Six days of violence in east Delhi’s Trilokpuri area has brought out the ugly head of communal tension lurking in the gullies of the capital.
What started on Thursday, also Diwali, ironically a day when Hindus celebrate the return of good after winning over evil, has spread panic in the area.
While Hindus and Muslims continued to point fingers, it was the ostracized other, the Hijra community that came to the rescue.
As a mob charged with swords and stones ready to break open the gates of a residential colony in the area, a group of Hijras showed them their weapons’ worth by threatening to undress. An act, often associated with extortion of money by the community, saved life and property.
The attackers turned away, shamefaced.
But that’s not all the group has done for the people living in the area. They have been making members of both Hindu and Muslim communities clean up their mohalla .
“The condition of the area was so bad that people weren’t able to even walk on the roads. Sanitation staff hasn’t come after the riots. Someone has to clean these streets as we all have to live here in the end,” Laila Sa, the chief of the group told Times of India.