As Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath embarks on a three-day visit to Mauritius, in a bid to invite investment for the state, a letter by Shakeel Mohamed, Member of the National Assembly, has urged the Prime Minister Pravindra Kumar Jugnauth to ‘deny entry’ to the firebrand Hindutva leader.
The letter, dated 30 October 2017, ‘conveys strong objection’ on behalf of citizens of the island nation against the decision to allow Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to visit Mauritius. Shakeel Mohamed, former Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment, who represents the Labour Party in National Assembly, has cited six instances why Yogi’s visit is a matter of concern for the ‘peace-loving Mauritius, where people from diverse ethnic origin and religious creed coexist in peace and harmony’.
The objections, as listed in the letter include:
1) He (Yogi Adityanath) is the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, an extremist and militant youth organisation, that has been involved in communal violence;
2) In 2005, Adityanath is reported to have been involved in what came to be known as a ‘purification drive’ that involved the conversion of about 1,800 Christians to Hinduism in the town of Etah in Uttar Pradesh. He is also reported to have stated that he wouldn’t stop until he turns Uttar Pradesh and India into a Hindu state;
3) Additionally, it has been officially reported that in January 2007, an altercation occurred amidst a Hindu group and Muslims during a Muharram procession in Gorakhpur, which led to the hospitalisation of a young Hindu, Raj Kumar Agrahari. The District Magistrate is reported to have said that Adityanath must not visit the site as it may create tensions.
4) The said person can also be seen in a video stating amongst other things that the audience “should dig up the graves of Muslim women and rape the corpses”.
5) In 2011, the documentary film, Saffron War – Radicalization of Hinduism accused Adityanath of promoting communal disharmony in Uttar Pradesh through hate speeches.
6) In an undated video, during a public speech at Azamgarh, whilst referring to religious conversions due to inter-religious marriages, the said person is reported to have said that “if they take one Hindu girl, we will take 100 Muslim girls; in the same video he continues to say “if they kill one Hindu, there will be 100 that we kill”.
The Hindu Yuva Vahini, founded by Yogi in 2002, has been associated with many controversies after the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh, that includes harassing couples in the name of Anti-Romeo Squad in March in 2017 to chanting Hanuman Chalisa inside Taj Mahal last week, claiming it to be an abode of Shiva, called Tejo Mahalay.
Yogi has been accused of hate speech that led to riots in Gorakhpur in 2007; the case is being heard at the Allahabad high Court, in which the UP government refused to grant permission to prosecute the Chief Minister in May 2017.
Also Read: In Yogi’s UP, Are Anti-Romeos Out to Enforce ‘Indian Morals’?
The letter by Shakeel Mohammed conveys apprehensions as it states, ‘Our republic should not allow such an individual, together with his followers, to come and disturb our way of life’. Muslims form the minority in Mauritius, comprising 17 percent of the population.
In another letter to the Prime Minister of Mauritius, journalist Shantanu Gupta, who has authored Yogi’s biography, ‘The Monk Who Became Chief Minister’ , offers point-by-point rebuttal to all the allegations against Yogi Adityanath. “Over years, media has painted Yogi as anti-Muslim, but the reality is quite different”, states the letter claiming that the facts ‘listed by Shakeel Mohammed are not at all correct’.
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