DEHRADUN: Amid a controversy over an attempt to abduct a minor in Purola, Uttarkashi, the Purola Pradhan Sangathan has announced a ‘mahapanchayat’ on June 15.
In response to the controversy over the announcement of the ‘mahapanchayat’, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi reacted sharply and demanded the state government to immediately ban the ‘mahapanchayat’.
The BJP hit back, saying Owaisi’s advocacy of ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad’ was unacceptable in Devbhoomi. The party strongly objected to Owaisi’s statement on the exodus of a particular community.
“Owaisi is neither an acceptable leader of the Muslim community nor a supporter, he does ‘vote bank politics’ everywhere by spreading hatred,” the party’s state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan told this newspaper. Efforts to change the demography in the state will not be allowed to succeed in any way. “His venomous vocabulary cannot spoil the peaceful atmosphere of Devbhoomi,” added Chauhan.
Tension between the two communities in the state over the issue of ‘love jihad’ has been steadily rising following a tweet by AIMIM national president Asaduddin Owaisi. Strongly reacting to Purola’s announcement, the Muslim community has also called for a mahapanchayat in Dehradun on June 18.
Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Arpan Yaduvanshi told this newspaper, “Section 144 has been imposed in the district. No person violating the law can be exempted. We have tried to find a solution through talks with representatives of various organisations and the aim is to maintain peace,” he said.
Speaking to TNIE, Swami Darshan Bharti, founder of Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan, which is organising the mahapanchayat, said, “We stand by our earlier resolve and have appealed to the people of Uttarakhand not to rent out their houses and shops to people from the Muslim community.”
Uttarkashi BJP district president Satyendra Rana said: “Devbhoomi has a culture of hospitality tradition and such heinous acts will not be tolerated here at any cost. The way the campaign of ‘Love Jihad’ is going on under one agenda, the citizens and the party here will completely destroy it”.
Zahid Malik, district president of the BJP’s minority cell, who has left Purola town, has alleged that “during a protest in Purola on May 27, locals used abusive language against women of a particular community”.
This has been denied by the people of a ‘particular community’ living in Purola itself. In a memorandum to SDM Purola on Monday, Bale Khan, Mohammad Ashraf and Javed, belonging to the Muslim community of Purola, said Zahid Malik’s allegations, circulated through a video message on social media, were “completely false, alleging that women from their community were mistreated during the protest.”
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) V Murugesan, in a virtual meeting, directed all superintendents of police to keep a close watch on law and order in their respective districts.
“For many decades we people of different communities have been living as a family with mutual brotherhood and complete harmony in Uttarakhand, this is the first time, such an unfortunate atmosphere has been seen,” Abdul Wahab, a resident of ISBT Azad Nagar, said.