Hindutva groups marred a mural painting of Allama Iqbal, a renowned poet and philosopher in Jaipur on Thursday.
The mural painting of Allama Iqbal popularly known for his ‘Saare jahan se achcha, Hindustan hamara’ is located on the famous Mirza Ismail road in Jaipur.
In the live video that aired on Facebook, three individuals can be seen blackening the painting while others stand watching. The defacers questioned the need for having his mural painted in India.
One of them was Bharat Sharma. He is a former metropolitan chief of VHP and a patron of ‘Dharohar Bachao Samiti’ in Rajasthan.
He went live on Facebook and along with two others started to pour ink on the mural of Allama Iqbal stating that he was the one who divided India. Bharat Sharma could be heard saying, “Ye Pakistan ka janak hai, Hindustan aur pakistan ke tukde karne wala ghaddar Allama Iqbal ( This is the creator of Pakistan, the traitor who divided Hindustan and Pakistan, Allama Iqbal)
Several users who joined him live commented with slogans and applauded him. Comments like “paint it black completely”, “very good job” and slogans like “Jai Shree Ram” were made by several users. Surprisingly, one user commented stating that an FIR should be filed against the painter.
While several others expressed anger and criticised their actions. One user commented, “ They surely do not know about his fight against the British.” While another user wrote, “When those in power become helpless in front of these fundamentalists, then these fundamentalists do whatever they want and break the law.*
Bharat Sharma actively campaigns for safeguarding temples and advocates adopting ‘Sanatan Dharma.’ In one of his speeches, he said, “Hindu devotees should be firm while doing dharma karya (religious deeds) only then can we make significant contributions to the establishment of Hindu Rashtra.”
Hindu groups Bharat Sharma is associated with, have accused waqf land in Jaipur by calling them encroachments in the state.
This story was originally published in theobserverpost.com. Read the full story here.