

NEW DELHI: In a conflict situation, there are always those who propagate it and then there are those who try to contain it. Almost a week after the communal clashes in Tilak Vihar, The Citizen was able to locate individuals who at the cost of their lives, did everything they could to stop the violence without thought or fear for their own safety.

In the narrow lanes of Block 15, stands a modest house that accommodates Rajman Misra, who is a retired government servant. When Rajman heard the slogans of Har Har Mahadev, from his bedroom, he anticipated trouble. He looked down from his balcony to discover that a mob of hundreds was trying to break into Block 14, dominated by Muslims, while raising slogans and with clear violent intentions. Without a second thought, Rajman rushed down and stood at the other side of the gates, appealing to the rioters to stop inciting people and not to enter the area. When they refused to listen to him, he sat right in front of the gate and declared that anybody who crosses through will have to kill him first, Rajman did not succeed fully at the end but was able to delay the attack for a long while.

Rajesh Hawaldar, half Rajman’s age, has become a hero in Block 14 with everyone speaking of him with admiration. For the traumatised Muslims here, Rajesh, who is a constable in Delhi Police, is the undisputed hero as he tried to rescue them from the rioters. According to the residents here, while policemen were busy beating the minorities and picking up the youth indiscriminately Hawaldar was doing his professional duty by trying to protect them from the mobs. Talking to the Citizen, Rajesh said, “I joined the police because I wanted to serve my country, not just because I had to earn a living for myself. I could have done that through other means also. It was my moral obligation for me to save innocent innocent people from the rioters and I fulfilled that. I was never driven by sympathies for any particular community and what matters to me is the Indian Constitution and nothing else.”

And then is story of Laila, a transgender resident of Block 35 in Trilokpuri. Her personal story is of harassment and oppression. But she swung into action to try and restore peace as soon as she was informed that brick batting had begun in her block.

Laila, narrates the tale in her own words: “ I was settling down to have my breakfast, when I heard screams and saw bricks being hurled across the gates, it was all very sporadic. I rushed down and asked people not to throw bricks anymore. People from the other blocks were also trying to enter Block 36. I declared that if any one enters this block, I will take off my clothes and also their clothes, and have a physical fight with them.”

Responding to a question about her own difficult journey Laila replies, “this society may not accept me as I am but for me it’s my society. I was born in this society. When people taunt at us they don’t realize that they are taunting at themselves, because we have also evolved in this society only.”

Laila, originally belongs from a small hamlet in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Laila, claims that she draws her inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi, who is a symbol of peace and love for her. She says, “Whatever I am doing is for my country and the love I have for it.” Ridiculing those who have been trying to appropriate Mahatma Gandhi, she says, “these people do not seem to know that Gandhi was a symbol of peace and not violence. Gandhi believed in a country for everyone and not one particular community. The tricolor has three colors and we must learn to respect all of them.”

When asked to leave a message for the country through the medium of The Citizen, she says with more wisdom than most in power, “we should overcome all the differences among us, we all have to come together for the country to be united.”

Laila, is receiving wide acclaim now for the courage that she has displayed, people are calling her from other countries to congratulate her. But there has not been a word of applause from the government that has ignored her brave efforts to restore peace and harmony.