Srinagar: Soon after Tablighi Jamaat activists were traced to some parts of Jammu region, fake videos and announcements in some villages of Kathua and Samba have resulted in a virtual boycott of Gujjars and Bakerwals—who used to supply milk to the entire Jammu City and other areas—as being alleged carriers of coronavirus. Media reports from Jammu on 8 April talked about ban on entry to 10,000 villagers from Keerian and Gandial to Kathua town. On 17 April, they were allowed to come to Kathua town only to buy essential items and for health facilities.
“We used to come with milk in the morning and now we are not only beaten up by police, but local buyers in Jammu city also refuse to buy our milk,” said Jamal Khan Gujjar who used to come from R.S. Pora to Jammu City to supply milk. There have been local announcements in various parts of Jammu, especially in Kathua, Samba and Jammu city, asking households not to buy milk from the Gujjars, known as the “Dodhi Gujjar community”, in Jammu region. There is a feeling among residents of Jammu region that Gujjars are carriers of coronavirus and these fears have been reinforced among the people allegedly by some right-wing activists who do share a good relationship with Gujjars and Bakerwals since the beginning of 2018 when in Hira Nagar Tehsil of Kathua, a minor girl of Bakerwals was raped, resulting in arrest of many right-wing activists. Sources said an RSS affiliate “Sewa Baharti” is working actively in Jammu during the lockdown. They have been advising people not to buy milk from the Dhodi Gujjars as they could be infected with coronavirus. “People are not buying milk and milk products from them as rumours are doing the rounds that they are supplying infected milk,” said a senior professor of Jammu University on the condition of anonymity. She said that since the Tablighi Jamaat angle to coronavirus has emerged, there has been a lot of polarisation in the Jammu region, as people are maintaining a distance from the Muslim community in general to “avoid being infected”.
“We used to come with milk in the morning and now we are not only beaten up by police, but local buyers in Jammu city also refuse to buy our milk,” said Jamal Khan Gujjar who used to come from R.S. Pora to Jammu City to supply milk. There have been local announcements in various parts of Jammu, especially in Kathua, Samba and Jammu city, asking households not to buy milk from the Gujjars, known as the “Dodhi Gujjar community”, in Jammu region. There is a feeling among residents of Jammu region that Gujjars are carriers of coronavirus and these fears have been reinforced among the people allegedly by some right-wing activists who do share a good relationship with Gujjars and Bakerwals since the beginning of 2018 when in Hira Nagar Tehsil of Kathua, a minor girl of Bakerwals was raped, resulting in arrest of many right-wing activists. Sources said an RSS affiliate “Sewa Baharti” is working actively in Jammu during the lockdown. They have been advising people not to buy milk from the Dhodi Gujjars as they could be infected with coronavirus. “People are not buying milk and milk products from them as rumours are doing the rounds that they are supplying infected milk,” said a senior professor of Jammu University on the condition of anonymity. She said that since the Tablighi Jamaat angle to coronavirus has emerged, there has been a lot of polarisation in the Jammu region, as people are maintaining a distance from the Muslim community in general to “avoid being infected”.
Locals of the Gujjar community in R.S. Pora told media persons in Jammu that in the Vijyapor area of Samba District, they were stopped and announcements were made in presence of police that they should not be allowed inside the homes with milk. Advocate Shah Mehmood Chaudhary said that a delegation of Gujjars met senior officers of the administration and police, but the boycott continues, resulting in huge losses to the Dhodi Gujjar community. He said that this was being done on design as this boycott is forcing Gujjars to sell their milk for Rs 10-20 a kg to some big business houses in Jammu who, in turn, make cheese from the milk and sell it to people of Jammu city at very higher rates.
Amid the social boycott, the Dhodi Gujjars have been supplying milk free of cost at the quarantine centers established by the government in Kathua and Samba districts. One of their members, Ajmal khan, said they are supplying milk to all the quarantine centers, as the boycott will otherwise result in wasting this milk. No person from the Dhodi Gujjar community has tested positive for Covid-19 so far. Divisional Commissioner Jammu did not respond to telephone calls to him, while a senior police officer of Jammu region said that the beating of a few Gujjars by police has been an “aberration” and not part of any policy.
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