As the elections and by-elections are going on in various states, including Bihar’s assembly polls, BJP leaders are raising various communal issues like Love Jihad
Clarion India
NEW DELHI – The namaz offered by peace activist Faisal Khan at a Mathura temple on 29 October has now become an issue for doing communal politics by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindutva supporters.
Even though Khan’s group Khudai Khitdmatgar have clarified that they had taken the permission to offer prayers and even apologised to those whose religious sentiments were hurt by Khan’s act, BJP leaders jumped in the issue for playing politics.
The latest statement made by Uttar Pradesh Minister Chaudhry Laxami Narayan suggests that the ruling party wants to cash in on the issue for its communal politics.
“I smell some sort of propaganda in the whole matter. A Muslim man even told them that this is no place to offer namaz but they wanted to show that they are strong enough to enter the Nand Baba’s temple and do it. This is all being done to vitiate the atmosphere,” Narayan was quoted by IANS as saying.
The Minister, who hails from Mathura, also claimed that Khan, who has been working for communal amity for years, wanted to “disturb” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is a strong follower of ‘Sanatan Dharma’.
“But the Chief Minister’s grip on law and order in Uttar Pradesh is so firm that such conspiracies will never succeed,” he said.
As the elections and by-elections are going on in various states, including Bihar’s assembly polls, BJP leaders are raising various communal issues like Love Jihad. The namaz at the temple came in handy to play sentimental politics.
The arrest of Khan after three days of his temple visit points to the fact that this issue is being raised deliberately. Before BJP leader raised this issue, Hindutva activists already started communalising the incident. They got an excuse to clash with minorities in their areas. Some of them went to recite Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn, in a mosque in Mathura. After the video went viral of this incident, the local police arrested four people for reading Hanuman Chalisa at the mosque.
“It was brought to our notice through social media that some men read Hanuman Chalisa at an eidgah in Govardhan area. While it was claimed that the act was to promote peace, it was done in a wrongful manner. The four have been issued challans under Section 151 of CrPC,” Superintendent of Police, Rural Mathura, Shirish Chandra, was quoted by Indian Express as saying.
Faisal Khan, who started Freedom Fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s Khudai Khidmatgar in India, has been actively working for communal amity and peace since 2011. He visits temples for similar purposes. He would not have thought that his act meant for communal amity will be used for polarising society.
