No Non-Hindus Allowed: VHP Posters at Ratlam Garba Events to 'Avoid Harassment'

VHP's Madhya Kshetra in-charge Rajesh Tiwari also hinted that entry of non-Hindus leads to religious conversions.

VHP puts posters outside Garba pandals in Ratlam to restrict the entry of non-Hindus. Image used for representational purposes. 

(Photo: The Quint)

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has put posters outside 56 pandals in the Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh to restrict the entry of non-Hindus during Garba events.

VHP's Dharm Prasar wing in-charge Chandan Sharma said that the move was to avoid harassment of Hindu women by non-Hindus at these events.

“We are putting posters as a section of people from other communities harass Hindu women or shoot their videos without permission. To avoid any clash and mismanagement, we have asked the administration to check the identity cards," he said, as quoted by Hindustan Times (HT).

The posters are being put up with the consent of the organisers affiliated with the Maa Ambey Durga Utsav Samiti, Sharma said.

VHP's Madhya Kshetra in-charge Rajesh Tiwari, as quoted by HT, said that people of 'one community' use religious programmes to befriend Hindu women, use fake names and later they pressurise them for changing their religion for marriage.

While Ratlam Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Abhishek Gehlot said that they had received no complaint in this regard, Ratlam district collector Kumar Purshottam refused to comment on the matter, according to The Indian Express.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times and The Indian Express.)