Guwahati: Five Muslims have been detained so far for engaging in “Flood Jihad,” which led to significant flooding in Silchar’s Hindu-majority neighbourhoods. The Muslim males were detained for 15 days following the arrests, which were made around July 3, but they were eventually released due to a lack of evidence.
These arrests were made of Muslims living in Silchar’s Muslim-dominated Bethukandi area, but police found no evidence linking them to any ‘Flood Jihad’ theory.
Assam experienced two waves of flooding this year, first in May and then again in June, as rains arrived earlier and heavier than usual. However, it left a trail of wanton death and destruction, which is normal and occurs every year.
However, there was a new twist in the Assam floods this year. This is because, this year, social media went hammer and tongs with the ‘Flood Jihad’ theory, which blamed Muslims for the floods.
The term “Flood Jihad” was coined and widely circulated in social media posts. The social media posts were shared thousands of times before being picked up by several local media outlets. The message was that the floods were the result of a group of Muslims deliberately inundating the Hindu-majority city of Silchar.
According to Google Trends, searches for “flood jihad” reached a five-year high in July, fueled by the social media frenzy surrounding the claim that Muslims were responsible for damaging flood-protection embankments.
According to Muslimmirror.com the truth about this year’s flood in Assam is poor maintenance of embankments that is central to flood management. The state has more than 4,000km (2,500 miles) of embankments; many of them have become old and prone to damage. There a lot of breaches do take place because of the lack of repair and maintenance of the embankments. Sometimes there are instances where people deliberately breached the embankment so that the water would move out, and would not flood their area.
Silchar Superintendent of Police Ramandeep Kaur dismissed the ‘Flood Jihad’ claim. She told the media that some arrests were made because of social media posts, but that all of those arrested were released because no wrongdoing was found against them.
Locals feel that the problem of floods in Assam requires a far more mature response from the double-engine government right now in the state and the center.
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