Not a month has passed since Muslim families were targeted and forced to flee in Purola town of Uttarakhand, having faced abuse, violence and threats of genocide, members of the Hindu far-right groups have now threatened to drive out Muslims from Kurukshetra, Haryana over an alleged scuffle with Muslim fruit cart sellers.
A video has been making rounds on social media, wherein a group of people donning a saffron scarf can be heard issuing a threat to the Muslims in Kurukshetra, peddling conspiracy story invoking the issue of ‘Love-Jihad’, using anti-Muslim slurs, and making highlight offensive and derogatory statements. In addition to attacking the religious minority community, the group also accused the police officers in Kurukshetra for siding with the Muslim community.
Different men from the group came forward with the issue that they, as a part of the Hindu community, have been facing with the Muslim community. The first man to come forward says the following in the video:
“The Hindu community is fed up with these people. We have approached and complained to the authorities many a times, but if some action is not taken soon, then a revolution will take place in Kurukshetra and these be-dharmi (people belonging to the a different faith) will be made to flee from Kurukshetra.”
Another man can then be seen making vile accusations against the Muslim community and against the police officers. The man can also be heard pointing fingers at the police, stating that they took money from a Muslim man and handed against a Hindu girl to him against the will of the girl. He states “One Hindu girl, who did not want to stay with that m***a (anti-Muslim slur), and had given statements to the police and district magistrate to that effect, was threatened and beaten up by women police officers. We, the workers of the organisation, were humiliated by them. They disrespected the whole Hindu community. We stood watching they took money from the Muslim man and handed over the Hindu girl to them. Such type of corrupt officers are there in the country.”
The video then shows another man wearing a saffron scarf on his head and holding a piece of paper, claiming that a Rohingya Muslim has illegally captured his land. He further states that the illegal Rohingya Muslim has been wrongfully given a watchman’s job at a government school by the panchayat, who are trying to secure their vote bank. He then accuses the police of aiding illegal migrants in getting false official documents in exchange for money.
The video then shows this big group of men raising slogans against the police and the Station House officer, Nirmal Singh, who they accuse of being anti-Hindu. The group then proceeds to shout various religiously motivated slogans, starting with ‘Jai Shree Ram’, which then takes a violent and offensive turn, with slogans such as “jo bhi humse takraega, churr churr ho jaega” being raised.
A different man from the group then speaks about how he was attacked with a knife by a group of 20-25 Muslim men at around 10 pm at night. Giving more context on the issue, the man states that he had a fight with certain Muslim vendors for setting up their carts on a busy bridge. As per his narration, even the police had asked the Muslim fruit sellers to not sell their fruits on the bridge. After the police spoke to the vendors, it is then alleged by the man that he was attacked by the group as they thought that it was him who had started the whole issue. He further alleged that no police investigation is taking place in the said issue.
The same man who made up the aforementioned “love jihad” story comes again and says “One of our brother’s has a shop on G. T. Road. In front of his shop, at least 15 of these ‘be-dharmi’ set up their carts and cause accidents. The police has not asked them to leave even after making complaints against them.” He then alleges that the SHO Nirmal Singh does not pay much heed to complaints raised by the Hindu community, and has not filed an First Information Report (FIR) in this case as well. He then urges the police to get rid of the fruit vendors, as they do when the Chief Minister comes to visit the city, give them a specific place, and ensure that these Muslim vendors do not commit any harm to the Hindu people.
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Kurukshetra, Haryana
Members of Hindu far-right groups have threatened to drive out Muslims from town over an alleged scuffle with Muslim fruit cart sellers. pic.twitter.com/9mgNzSidKi
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) July 4, 2023
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