Hate Campaign Against Muslims Under The Guise Of Love Jihad
By Ravinder Patwal
Translated into English
by Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam
16 June 2023
Purola Village,
located in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, is around 385 km from Delhi.
This village was a little way from the Yamunotri road, which has
now developed into a town as a result of constant migration from the villages.
The population of the village, which was around 2,500 in 2011, is now estimated
to be 4,000. In addition, Purola is home to about 40 Muslim families. These people
have lived there for the past 50 years, and some of them manage a clothing
store.
In its report, the Hindi
newspaper Janchowk provided in-depth information about the
episode of communal tension in Purola on June 10, citing veteran journalist
Trilochan Bhatt for specific information. Here, we'll look into the
circumstances that have led to the current state of affairs, where families
from the minority community are being compelled to leave Purola.
The fact that a
14-year-old Hindu girl fell in love with a Hindu boy and not a Muslim boy is
something that the entire media is continually suppressing. Two Muslim boys are
accused of attempting to abduct a 14-year-old Hindu girl on May 26, however,
the locals raised suspicions, and the girl was freed.
Nevertheless, Saini, one
of the two boys, is a Hindu. According to journalist Trilochan Bhatt,
"Both Ubaid Khan and Jitendra Saini are originally from Bijnor, and their
shops are across from one another. They were close friends, and Saini was in a
relationship with the girl. As friends do, Ubaid participated in his friend's
love relationships. It is false to say that they were apprehended in Barkot
outside of Purola. This narrative has been made up because they were observed
strolling together in Purola.”
Both the boys are still
being held in detention under the POCSO Act. However, the issue has gained
traction throughout all of Uttarakhand. Even Al-Jazeera has written about this
incident. Giving the situation the Love Jihad angle, and describing it as the
biggest threat to Uttarakhand Devbhoomi, protests and rallies against Muslims,
threats for them to leave the area until June 15, and resounding cries from
Hindutva organisations and self-declared religious leaders to expel every
“Jihadi” from Uttarakhand are all taking place at the same time.
Its effects have also
been noticed. Numerous Muslim families have moved away from Purola. Despite the
fact that some families have stayed, their shops have been shut for longer than
15 days. The May 30 edition of Navbharat Times included
the headline, "Uttarakashi: Streets rage against love jihad, 42
Muslim traders flee overnight in Purola." Additionally, it has
been stated in this news that the locals of the entire area are extremely
incensed about this and have left their homes with drums to demonstrate in
Purola.
Despite the fact that the Hindu suspect Jitendra Saini was named in this report by the Navbharat Times journalists Rashmi Khatri/Raghvendra Shukla, it has been reported that both the boys sought to kidnap the young girl and take her to Vikas Nagar. Overall, there has been an effort made in the news to demonstrate how furious people are with Muslims by tearing down business signs and issuing expulsion notices for them from Purola. Since the publication of government advertisements is presently the first prerequisite for Hindi newspapers, each Hindi newspaper should essentially include the same news. On the other hand, the only news that reflects the preferences of the majority of the population can somewhat guarantee the sales of a newspaper.
Hindu organisations held
protests in Purola on May 29 after May 27 and issued threats to Muslims to
leave the area. By then, numerous families had already left Purola. The Muslim
shopkeepers who were left here have been residing and operating their
businesses for a very long period. It is also asserted that because of their
politeness and reasonable prices, the residents of the nearby villages favoured
shopping at Muslim stores. In such a circumstance, it cannot be ruled out that
certain Hindu retailers are to blame for the warning to show Muslim
businesspeople the exit from Purola.
In this regard, Muslim
businessmen requested security from the police administration but were turned
down. In a statement, Purola Vyapar Mandal President Brij Mohan Chauhan
said that he had urged Muslim business owners to open their shops.
Additionally, he added that if not right away, things will get better in a
week, at which point they could open their stores. “There hasn't been any
pressure from our end to keep the stores shut”, he said.
However at the same time,
since Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal have now stepped forth in an
open manner, the situation has grown much more dangerous. Muslim shops are
closed, and posters telling Muslims to leave Purola by June 15 have been
plastered on them. The news of a Mahapanchayat being held in the
area has greatly heightened communal tension. The Muslim community, on the
other hand, is reporting that its Mahapanchayat will take place
in Dehradun.
The posters read,
"Love ‘Jihadis’ are informed to vacate their shops before the Mahapanchayat
to be held on June 15, 2023; if this is not done then it will depend on the
time," according to the report from Aaj Tak. As a part of the Devbhoomi
Raksha Abhiyan campaign, these posters have been posted in Muslim-owned
shops.
If the situation had
remained confined to Purola, it would have been a matter of some relief. Now,
the fire has begun to spread to other parts of Uttarakhand. Its flames have
reached Uttarkashi as well as Barkot, Chinyalisaud, and Bhatwari, and here as
well Hindutva organisations have organised rallies and demonstrations.
What is the reason
behind Islamophobia in Uttarakhand?
23 years ago, the state
of Uttarakhand was separated from Uttar Pradesh. The region of Uttarakhand was
formerly regarded as a hill region. However, the plains of UP joined it at the
time of partition along with Dehradun, Haridwar, and Udham Singh Nagar. A very
tiny percentage of Muslims lived in the steep regions. 250 years ago, a Mughal
family had reached Tehri Riyasat in the Garhwal
region as a refugee, and more Muslim families had joined them. The Mughal
family later had to depart, but the families that travelled with them liked
Uttarakhand and stayed there.
Similarly, some people
must have also travelled to Almora and Nainital. However, this number is
significant in the plains, which is why the BJP-RSS's attempt to use the Muslim
minority as a vehicle for communal overtones in Uttarakhand politics succeeds
in contrast to how it fails in Himachal Pradesh. This explains why it occurred
in the case of Uttarakhand this time, while on the other side, the BJP had to
accept defeat in the assembly elections in Himachal.
Due to an influx of jobs
for state-work, the first 10-15 years in the new state went by without
incident, but in the last 8–10 years, things have gotten steadily worse. The
bureaucracy, new state, and new leaders are all out-of-date. Now, the concern
is to fit one's relatives rather than for oneself. The only other sources of income
are government contracts, mining, timber, alcohol, and these four industries.
Soon after winning the
election in the state, the BJP had to deal with the reports of rigging and
corruption involving government jobs. A large number of youths from the hilly
areas of Uttarakhand were in an upset state. Even after 75 years, army
recruitment remains the main support system and source of attraction for young
people in the hills. But as of today, the Modi administration only permits
four-year terms for jobs. The "Ankita Bhandari murder case" brought
the entire state of Uttarakhand to the streets, where people were discussing
the son of a BJP leader's deed. Following the creation of Uttarakhand, this
agitation was the biggest.
The Central Government
handed Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami the position of Chief Minister
despite the fact that he lost the elections to the residents of his region. A
similar situation to Mr. Basavaraj Bommai's struggle in Karnataka to maintain
his position as Chief Minister without a foundation exists in Uttarakhand.
Bommai, although not having any connections to the RSS, made headlines in
Karnataka together with Tipu Sultan, Love Jihad, and the hijab controversy.
Additionally, Pushkar Singh Dhami has nothing unique to offer the residents of
the state. The Ankita Bhandari scandal, rising unemployment, and
inflation had turned 2024 into a nightmare for the BJP.
In this context, all of
those methods are being used in an effort to divert attention from people's
practical problems by sowing the seeds of hostility against other’s religions.
There is already a foundation for this. Due to the operation of a religious
parliament in Haridwar, the nation recently experienced a case of hate speech
against a certain religion.
But Uttarakhand differs
from all other states in a much more significant way. Uttarakhand has a large
proportion of upper-caste people, according to the 2011 census. Kshatriyas
make up the majority of the population, with Brahmin Kshatriyas
making up 58% of the total. Additionally, Uttarakhand too possesses the deity
of Devbhoomi, which the Modi government has nearly imitated by
seizing the chance, mirroring the majority population of Uttarakhand.
This is the reason why
the BJP was able to quickly select and remove three chief ministers in
Uttarakhand within the span of a single year, all at the behest of the central
government, with no resistance from anyone in the state. It appears that
Uttarakhand has also become Gujarat. Violence and discrimination against Dalits
have escalated in recent years, however, all incidents have subsided as a
result of intermittent protests.
While openly hesitating
to support the Dalits, a minority community, the main opposition
party Congress also seeks their votes. Even under the Hindutva
agenda, its lower-level employees have frequently been observed taking part in
violence against Muslims and Dalits. The state's upper caste supremacy, whose
victim also happens to be the state unit, is the main cause of this. Will
Congress publicly challenge in Uttarakhand as it did in Karnataka when Bajrang
Dal is openly fanning the flames of racial hatred in Purola?
Even though there are
still educators, artists, and left-leaning political organisations in
Uttarakhand, and even though they have addressed a letter to the government to
convey their disapproval over this incident, their voice only reaches
themselves. The new millennial generation is now reducing to bravely protect
the truth among the common people of Uttarakhand, moving past the symbolism of
opposition for opposition's sake.
But how long will the
unemployed people of Uttarakhand forget the raging fire in their bellies and
fall for the false story of Purola, whose sister and daughter are actually
another to share 'Ankita Bhandari's' fate in the network of land
mafias, mining mafias and thousands of hotels that have sprouted up like
mushrooms in the mountains. Only time will be able to answer that.
------
(Ravinder Patwal is a
member of the editorial staff at Janchowk.)
Hindi
Article: Hate Campaign Against
Muslims Under The Guise Of Love Jihad उत्तराखंड: लव जेहाद की झूठी कहानी की आड़ में
मुसलमानों के खिलाफ घृणा अभियान
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/hate-campaign-muslims-love-jihad/d/130007
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