Haridwar: A Hindutva worker harassed a Muslim woman who was washing her clothes in the Ganga river, while devotees were captured doing the same in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
A viral video surfaced on Thursday, July 2, showing a local Hindu extremist and his companion approaching a Muslim woman when she was leaving the premises with a bucket of washed clothes. “Tereko mana kiya tha na kapde gangaji mein nahi dhone hai (you were asked not to wash clothes here in Ganga).”
The worker accused the woman of washing her clothes in the revered river despite multiple warnings, claiming that “people like her” had already ruined the surroundings by setting up jhopdi or settlements and stealing from devotees. “Sara kaam karte hai tum. Aaj ke baad milja na yaha pe (you people do everything here. Do not come here again after today).”
In the same video, men in the background were seen wringing and scrubbing their used clothes in the water without getting shouted at by the right-wing workers.
The video received opposing reactions, with some pointing out that Hindus don’t “tease Muslims by going to Makkah with pork.” In contrast, others claimed the issue was not about cleanliness, as only the woman was targeted.
The far-right has always been protective of the Ganga, as Hindus consider it holy.
In March, during Ramzan, a group of 14 youth had held a party on a boat with chicken biryani being served. A local Hindutva leader had lodged a complaint claiming that consuming non-vegetarian food on the holy waters was hurtful to their religious sentiments. He alleged that the group threw the leftovers in the water. The group was granted bail two months after their arrest.
Similarly, on June 25, five men were caught partying on a boat on the river in Varanasi, serving chicken and alcohol. However, unlike the March incident, where all accused were Muslims, the five were granted bail less than 24 hours after their arrest.
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