A case has been registered against members of the right-wing outfit called Hindu Yuva Vahini after their members went around in Uttarkhand’s Dehradun, putting up posters that ‘prohibited the entry of non-Hindus’ into 150-200 temples, on 20 and 21 March.
The outfit decided to do this days after a Muslim boy was assaulted for drinking tap water at a temple in Dasna in UP’s Ghaziabad district.
SHO Kotwali, Shishupal Singh Negi, tried to speak to members of the outfit to remove these controversial posters on the evening of 21 March. Soon after their meeting ended, general secretary of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, Jeetu Randhawa, told this reporter that the policeman had threatened them to not put up such posters in the city. “Why are they trying to favour the Muslims like this? I can not believe this is happening in a place like Uttarakhand. I do not care if they register a case against me, but I am going to ensure that these posters are up outside each temple in all of Uttarakhand,” he said angrily.
The Quint has confirmed through SHO Negi, that the police has registered an FIR against members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth etc.)
Earlier in the day, we had contacted the SSP Dehradun’s office from where we were directed to speak to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) Pradeep Singh Rawat. Rawat said that the news of these posters had come to light, the situation was being looked at, and that several of the posters were removed by the afternoon of 21 March.
To reconfirm if all the posters were pulled down, we called Randhawa, who said that it was true that some posters were taken off but many continued to be up. “I do not care about the cases against me, we will ensure the posters do not come down. People from my community will stand by me, the entire Hindu community will stand with me. You will see!”
Why Were The Banners Put Up?
“Yeh teertha Hinduo ka pavitra sthal hai, ismein gair Hinduo ka pravesh varjit hai. (This site is a holy place for Hindus, the entry of non-Hindus is prohibited),” the banner reads.
The move was carried out to show solidarity to the temple head priest, Mahant Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, who had put up a similar poster in Ghaziabad’s Dasna, which led to a brutal assault on a 14-year-old Muslim boy. Members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini had met the head priest in the aftermath of the incident, recently.
Uttarakhand president of Hindu Yuva Vahini, 47-year-old Govind Wadhwa, said that the campaign started on 20 March. Volunteers had already put posters with the help of locals, allegedly in 150-200 temples and the number is likely to increase over the next week. “Sometimes our idols are broken down, or people are seen peeing on the Shiva idols, you must have seen all this and how often it happens. This is never done by members of the Hindu community, but non-Hindus. To protect ourselves from such non-Hindus we have put these banners up to ensure that non-Hindus do not come in and the sanctity of the temples continues to stay.”
When asked if any such instances of vandalising temple property, as mentioned as the reason to put the banners up, have happened recently, Wadhwa, who owns a small shop in Dehradun, said, “This happens everywhere in India, not only here.” When pressed again for any such instances where non-Hindus had done anything objectionable and if FIRs had been registered regarding such cases, Wadhwa said, “No nothing like this has happened anywhere in Dehradun or Uttarakhand recently. We are doing this with the intent of protection and we have not done anything wrong.”
These temples are situated in and around the areas of Chakrata Road, Prem Nagar, Ghantaghar, Siddhuwala areas of Dehradun.
4 Holy Sites of Uttarakhand on Agenda of Hindu Yuva Vahini
Wadhwa said that this won’t stop at temples in Dehradun. “We have plans to put the same posters in the four significant temples across Uttarakhand. We are making a plan for this and are going to meet the CM of Uttarakhand soon.” Referring to the four holy sites of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath
This reporter asked Wadhwa if he needed permission to put up the posters. He said, “Madam, to protect my home do I need permission from the police?” When asked who owned these temples, whether they were government-owned or by a private trust, he said, “This is the property of the Hindu community and does not belong to any one person. There is no issue regarding permissions here.”
Wadhwa clarified that this was not the same Hindu Yuva Vahini set up by UP CM Yogi Adityanath in 2002.
After the incident involving the temple at Dasna in West UP, BSP’s Dhaulana Aslam Chaudhary had said the temple at Dasna had belonged to his ancestors and he will get the board removed. In the aftermath of this claim, Wadhwa met the head priest of the temple in Dasna and said they will put such posters outside several more temples in Uttarakhand.
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