Not far from Delhi and close to Sonipat, a bumpy road leads to the village of Dewarhu. Dewarhu doesn’t stand out in rural Haryana — the same modest structures, some painted in happy colours; men in kurta-payjama, people with weathered faces; a few buffalos here and there. Looks, however, can be deceptive. As of last September, every Hindu house in Dewarhu carries a marking of an om or a swastika symbol. It’s common to see these markings since they’re considered auspicious. But in Dewarhu, they have a sinister edge to them. They weren’t painted by the house-owners, but appeared last September. Whispers in Dewarhu suggest the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha’s workers are behind these markings, but this is not confirmed. What is certain, however, is that the village has transformed from a place where a quirky hybrid of Islam and Hinduism thrived, to one that is now festering with communal tension.

When you enter Dewarhu, narrow lanes take you to the centre of village. Here  stands a dilapidated mosque. On its left is the village’s baithak (common sitting area), where you can find the elderly and young playing cards. On the right is a madrasa. It’s quite obvious that there have been no prayers held in the mosque in a long time. Crumbling in parts and overrun by grass, the mosque looks like a ruin. Yet the nerve-centre of Dewarhu’s communal tension is this mosque — claimed by Hindus as a temple, fought over by the Wakf board and the Muslims, and eight acres of  land owned by the mosque, located at the end of the village, are now disputed.

On April 4, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and Haryana cabinet minister Kavita Jain laid the foundation stone of a community hall in Dewarhu. It is to be built precisely where the dilapidated mosque stands. Jain’s promptness to lay the foundation stone sent a message to the Muslim community, whose members have been fighting a court case to revive the mosque as a place of worship. The foundation stone being laid months after the Hindu households were marked has triggered fresh fears of communal tension. To Dewarhu’s Muslims, that stone is a sign that the government isn’t on their side and the mosque is coming down.

Jain’s decision to lay the foundation stone came six months after every Hindu house in Dewarhu was marked with om and swastik. “Barring few, no one protested when houses were being marked. My house too has been marked,” said Roopesh, who runs a fertilizer shop in the village. Muslims in the village believe that houses were marked in an organized manner, by a group of men that included a few from the village and outsiders affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). “Ye pehchan ke liye kiya gaya hai, kaunsa Hindu ka ghar hai, kaunsa Musalmaan ka,” said Surender, a local villager. “Kal koi bahar wala kuch karta hai to wo pehchan sakta hai ki Musalmaan ka ghar kaunsa hai.” (“This has been done to identify Hindu and Muslim households. In case outsiders attack, they will be able identify Muslim households.”) Surender, despite his Hindu-sounding name, is actually Muslim.

While people affiliated to the RSS are rumoured to be closely involved in Dewarhu’s local affairs, there is no confirmation that they were behind the markings. The police didn’t investigate these, but the reason the painted signs inspire a sense of fear and unease among the locals is that houses of non-Jats were identified and targeted in a similar manner during the recent Jat reservation stir in Haryana.

Unity in diversity

Dewarhu is barely 60 kilometres from Delhi and is predominantly a farming community. Out of its 500-odd families, 160 are Muslim. According to villagers, in 1947, the Muslims who chose to stay on in the village adopted Hinduism. They changed their culture, names and customs. The mosque that is now in dispute stood at the heart of the village even then. During Partition, it supposedly offered refuge to many Hindus who migrated and eventually, Hindus who remained in Dewarhu started offering prayers at the mosque. In this way, the mosque became a place of worship for Hindus.

Meanwhile, Dewarhu’s new converts to Hinduism did their best to find a place in the existing Hindu society. They adopted the local Hindu marriage customs and started keeping Hindu names. This remains a prevalent custom in Dewarhu and is the explanation behind Surender’s name, for instance. Some Muslims have chosen surnames like Khatri or Singh.

Unfortunately, disputes started sprouting between the converts and older Hindus within a few years. The newcomers didn’t feel welcomed into the community. They claimed that Hindus refused to marry their daughters into families of converts, which was the most telling sign of unacceptance. The converts decided to return to Islam. The more conservative Hindus of Dewarhu, like Puranchand Nambardar, believe that “outsiders” from Uttar Pradesh started frequenting the village and instigated the new Hindus to reconvert. (Nambardar also found nothing objectionable about Hindu houses being distinguished by the painted religious signs. “Don’t they [the Muslims] write 786?” he asked, ignoring the question about who may be behind the markings on the Hindu houses.)

This history has resulted in Dewarhu being home to an unusual variety of Islam today. Bhola Singh, a Muslim farmer, said “Humare ghar mein shadi abhi bhi ferron aur mantron se hoti hai. Shadi mein hum abhi bhi panditon ko bulate hain.” (“In my family marriages, are still done as per Hindu custom of mantras and going round a sacred fire. We call priests for marriages.”) In one family, one son is an ardent follower of Islamic customs while his brother’s son holds an important position in the village’s Balaji temple. From Muslims contributing in Shivratri and other Hindu religious functions, to being guests at family functions irrespective of religion, the two communities have had cordial relations in past and at least the Muslims appear to have adopted a number of Hindu rituals and practices.

In 1965, the Wakf Board, which has the legal right to manage all mosques and properties attached to them, claimed its authority over the mosque in Dewarhu, which was being used for Hindu prayers. This didn’t seem to deter those who were using the mosque, according to locals. Zuma Hussain, who used to be the sarpanch in Dewarhu and has led the Muslim efforts to reclaim the mosque, had a clarification to make. “No idols were ever installed in the mosque,” he said. “Hence it is wrong of people to call it a temple.” Hussain said that 1980 was the last time prayers were offered in this mosque.

Fast forward to 2002. By this time, the mosque had not been a place of worship for about two decades. The Wakf Board, despite its mandate, had done nothing for the upkeep of the structure, which was now in ruins. The Muslims in Dewarhu challenged the Wakf Board’s authority and appealed in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in 2002 that the mosque be transferred to a village level Muslim committee. They wanted to restore the mosque and use it again.

In 2008, Chief Justice TS Thakur, presently a Chief Justice of India, observed that the Haryana Wakf had failed to carry out maintenance of the mosque in Dewarhu. It ordered the Wakf to consult the petitioners (the Muslims of Dewarhu) and do the needful. However, despite this court order, no repair was carried out. During his second tenure as sarpanch, between 2008 and 2009, Hussain tried to repair the mosque. This was opposed by Hindus in Dewarhu and Hussain abandoned the work. The case against the Wakf Board is still pending.

With the structure itself being legally out of bounds for the Muslims of Dewarhu, the community decided last year to construct an idgah, which is an open-air gathering place where Eid namaz can be offered, in eight acres of land owned by the mosque. When work began, Hindus complained to the police about the construction. Although no FIR was filed, the tension in Dewarhu sky-rocketed. “Log marne-maarne ke liye taiyaar the,” said Jarnail Singh, who is Muslim. “Dar itna tha ki kai Muslim family gaon se chali gai thi.” (“People were ready to kill each other. The fear was such that many Muslim families left the village.”)

The relation between the two communities has been strained since then, although those families that left have returned according to Jarnail. Hindus and Muslims have limited communication now. Even children don’t mix much or play together as they used to. Bhola said, “Our kids used to play with each other, that too without any grudge or differences in mind. But now situation has changed.” With pain and regret evident on his face, he admitted, “I have asked my children not to play with them, at least for the time being.”

There have been some efforts to counter the negativity. Soon after the om and swastika markings appeared, volunteers of an organisation named Nav Bharat Sabha (villagers call them “Bhagat Singh-waley”) started organising public meetings and making their own graffiti. One of their messages is, “Those trying to spread fundamentalism/communal tension, don’t enter our village. Beware!” With the atmosphere in Dewarhu being as uneasy as it is, the warning doesn’t seem to have been heeded.

Whether the tension in the village is politically instigated or not is unclear. It’s possible that some of the interest in the mosque is because of the eight acres of land that it has. This is where the community hall that Jain has proposed would be built. However, right now, the real estate doesn’t seem to be as important to the locals as the symbolism of the mosque. Even though it has been a temple of sorts for Hindus, the Muslims want the mosque back. Meanwhile the Hindus, despite not using the mosque for over 20 years, are unwilling to part with it.

Soon after this clash over the idgah, the marks of om and swastika showed up on the walls of Hindu homes.

The distrust between the two communities is growing day by day. Muslims claim Hindus carried out processions on and around Ganesh Chaturthi, in September, in which men carried lathis and swords to intimidate Muslims, and that Hindus threw stones at the madrasa. Hindus allege that Muslims from the madrasa stone-pelted one of their processions.

After the construction of the idgah was stopped, the Muslims of Dewarhu moved to court to get permission to build the idgah. On 24th October 2015, Punjab and Haryana High Court (Chandigarh) permitted the Muslim community to carry out repairs on the mosque and construct an idgah, in a small part of eight acres of land. Despite this permission, the Muslims in the village have chosen to not carry out construction work for the time being. According to Hussain, the atmosphere is too tense. “When the construction was stopped, they asked where is the permission to carry out repairing,” said Hussain, referring to the Panchayat in Dewarhu which is against the rebuilding of the mosque. “Here is the permission! Even now we can’t go ahead with the repair work.”

Today, the mosque lies in ruins. Inside, one finds Urdu engravings on the wall, but there are no signs of any Hindu gods or goddess, or any remnants of puja. The ownership of the land that currently belongs to the mosque is also in limbo. On November 29, 2015, a meeting was held at Sonipat Sadar police station between 11 representatives from both communities. They agreed on the construction of a community hall in place of the disputed mosque and both Hindus and Muslims agreed to not put forward any claim over the land until the current legal case reaches its conclusion.

Azad Singh, one of the Hindu representatives, said that it was a sacrifice by the Hindus of Dewarhu to give up the mosque that has been a temple for them.  “There was no pressure on police or Muslims,” he said. While sources in Sadar Police station did admit that RSS played the role of “catalyst” in the present crisis, officially, SHO Ajay Malik maintained that no RSS representatives were allowed at the meeting. “Few tried to become leaders,” said Malik. “But we ensured they were not part of the meeting with panchayat and representatives from both communities.” He further added that building a community hall instead of a mosque or a temple was a progressive decision.

However, Hussain, who was one of the Muslim representatives, offers a different perspective. “There was huge pressure on us to sign the compromise letter,” he said. “Though we have agreed for the construction of the community hall, but it is not with consent.” After a small pause, Hussain added, “Someone will fight, but if we fight, we will die.”

The possibility that the demolition of the mosque may trigger communal violence in Dewarhu is a very real one to locals. In the eyes of several Hindus glimmers the hope of a Hindu temple. Stories about how the mosque was built on a well belonging to a Hindu have started doing the rounds. Meanwhile, Muslims like Jarnail Singh believe that if the current structure is demolished, it will lead to resistance. “Be it mosque or temple, no should try to take down a religious structure,” he said. “We will stand against it. Things might turn ugly then.”

However, the local administration isn’t taking these concerns seriously. “We should not give much importance to a few dissenting voices,” said Malik. He said that any decision regarding construction would be taken on the basis of a consensus from both communities. He also said that most of the villagers were ready for “modern development” and a fund of Rs two crore has been sanctioned for the community hall and similar projects.

Are Hussain and Singh’s anxieties warranted? Is Malik’s pragmatism grounded in reality? When asked about the Muslims in Dewarhu, Rajpal, a construction worker, said, “Are they Muslims? Look at their culture, their names. They behave exactly like we do. In my 40 years, I have never felt that they are real Muslims.” He was about to say something else, but a middle-aged man who was passing by and had overheard him, made an emphatic announcement: “Wahan Ram mandir tha. Kavita Jain se baat ki hai meine. Mandir hi banega.” (“There was a Ram temple over there. I have spoken to Kavita Jain. A temple will be constructed there.”)