The Pratirodh Bureau has released a documentary film ‘Partition Revisited’. Produced by Rajeev Yadav and Shahnawaz Alamof the Uttar Pradesh unit of the People’s Union For Civil Liberties, it is based on the Rudrapur riot of 2nd Oct, 2011, wherein four persons were killed and thousands had fled their homes out of fear. Policemen and mobs led by leaders of the BJP, Congress and BSP had ransacked shops and settlements of Muslims in their third successful attempt within two years to stoke communal riot in the area.

The riot, which took place on Gandhi Jayanti, led to a massive migration of the victimized community out of the affected area, reminding one of the days of the 1947 partition. At a time when the state was about to go to polls this riot assumed an electoral importance. Many perpetrators of this riot are candidates in the state assembly election this year.

This film focuses precisely on this unnoticed phenomenon that we could trace out in this first-ever state-sponsored communal riot since the formation of Uttarakhand, engineered by RSS which has been working for a long time in this part to arouse the dormant anti-Muslim sentiments among the Bengalis, Sikhs and Panjabi Hindus who came and settled here after Partition.

It is worth remembering that during Partition, many refugees from Punjab were given land grants in the Terai region of Uttarakhand. However, so inflamed was the mood, that many participated in attacks on local Muslims who had been living in the region for centuries. The troubles in Rudrapur, echoed by an earlier incident in Kotdwar, must not be allowed to fester, lest this kind of negative mobilization becomes more widespread. Those responsible must be rebuked and punished. (Available on youtube.com)