On Sunday, during his poll campaign, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath told the voters of Ghaziabad district, “Today a glorious Ram Temple is being built at Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath corridor work is completed and in Ghaziabad, the Kailash Mansoravar Bhawan has been constructed. Earlier, here a Haj house was made by flouting norms. Today, not a Haj house, but Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan is made. That’s why I tell you that the difference is clear.”
पहले गाजियाबाद में हज हाउस बनता था, हमारी सरकार ने कैलाश मानसरोवर का भवन बनाया। pic.twitter.com/3NEqUecnQI
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) January 23, 2022
The Chief Minister, hoping to be re-elected in the upcoming polls, was talking about the Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan in Indirapuram that is meant for Kanwar pilgrims and those embarking on the annual pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. However, his pointed comparison to a Haj House, and therefore Muslims sounds more communal than an achievement that the rest house for Hindu pilgrims was made. He added, “When Samajwadi Party got power in 2012, the first first decision they took was to withdraw the cases of the terrorists who attacked Ram Janmbhoomi… gave protection to the mafia and a series of riots started in Uttar Pradesh, which was not stopping. It stopped when there was a feeling that BJP would come to power.”
Words said in Ghaziabad, travel far
The CM’s words echo that of Nand Kishor Gurjar, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) who represents Loni, Ghaziabad. Gurjar personally walks up and down the township, verbally abusing Muslims, forcing them to down the shutters of their shops if the product sold was chicken or goat meat. Recently though, he got into some hot water with the Election Commission of India for saying, “Na Ali, Na Bahubali, Loni mei sirf Bajrang Bali” (Translation: (No Ali, No Bahubali, Only Bajrang Bali in Loni), while addressing his supporters in the run up to the Assembly elections. Gurjar was once again given the party ticket to contest elections from his safe seat.
However, as he continued his hateful diatribe, allegedly even as his electoral campaign kicked off, he may have forgotten that the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Model Code of Conduct is in effect in Uttar Pradesh. This set of guidelines issued by the EC has to be followed by political parties and candidates during elections, and it includes provisions applicable to speeches made during campaigns. The EC sent him a notice.
It was in Ghaziabad that hatemonger Pinky Chaudhary, who is hate ‘guru’ Narsinghanand’s aide, incited his supporters to behead Asaduddin Owaisi, spewed anti-Muslim, anti-Christian venom. He is out on bail in a case of chanting communal slogans. Pinky, who is the Hindu Raksha Dal President chose the campus of J.D. Public school in Ghaziabad to spew more hate on December 31.
It was in Ghaziabad that Narsinghnand handed over a 10-year-old boy to the police for questioning in October 2021, bringing back chilling memories of when a 14-year-old Muslim boy was beaten up by Narsinghanand’s disciples in the Dasna temple premises for fetching water. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) approached the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and National Commission for Minorities with a complaint against the assault on a minor boy Asif, for entering a temple to drink water by Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati’s disciple and the subsequent justification of the hate crime.
Hindu’s are the majority in Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad district’s 2,899,484 eligible voters residing in five assembly segments: Loni, Muradnagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Modinagar, will go cast their vote on February 10. The Ghaziabad City Population Census 2011-2022, shows that Hinduism is the majority religion here with 82.50 % followers. Islam comes second with approximately 14.18 %, Chritians number at 0.78 %, Jainis at 0.71 %, Sikhis at 0.96 % and Buddhists are at 0.96 %.
However, the CM is not bothered by numbers when it comes to adding a splash of saffron to his political campaign. The Ala Hazrat Haj House house on GT Road near Hindon Bridge is spread over an area of 4.3 acres, and has often been in the centre of political controversy since the Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power in Uttar Pradesh.
The seven-storeyed structure was built to have arrangements for foreign exchange, immigration, medical aid and other amenities for Haj pilgrims. As per news reports, the Haj House was constructed by the Uttar Pradesh government at a cost of Rs 51 crore, and was inaugurated by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on September 05, 2016. However, it is not known if it has ever functioned as a Haj House.
The Haj House chronicles
In 2018, the Haj House in Ghaziabad was sealed following the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The NGT had passed the sealing order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition stated media reports, adding that it “was sealed since it did not have a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and the effluents were being dumped into the Hindon, polluting the river and underground water tables. It will remain sealed till the STP is not constructed by the department concerned.”
In 2019, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered that it be opened “for four weeks to ascertain the level of compliance of its sewage treatment plant (STP) that was installed recently.”
In 2020, Ghaziabad district administration proposed to the Uttar Pradesh minorities welfare department that the Ala Hazrat Haj House be turned into a 500-bed Covid-19 care centre.
In April 2021, the Minority Affairs Ministry decided to give Haj Houses to the state governments for utilization as temporary care centres for Covid-19 patients. The Haj Committee Houses to be given to states include those in Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi, Telangana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Tripura, stated news reports.
Related:
Meet Nand Kishor Gurjar, a BJP MLA who thrives on Hate Speech
Narsinghanand arrested: Is it for Hate Speech or misogyny?
Is hatemonger Pinky Chaudhary hoping for a political debut?
CJP campaign against hate crimes grew stronger in 2021