Shimla: AIMIM leader Shoaib Jamai has triggered another controversy when he asked Muslim traders to boycott apples from Himachal Pradesh, drawing a sharp retort from the BJP which said apple growers will not be bullied by his threats.
Last month also, Jamai had kicked up a row after he made a video from the disputed Sanjauli mosque here and said he would file a PIL seeking why other buildings in the vicinity with more than four storeys are not considered illegal.
In a post, which he later deleted, Jamai, who mentions himself as AIMIM’s Delhi chief in his X handle, said, “Enough is enough, now we should start an economic boycott. I appeal to Muslim traders, who are about 80 per cent, to boycott Himachal apples. For God’s sake don’t purchase anything from this market of hatred.”
During winters, we will not purchase anything from them and the secular society of the entire country would have to come together to defeat this hatred, Jamai said and asked the government to check the Aadhaar cards of all the Himachalis coming to Delhi.
Reacting to Jamai’s appeal, state BJP spokesperson Chetan Bragata in a statement said the apple growers will not be bullied by his threats and his appeal to a particular community not to purchase Himachal apples was unfortunate.
Facing flak, Jamai later in another post expressed regret over his appeal, saying he got “emotionally carried away”.
“No hatred for any community. Absolutely not. I always believe in the secular fabric of the society. Whole Bharat is one. Love all. Previous Tweet was misinterpreted,” he wrote.
Jamai said in connection with the legal process to save the Sanjauli mosque from demolition, he had met some Muslim traders there and just “wanted to echo their voice when they felt alone”.
He also said he is thankful to the “secular Hindu community in Shimla that they supports us. There is some hope”.
Bragata said apple cultivation is an ancestral vocation of Himachalis and they are capable of running and handling it and creating their own market.
Bragata urged Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to take cognizance of Jamai’s utterances and initiate legal action against him.
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