A little over a week ago, Kallu Mian, 60, had been picking up the pieces of his life, along with charred remains of mattresses, pillows and blankets. A mob in Gurgaon had burnt his shop to the ground during the riots in Haryana.

On Tuesday, Kallu Mian saw a ray of hope as civil rights groups led by activist Yogita Bhayana helped him set up a new shop and gifted him some stocks of mattresses and blankets so that he can rebuild his life again.

The money to rebuild the shop had been raised as donations from across the country by Bhayana, who had been moved by a social media video of Kallu Mian, and the others.

“Elections are round the corner and such riots will return soon here, but there are signs of hope. Madam is Hindu, but she has gifted me a new shop so I can start afresh. Such a gesture has offered a glimmer of hope and I still believe there is still a ray of hope in this country,” said Kallu Mian, who hails from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh.

This violence, Kallu Mian said, was engineered to garner votes ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.

Kallu Mian had been running the shop selling mattresses, pillows and blankets for the past seven years in Gurgaon’s Sector 67, about 50km from Delhi.

“I am lucky to be alive. My shop was closed when the rioters raided the area. Otherwise, they would have killed me,” he said.

Kallu Mian said he was not angry with those who torched his shop. “Where were the administration and the police? Those who are supposed to protect people turned a blind eye and allowed the rioters to run amok. The poor of both communities have suffered in this mindless violence.”

Bhayana said she was pained to see a video of Kallu Mian on social media where he was seen picking up burnt mattresses, quilts and pillows from his arson-affected shop and decided to help him.

“I came to know about his plight through a video posted by a journalist on social media. I got Kallu Mian’s number and called him. He was very scared and said he had gone back to his Amroha village and did not want to return after witnessing the violence,” Bhayana told The Telegraph.

In a video posted by Bhayana on her Twitter account, she is seen gifting the new shop to a visibly happy Kallu Mian, who opens the shutters of the outlet barely 100 metres from his burnt unit.

“First, the rioters vandalised and set ablaze shops belonging to Muslims. Later, the Haryana administration targeted the community by bulldozing their houses and properties. This is nothing but gross injustice,” Bhayana said.

Six people, including a cleric and two home guards, were killed and several houses, including three places of worship, set ablaze in the violence that broke out after members of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad took out a procession in Nuh town last Monday. The procession was stopped by a group of young men and soon after, stone pelting started from both sides.

Several videos on social media had purported to show members of Hindutva groups carrying guns, swords and sticks and shouting religious slurs.

Bhayana, who has been actively working for women’s rights, said religion does not teach hatred and enmity.

“It is the biggest and most heinous crime to torture a helpless and innocent person. Hundreds of poor people who have been working as domestic helps in the highrises of Gurgaon have been displaced because of the violence,” she said.

“Most of them were from Bengal and they have fled with their wives and little children, fearing further attack from the rioters. The police and administration remained mute spectators when the miscreants targeted people from the minority community,” Bhayana said.