Mewat is the stronghold/ghetto of the Meo Muslims, an increasingly radical group that in 1927 gave the world the Tablighi Jamaat (the fundamentalist group that notoriously spat on doctors, nurses and police during Covid-19 lockdown). The Meo Muslims were Muslims nominally, till the 1880s, when the Anjuman tried to radicalise them. Unlike the Muslims of Malerkotla, who were protected by the Sikhs, the Meo Muslims could hardly count upon the goodwill of their Hindu neighbours. Simultaneously, tens of thousands of Meo Muslims marched on Delhi with a plan to massacre Hindus. Nehru wanted to help the Meo Muslims of Gurgaon get back their land which had been occupied by Hindu and Sikh refugees when the Meo community had migrated to Pakistan.

Source: Hindustan Times August 04, 2023 13:41 UTC