Hemant Gairola
Prakash Kumar Dabral (General Secretary of BJP's SC Wing in Uttarkashi): "We will cordially chuck them out of here. We will not let them do business here, will not let them open shops. Then they will leave on their own.""If they reopen their shops, we'll force them shut again."
More from Dabral: "The locals are opposed to letting these people, be they Muslims or Christians, live here... Or else natural calamities will befall our state, the abode of gods."
"यहाँ पर जनता का विरोध है कि चाहे चादर हो, चाहे फादर हो, यह लोग यहाँ पर नहीं रहने चाहिए।"
Brijmohan Chauhan, president, traders' union: They must open their shops only with police protection.
Amichand Shah, ex-president, BJP Uttarkashi: If a mob arrives, we won't be able to handle it.
Shah: Most people of this community are into drugs. How else do they pay such high rent for their shops! It's either drugs or some dubious funding.
Purola MLA Durgeshwar Lal—who too is from the BJP—has also speculated that these Muslim men receive some funding for 'love jihad' and 'land jihad' in Uttarakhand. Facebook: Dainik Uttarakhand
A refrain we heard often: "People are furious." Why? 'Love jihad'.
Police are yet to find whether this case involved a bid to convert the girl to Islam, but the traders' union knows.
We asked the Sub-divisional Magistrate (June 6) what's been done to check rumours. He said it was not needed since the situation was totally normal. Poilce said they were holding peace meetings. Yet rumours run rampant.
Ex-president of Uttarkashi BJP says migrants are welcome to live and work in Purola, provided their landlord can give an affidavit, taking the guarantee of the tenant's actions.
As for mahapanchayat, Purola SDM and police kept dismissing it as a hoax. But Dabral told us a week ago that the June 15 event has a groundswell of support from one and all.
Finally, the administration has acknowledged this threat and denied permission for the event but the organisers are adamant to go ahead with it.
Police and administration told us that Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan—which called for the mahapanchayat—is a faceless entity, hence no action yet. This, even though the organisation's proponents are easily traceable in news and on Facebook.
Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan's Facebook page is up since August 2021.
A Facebook live video from the June 4 rally in Purola shows one Sunder Singh Rana claiming to be from Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan, and calling for ousting, boycotting Muslims.
> "जहाँ यह आ रहे हैं, बिलकुल भगाना है। इनको न दुकान देना है, न मकान देना है।" (Wherever they've been settling in, absolutely got to chase them out. Got to give them neither a house nor a shop.)
> "इन लोगों को यहाँ से मुक्त करना है।" (Got to relieve these people from here.)
"See, all [Muslims'] shops are closed. In the coming time, Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan and its team will take this movement to every district."
Yet the police have registered an FIR for hate speech only against unidentified persons.
A couple of days ago, Muslims in Dehradun called for a mahapanchayat of their own to discuss the persecution of the community. Dehradun SSP has warned them with the National Security Act.
Our story for @reporters_co highlights how unrest seeped in Purola as the admin. trivialised the threat and failed to rein in the ones stoking the fire. Read our story here
If you find our reporting insightful and would like to help us dig deep and hold authorities accountable, please donate to The Reporters' Collective here.
