Religious fanatic Muslims threaten Hindus not to celebrate Navratri
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Religious fanatic Muslims oppose Garba in Gujarat (Credits : Veena World)
Bharuch (Gujarat) – The local Hindu community of Muslim-majority Ikhar village has been threatened by the local Muslims that they will vandalise the garba setup if Hindus organise it during Navratri. These Hindus have submitted an appeal to the Collector in this matter. It demands protection along with justice.
1. Shailesh Vasava, the organiser of the Navratri festival, said, ‘Like every year, this year too we have organised the Navratri festival. For that, cleaning was going on in the village. At that time, Mohsin Ali Khan Pathan and Ali Hasan Pathan, who live in the neighbourhood, came and started abusing us. We asked them why are you behaving like this when we live together in the village ? To which they said if you want to call someone, call them. This is our area. We will not allow you to celebrate Navratri here. If you play garba here, we will vandalise the Mandap and pelt stones. There is no free space to celebrate the festival elsewhere in this village’.
2. Shailesh Vasava further said that this has not happened for the first time. We have received such threats many times before. Earlier in the past, they (fanatical Muslims) broke the place where garba and Diya are lit. We didn’t complain, because we wanted to live here with them. They create obstacles in each of our festivals. They have often misbehaved in a lewd manner with local Hindu women. As Muslims are the majority, we cannot do anything. We are concerned about their threats. (It is shameful that such incidents have been going on for so many years and Hindus are tolerating it ! – Editor) They may harm us in the future. We demand from the Administration to give us protection and justice.
3. Veer Birsa Brigade and some other organisations in Bharuch have come together after this incident. They have demanded the Collector to take action against the Muslims.
Editorial Viewpoint
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