Metal sheets, bamboo poles, wooden boards. Whatever they could find, they put it to use. “We did this for our suraksha,” said the Hindu re...
Metal sheets, bamboo poles, wooden boards. Whatever they could find, they put it to use.
“We did this for our suraksha,” said the Hindu residents of street number 10 in Brahmpuri. Across the road, Muslims used the word “hifazat”. It was the need for safety, said members of both the communities, that had led them to erect barricades to seal off their lanes.
The barricades had come up on February 25, a day after violent mobs took over the Brahmpuri main road. The thoroughfare runs parallel to the Maujpur-Jaffrabad main road where clashes between supporters and opponents of the citizenship law erupted on Monday, sparking tensions in North East Delhi.
The Brahmpuri main road cuts through the Shahdara area. On one side lie the neighbourhoods of Brahmpuri and Ghonda, on the other, Chauhan Banger and Mohanpuri.
In several stretches, the road formed an invisible border between Hindus and Muslims. For instance, gali number 10 in Brahmpuri is mostly home to Hindus, while straight across the road, gali number 10 in Chauhan Banger has a majority of Muslims.
But three days of violence had made the border visible: in the physical barricades that had come up, also in the palpable fear expressed by residents. The closer to the...
