The Mosque Committee decides to hold a protest against the government and Police outside the Court Complex for arresting Muslim suspects. While Police tries to block the entry of protesting Muslims into the court, many of them succeed in breaking the police cordon and entering the court premises. Police beat them up with canes (lathicharge). One Muslim protester, while trying to scale the boundary wall of the Court, dies in an accident. It is revealed that the youth who died in the accident was none other than the nephew of Chairman of the Mosque Committee Nawab Kasuri (played by Om Puri). Infuriated Nawab Kasuri supported by Maulana of the Mosque Masjid-e-Azam calls for a 'Bandh' (General Strike) by all Muslims. All Muslims, whether in public or private sector, are ordered to stop work. Hashmat is caught between the community and his promise to deliver the Ford engine after repair to his friend - Mr. Rizvi- who works with Government of Uttar Pradesh. First he decides to return the engine unrepaired and goes to meet Mr. Rizvi at the museum where Mr. Rizvi works. He does not get to meet Mr. Rizvi but driven by circumstances he comes to know that Mahatma Gandhi laid his life fighting for safety of Muslims during Partition. His conscience appeals to him and he resolves to deliver the engine for Mahatma Gandhi's cause. He asks the Mosque Committee to make exception for him (as this is for a cause) allowing him to return to work and deliver the engine in time, but Mosque Committee insults him and rebukes him. His family and friends turn against him. He is pressurised and physically attacked but he carries on with his work eventually winning over hearts of his fellow Muslims (who regarded him as a traitor) with Gandhian values and methods. The film allegedly displays the split personality of Indian Muslims through irrational symbolism. In a scene, right in the beginning of the film, some Muslims are shown praising Pakistani Cricket Team and its famous players like Shahid Afridi and Javed Miandad insinuating towards the support which Pakistani Cricket Team enjoys over Indian Cricket Team in Muslim neighbourhoods of India. In contrast, the main protagonist Hashmatullah (portrayed as a moderate patriot Muslim) praises Sachin Tendulkar in the same scene. In a scene, it is shown how aristocrats are ruling the Muslim community with an iron fist. Nawab Kasuri (Om Puri) is angry with Hashmat and his family because Hashmat's late elder brother, who was once an employee in Nawab Kasuri's household, had contested an election against him for the Chairmanship of the Mosque Committee.