A mahapanchayat organised by Hindutva groups took place under heavy police cover in Uttarkashi on Sunday, during which plans were announced for a district-wide protest against a decades-old mosque in the Uttarakhand town that they claim was built illegally.
Speakers at the mahapanchayat also called on Hindus to unite and fight against “love jihad and land jihad”, and raised concerns about a demographic change in the state that they said was taking place.
The mahapanchayat was held after the Uttarkashi district administration gave it the go-ahead days after the Uttarakhand government on Wednesday informed the High Court that no permission had been granted for the event. The next court hearing on the matter was scheduled for December 5.
Permission for the mahapanchayat was granted with several conditions, including not making hatespeech, not taking out rallies, not obstructing traffic, not inciting religious sentiments, and maintaining peace. Organisers said all the rules were obeyed while conducting the event.
The mahapanchayat was attended by Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh, who urged Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to draw inspiration from his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath in tackling “land jihad”. Singh suggested Dhami consider using bulldozers as a means to address the issue.
“Chief Minister Dhami should have a ‘chai pe charcha’ with Yogi Adityanath. The way Yogi ji teaches a lesson to ‘land jihadis’ in Uttar Pradesh, Dhami must also bring bulldozers into action. We will not allow jihadis to engage in land jihad in Uttarakhand. Hindus across the country are looking up to the people of Uttarakhand to set an example,” Singh said, appealing to Hindus to unite against the issue.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.