By Scroll Staff
A group of 101 former civil servants, organised under the banner of the Constitutional Conduct Group, wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday expressing concern over the recent trend of “majoritarian aggression and belligerence” in Uttarakhand and urged him to act against those inciting hatred and violence against religious minorities.
The group said that systematic efforts have been made to “create new nurseries of hate” that can transform the peaceful region into a “breeding ground for aggressive Hindutva”.
“On September 10, 2024, a hate speech was made in the Dehradun Press Club claiming that a ‘dharma sansad’ will be organised in December 2024,” the group wrote. “It may be recalled that a ‘dharma sansad’ was organized in Haridwar in December 2021, in which a series of genocidal speeches demanded the mass killings and mass rape of Indian Muslims. The call for another ‘dharma sansad’ has now been made by many of the same individuals and Hindus have been asked to arm themselves and treat members of the minority community as ‘enemies of humanity’”.
The former civil servants pointed out that Uttarakhand has recently witnessed attacks and hate speech against minorities in several locations including Chauras, Dehradun, Srinagar, Berinag, Uttarkashi, Karnaprayag, Nandnagar, Tharali, Tilwada, Gauchar, Sonprayag and Haldwani.
Their letter added: “Properties have been damaged and, reportedly, minority families have been forced to flee from their homes. Boards have been put up banning business by Muslim and non-Hindu vendors. A small handful of individuals and organisations – including those involved in the 2021 ‘dharma sansad’ – are responsible for the majority of these incidents.”
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