Boards banning entry of ‘non-Hindus, Rohingyas’ put up in Uttarakhand villages

A communal row surfaced in Uttarakhand where signboards prohibiting the entry of “non-Hindus, Rohingya Muslims and hawkers” were allegedly installed at the entry points in several villages of Rudraprayag district. The move has prompted the state police to launch an investigation.

The signboards, written in Hindi, carry a warning that reads, “It is strictly prohibited for non-Hindus/Rohingya Muslim hawker to do business or move around in the village…Anyone found moving in the village, punitive action will be taken.” It was alleged that the directive had come from the gram sabha (village council).

Uttarakhand director general of police (DGP), Abhinav Kumar stated that the local police and intelligence unit have been ordered to investigate the case. Rudraprayag circle officer Prabodh Kumar Ghildiyal confirmed that several signboards have been removed and efforts are underway to identify the culprits responsible for putting them up.

“We have asked the intelligence and our local unit to look into such reports. If any such thing is found true, we will take appropriate action,” said DGP Kumar.

Meanwhile, gram pradhans (village heads) have been summoned for a meeting to ensure such incidents do not occur in the future.

Pramod Singh, the pradhan of Nyalsu village stated that boards carrying similar messages have been installed in nearly all the other villages too in the region which includes Shersi Gaurikund, Triyugarneya, Sonprayag, Barasu Jamu, Ariya, Ravigram and Maikhanda.

Singh also claimed that the signboards were installed by villagers, not the gram panchayat to prevent hawkers from entering the villages without police verification.

While it was not clear when were the signboards put up outside the villages, the matter came to the limelight after two Muslim delegations, Muslim Seva Sangathan and AIMIM’s delegations met DGP Kumar on September 5 and complained about increasing incidents of anti-minority hate in the state.

“It has been found that on petty issues or any alleged criminal or anti-social activity by any Muslim, processions are taken out by right-wing organisations targeting the entire Muslim community in the towns and cities of the hills. Shops belonging to the members of the minority community are ransacked and looted and Muslims threatened to leave the state… there has been planned attempts bordering on ‘Islamophobia’ to harass, humiliate, and threaten Muslims with an evil and unlawful design of the ethnic cleansing in the state,” Naeem Qureshi of the Muslim Seva Sangathan wrote in a memorandum to the top cop, reported HT.

The incident comes amid increasing communal tension across BJP-ruled Uttarakhand. Reportedly, on September 1, violence broke out in Nandanagar, where at least 10 Muslim families were forced to flee after receiving death threats and facing attacks on their shops and community members.

Ahmad Hasan, a BJP minority wing functionary who has been living in the hill town for three decades, said, “We had to flee the town after receiving death threats to our family members. An agitated crowd attacked our shops and people from our community, we had to run for around 20 kilometres in the middle of the night to save our lives. It was raining, and the weather was stormy. But we were desperate to save our lives. We have come to our native place in Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh).”