Team Clarion
DEHRADUN — Hindutva groups, seeking the removal of a mosque in Uttarkashi, have decided to hold a demonstration at the tehsil level on November 25 to press for their demand. The decision came after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced that the papers of the land on which the mosque stands would be re-examined by the administration.
Dhami’s announcement came during his Uttarkashi visit on Wednesday, where he tried to assuage the feelings of the saffron brigade which was upset with the police lathi-charge and registration of cases against eight Hindutva leaders and 200 others for the October 24 violence.
The Hindutva groups had held a protest on that day reportedly wanting to demolish the mosque which they claimed was illegal, but the administration, after an inquiry, found it legal and registered with the Waqf Board since the 1980s.
As the Hindu mob proceeded toward the mosque, there were clashes with the police with the latter resorting to a lathi-charge in which several protestors and policemen were injured. The incident infuriated leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the saffron brigade took it as an affront to be checkmated by the administration.
During his visit, the chief minister harped on the much iterated but unfounded theories of ‘Land Jihad’, ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Thook (spit) Jihad.’ He said all these would not be tolerated in ‘Devbhoomi’ Uttarakhand and also claimed that his government had freed 5,000 acres of “encroached” land in the state. He further said that the administration would re-examine the land papers of the Uttarkashi mosque and see if any illegality was committed.
This story was originally published in clarionindia.net. Read the full story here.
