In yet another incident highlighting the growing intolerance and hate against minorities, members of a right-wing groups razed down at least three shrines (dargahs) in separate incidents in Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh city recently.
A number of videos that surfaced on social media platforms on Monday, showing some men using sledgehammers to smash the headstones of the graves of sufi saints amid cheers and ‘Jai Shri Ram‘ slogans.
In one incident, a bulldozer was engaged in clearing the debris of a demolished dargah. In another clip, a person behind the camera can be heard saying, “It is devbhoomi, not mazarbhoomi. We have taken an oath to make Uttarakhand mazar-free.” Mazar refers to the resting place of saints.
“Hum ne murde ko bahar nikal k nanga kiya hai (We have exhumed the dead person and disrobed them). All the dead residing in these mazars will be thrown out,” another person is heard saying.
“The land on which the mazars were built belonged to two Hindus from the hills. They permitted us to demolish them. We did it in the presence of police personnel,” said Darshan Bharti, president of an outfit called Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan.
“There are almost 25-30 mazars in Gumaniwala and Shyampur areas of Rishikesh. We are planning to demolish all of them too. Building mazars in devbhoomi is an attack on our religion,” he said.
While holding the BJP government accountable for the hate crimes, the Indian American Muslim Council also shared the videos on their official X handle and wrote, “In BJP-ruled Uttarakhand state, Hindu militants demolish a Muslim shrine with hammers and bulldozers.”
Meanwhile, police file a case under section 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, no arrests have been made so far.
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