In their reaction to the recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, hundreds of people have vandalized some mosques, shops and homes in the Indian state of Tripura during a rally of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a platform of local Hindu community.
Indian security forces guarded mosques there on Wednesday, after at least four mosques were vandalised and shops and homes owned by Muslims were ransacked, reports AFP.
Meanwhile, several Hindutva groups threatened not to allow Muslim prayers or namaz in public spaces if the administration did not move to stop Jummah prayers in Gurugram of Haryana.
Interestingly, both incidents occurred on Tuesday, according to The Indian Express.
In the first incident reported at North Tripura district’s Panisagar sub-division, about 3,500 people participated in the rally, which was held to protest the communal violence in Bangladesh that broke out earlier this month, said Panisagar Sub-Divisional Police Officer Soubhik Dey.
Tripura has a 850-kilometre (525 mile) long border with Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where seven people were killed when a mob ransacked a Hindu temple this month.
“A section of VHP activists at the rally ransacked a mosque in the Chamtilla area,” Dey said. “Later, three houses and three shops were ransacked and two shops set on fire in the Rowa Bazar area, around 800 yards away from the first incident.”
The police said that the ransacked shops and houses belonged to members of the minority community. A case has been filed in this regard. Authorities have banned gatherings of more than four people in the most tense northern parts of the state while police have issued warnings about “provocative messages” spreading on social media.
Narayan Das, a Bajrang Dal leader who was a part of the rally, claimed to the newspaper that some youngsters in front of the mosque abused them and that they were armed with swords and other weapons.
Last week, the state unit of the Jamiat Ulama (Hind) had alleged that mosques and multiple localities dominated by Muslims had been attacked. Subsequently, the Tripura Police said that they were providing security more than 150 mosques in the state.
On October 18, more than 15 people, including three police personnel, had sustained injuries when activists of Hindutva organisations, Vishva Hindu Parishad and Hindu Jagran Manch, had clashed with police during a rally in Gomati district against the communal violence in Bangladesh.
The Haryana Hindutva threats
Prior to issuing the threat the same day, a five-member delegation of the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti – an umbrella body of 22 Hindutva organisations – submitted a memo to the Gurugram deputy commissioner for immediate ban on offering Muslim prayers. They threatened to launch an agitation across Haryana if no action is taken.
“We are giving a polite warning…We won’t submit more memorandums,” Mahavir Bhardwaj, Haryana unit chief of Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti told reporters. “It will then be the responsibility of the administration to maintain peace, not ours. We are ready for lathis, we are ready to go to jail…But this will not be tolerated.”
Hindutva organisations have been protesting against Muslims praying in public places in Gurugram’s Sector 47 for over a month now, according to The Hindu.
Last Friday, they also held a protest and disrupted the offering of namaz in the city’s Sector 12A locality.
The protestors claimed that the place where Muslims were offering namaz was not on the list of about 30 places designated for the prayers in 2018, The Hindu reported. Instead, it was private property, they claimed.
But Muslims say the authorities have not given them enough land to build mosques. “We are forced to offer jummah prayers in the open,” Altaf Ahmad, a local leader of the Muslim community, told The Hindu.
Gurugram Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg said that the district administration was taking stock of the situation.
“The duty magistrates and the police have been accordingly briefed,” he added. “We will ensure that communal harmony is not disturbed.”
Indian security forces guarded mosques in the northeastern state of Tripura Wednesday after right-wing groups attacked Muslim targets in apparent revenge for deadly violence against Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Authorities have banned gatherings of more than four people in the most tense northern parts of the state while police have issued warnings about “provocative messages” spreading on social media.
Tripura has a 850-kilometre (525 mile) long border with Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where seven people were killed when a mob ransacked a Hindu temple this month.
This story first appeared on dhakatribune.com
