The Government Railway Police (GRP) deputed in Borivali in Mumbai’s northern suburbs have acted on a complaint by CJP and removed communal posters from a local train. On May 25, 2022 CJP shared on Twitter, a video of the poster we had received from a rights group, urging the GRP to act quickly.
A video sent by a Mumbai resident showed a train halted at Malad station that had two to four posters in Devnagri-script stuck on the coach windows. The posters read, “Wake Up Hindus! Section 30 should be removed so that schools can teach Ved, Upanishad, Gita, Ramayan and other scripts.”
A Borivali train at 10PM has posters stuck that says “jaago hindu jaago. Ab dhara 30 hataa deni chahiye” the video is taken from Malad station inside coach 5068C. Request @grpmumbai to take action against this communal hatred act. pic.twitter.com/eVpucf1ACo
— Citizens for Justice and Peace (@cjpindia) May 25, 2022
The video-maker called this an attempt to create a communal divide among people. “Trains are government transport when in reality people of all religions use this means of transport,” the person is heard saying.
By Wednesday evening, the posters were removed from the coach mentioned in the video.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Borivali GRP personnel have traced the coach and removed the said poster from the premises. pic.twitter.com/6qQIFfjQhJ
— GRP Mumbai (@grpmumbai) May 25, 2022
Borivali Railway’s Senior Police Inspector Anil Kadam told us, “We have removed all posters inside the train. While we could not check the entire train at the time, our officials will inspect nearby coaches again to check if any more posters have been pasted.”
Kadam further assured us that the issue will be raised with higher officials. According to the official, such communal posters have not been seen in trains before this. Recently, there have been communal tensions in Mumbai, especially after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) call for removing loudspeakers from mosques.
However, CJP along with many progressive rights groups in the city have been fighting against such divisive politics. In April, during Ramzan, CJP and like-minded groups organised many secular iftars where people of all religions came together to share a traditional meal and forge stronger bonds. CJP has also been spearheading a mohalla committee campaign to help build communal harmony at the neighbourhood level.
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