Victim’s uncle says : This was purely a crime nothing to do with “Love Jihad”.,
Sounds shocking that unfortunately Uttarakhand which is considered to be a land ( abode) of Gods having four historic Hindu religious portals with spiritual significance having a population of 82.97 % and minorities merely 13.97% is today confronting situations of communal flare up as the one happened at Purola, Barkot, Chinyalisaud n some other towns of Uttarkashi, Garhwal, Uttarakhand where protest demonstrations were witnessed allegedly raising slogans of communal disharmony creating an atmosphere of distrust in the society.
What is important here to note is that the outburst and outrage of the people taking communal angle was the result of a minor girl allegedly being abducted by a Hindu boy and his Muslim friend though caught by police and put behind bars with several cases wrapped against them on May 26.
This was purely a case of crime adequately handled by the local police nabbing both the boys (accused) and putting them behind bars – not the case of ” LOVE JIHAD” as being propagated by several leaders and activists of saffron party and its offshoots says the uncle of the victim who is also a complainant in the case.
There have been news about clear involvement of hard core activists of Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan etc who had not only been vocal in venting poison about Love Jihad, communal disharmony and asking muslim traders and shopkeepers living in Purola etc for decades to leave immediately or face dire consequences but had also put a cross sign on the door n shutters of their ( Muslim) shops including pasting posters warning them to vacate them and leave Uttarkashi immediately. The poster was, pasted in doors of Muslim shopkeepers by Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan.
The protest demonstrations led by saffron clad activists participated by good number of people openly raised objectionable slogans allegedly spreading discord in the society.
The case of communal disharmony that happened in Purola with pro Hindu activists openly at work were intelligently controlled by the local police. Kudos.
After the call for Maha panchayat of Hindus on 15 th June was given by a so called Hindu protagonist saffron clad so called political saint Darshan Bharti and subsequent call by Muslim leaders on 18 th June at Purola Uttarkashi, the Uttarakhand police acted swiftly and detained the leader of Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan, the mastermind behind the Purola episode and others at Dehradun with imposition of 144 at Purola etc avoiding the Maha panchayat, thus for the time being avoiding the possible communal flare up.
But this trend of exploiting every case involving a person with minority background giving it a communal colour instead of dealing it from legal angle is leading to multi dimensional comunal repercussions, especially in Uttarakhand. The WhatsApp university and social media further adds to these baseless and concocted campaigns by adding fuel to fire – vitiating the communal fabric. What happened in Purola with protest demonstrations at Barkot and several other towns of Uttarkashi including Kumaon division after a single case of a girl’s abduction by a Hindu and Muslim boy giving it a communal colour for narrow political gain by a particular party or ideology has definitely degraded the reputation and prestige of Uttarakhand called a land of abode of Gods in the eyes of the world.
To substantiate this charge of some leaders of saffron party propagating majority religious faiths trying to give this case a communal colour can be gauged from a report published in HT on 18 th June in which a 40 year uncle, teacher of the minor girl catagorically revealed that he was pressurised, telephoned and physically approached number of times by these leaders and activists of right wing party party / groups to join them in their agitation and help them giving it a communal colour.
As per the report the victim’s uncle disclosed that he has been approached by several right wing groups like Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan asking him to join their agitation but he strongly turned them down out rightly. They approached me number of times and made my life a hell. They even called me on my mobile repeatedly finally compelling me to change my phone number.
He admitted they they wanted to give a communal colour to this incident said the victim’s uncle in the HT report. He thanked the police for avoiding this communal flare up and taking timely legal action in the matter. It may be recalled that in Uttarakhand such cases of girls’ elopement were earlier reported in media and cases of hundreds of Mazars built illegally on government land inside forests and the govt dismantling them have come to light in several parts of the state.
There have been cases of several such Mazar built with ulterior motives to capture government land and there after illegally built the mosque said some BJP leaders wanting to be anonymous.
Some people opposed to the right wing activists giving communal colour to Purola episode asked them : Where were they when an innocent 19 year old girl was brutally murdered by their own men now expelled fearing adverse political consequences.
Where were they when the educational and job career of unemployed youths were being derailed through the massive cheating and admission scam in which their own partymen were involved bringing bad name to the state.
