Tension rose once again in Naya Nagar, Mira Road, when a truck was reportedly stopped by a mob of people reportedly from the Bajrang Dal. The mob accused the truck of carrying cow meat.
This took place on the morning of June 18th, a crowd of 50-100 people from the Bajrang Dal gathered near Sham Masjid, close to the Police Chowki, upon hearing about the incident. The local MLA Geeta Jain, former MLA Narendra Mehta and Shiva Sena (Eknath Shinde) Corporator, Vikram Singh were also present at the scene.
The crowd surrounded the truck chanting Jai Sri Ram slogans, remained until the police intervened to calm the situation. As per reports, an FIR has been filed in relation to the case of cow slaughter, and the meat has been sent for forensic examination. Three people have been taken into custody.
Sadiq Basha, an activist, spoke to Sabrang India about the incident, narrated, “Around 10:30 or 11 am in the morning, I got a call from Naya Nagar that some truck has been reportedly caught with cow meat. I learned that around 50-100 people from Bajrang Dal had surrounded the truck at Sham Masjid, which is located near the local police chowki.” Sadiq narrates that BJP’s local MLA Geeta Jain and ex MLA Narendra Mehta were also present there as slogans of Jai Sri Ram were given. However, the police had calmed the situation and prevented anything further from happening.
Video | Tension at Naya Nagar in Mira Road over a tempo allegedly carrying Cow’s meat | 3 persons taken into custody & meat sent for forensic examination, DCP Gaikwad said. Report by City News Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/0MUTxzTxDO
— MUMBAI NEWS (@Mumbaikhabar9) June 19, 2024
Vikram Pratap Singh, who is a local Corporator of the Shiva Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), spoke to Mira Bhayandar Live, a local news channel, as the mob shouted slogans, saying “Yeh desh Rashtrawadi, Hinduwadi, Sanatan Dharmwadio ka sarkar hai yahan per, yeh sabh nahi chalega.” This country belongs to nationalists, Hindus, Sanatan Dharmis, this won’t work here.
In January, 2023, Mira Road locality of Mumbai had seen a continued violence which saw homes and vehicles of local Muslims were burned and vandalised by a Hindutva mob. This incident had occured when the country was seeing a rise in mob violence against Muslims in the wake of the inauguration of the Ayodhya Temple in Faizabad, UP. The incident at Mira Road then too had seen the incendiary participation of BJP MLAs Geeta Jain and Nitish Rane. Jain were seen leading a mob.
Several incidents of violence against Muslims, involving allegations of cow slaughter, have been reported across the country. In a recent incident in Himachal Pradesh, The Observer Post reported that a Muslim-owned textile shop in Nahan was looted and vandalised by a large mob after the shopkeeper had shared a picture of an animal sacrifice on his WhatsApp status.
Please embed: https://x.com/TheObserverPost/status/1803361865235673412
A video of the incident shows the mob destroying and throwing out the contents of the shop as a crowd cheers under police presence. Police however took steps and managed to close the shop’s shutters to prevent more damage. After this, the crowd marched to the district collector’s office, chanting slogans such as “Goli maaro saalon ko” and “Jai Shri Ram.”
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