Nahan (HP) Jun 18 (PTI) Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday alleged that the violence in Poanta was the result of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s anti-Hindutva agenda, saying the government was trying to defeat 97 per cent Hindus of the state.
The former chief minister was addressing the Jan Akrosh rally at Ramlila ground in Paonta Sahib against the registration of cases against BJP leaders.
Police in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur have booked BJP state chief Rajiv Bindal, party’s Poanta MLA Sukhram Chaudhary and arrested four others for attempt to murder in a stone-pelting incident in Majra injuring about 10 people including police personnel over the alleged elopement of a Hindu woman with a Muslim man.
Thakur issued a stern warning to the officials for not taking action against the stone-pelters and perpetrators of the Majra violence and towing the “anti-Hindutva” line.
He said the officials must understand that governments come and go, and no one is permanent in a democracy, particularly this government has no guarantee of its own and officials should refrain from crushing the sentiments of Hindus.
The former chief minister alleged that the Sukhu government and some officials were continuously conspiring to trap Hindus. “Playing with the sentiments of Hindus and trying to crush them” is not just a matter of Paonta Sahib or Nahan but this is a matter of the entire Himachal Pradesh, he said, adding that the BJP stands with the suffering families with full strength.
“The government should know that it cannot scare us with the threat of sending us to jail. If you make arrests, then the MPs, MLAs and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party are not afraid of going to jail. The government should not test our patience,” Thakur said.
He alleged that it is beyond imagination that a young girl disappears from her house in a small state like Himachal Pradesh and police continuously frame and raid the houses of her relatives, community people and sympathisers instead of tracing her out.
Thakur asked the government to respond as to why the abducted girl has not been handed over to her family and what action has been taken against the abductors and stone-pelters on the peaceful protest march in Kiratpur village.
He alleged that the government was giving full shelter to the perpetrators of the crime because they belonged to a particular section of society which the government considered its vote bank.
Bindal alleged that the Congress government was harassing its political rivals through “saam, daam, dand, bhed” (by hook or by crook). The pot of sins of the current Congress government was about to fill up and the people of the state would soon break this pot and throw out this anti-people government, he said.
He alleged that the government was pressurising the BJP leaders by filing false cases of attempt to murder against them whereas the truth was that the BJP leaders were with the police and local administrative officers throughout the protest and were trying to pacify the people to maintain peace.
On June 4, a 19-year-old Muslim man from Kiratpur village allegedly eloped with an 18-year-old Hindu woman from the nearby village falling under the jurisdiction of Majra police station. The woman’s family members complained to police.
Sirmaur ASP Yogesh Rolta on Monday said the woman’s father made a complaint to the SP on June 10, suspecting that his daughter had been abducted. A case was registered at Majra police station and frantic searches were made within the state and outside. The woman was recovered on June 14, he said.
In the meantime, people from various Hindu organisations assembled at Majra on June 13 and started marching toward the house of the accused man with sharp-edged weapons. Stone-pelting started thereafter by two groups in which police personnel were also injured.
“The people of both the communities were face to face, pelting stones and attacking each other with lethal weapons. Police registered cases against the miscreants and arrested four people.
“The four were produced in the court on Monday. An FIR and a counter FIR were filed by both the communities and Section 109 of the BNS (attempt to murder) was also added,” he said.
Prohibitory orders were issued in four villages — Kiratpur, Malion, Fatehpur and Missarwala — in the Paonta Sahib area till June 19 under Section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) after 10 people were injured in the stone-pelting incident followed by lathi-charge on June 13 evening.
The local people and Hindu organisations who had been protesting for the past few days, demanding strict action in the case, blocked the Nahan Paonta highway for about an hour at Majra, 25 km from Nahan.
On June 13, as soon as the angry crowd of protesters started moving towards the house of the man, heavy stone-pelting started from the other side. The crowd retaliated and police used force.
A 36-hour dharna by hundreds of residents in the Sainwala village in the Majra area of Himachal’s Sirmaur district led by Bindal was postponed on Saturday after Sirmour police recovered the abducted woman and also nabbed her “abductor”.
Bindal took strong exception to the cases filed under Section 109 of BNS (attempt to murder) against him, BJP MLA Chowdhary and others by the Sirmaur police. He alleged that the case was politically motivated and the government was conspiring to finish political opponents.
A video of the woman made on June 12 went viral on the internet in which she said she is 18 years old and has willingly come with Mausin Ali. “I request SP Sirmaur to give us security and I do not want to keep any relations with my family.” She also requested police to not take any action in case her family makes any complaint against Mausin and his family. PTI COR BPL KSS KSS
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