By Ritu Sharma
Gujarat Minister of State for Co-operation Jagdish Vishwakarma on Tuesday said that encroachments on government land in Ahmedabad, Dwarka and Somnath were “by people of only one community, with the support of leaders of the community”, in a purported reference to the minority community.
He made the remarks in his address during the day-one discussion on the Motion of Thanks for the Governor’s address in the Legislative Assembly.
He further said that children born after 2002 in Gujarat do not “even know what curfew and communal riots are”.
His remarks drew objections from Congress’s Imran Khedawala, the lone Muslim MLA in the House, who said the minister was targeting the community.
Raising the issue of encroachment removal around the Chandola lake and Bhadra area in Ahmedabad, the minister said, “When authorities went to clear the area around the Bhadra Kali mata temple where a yatra will be carried out tomorrow (Wednesday), there were people of only one community (as encroachers). Similarly, in Dwarka there were people of only one community; Somnath, people of only one community. Speaker sir, behind these encroachments, it is the hand of leaders of one community.”
The walled city will celebrate its 614th foundation day on Wednesday during which a “Nagardevi yatra” will be carried out for the first time from the Bhadra kali temple which is in the centre of old Ahmedabad.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.