Following the recent communal violence which rocked several cities in the state, local bodies of Bachhaud, Navadi, Uninda, Silarpur, Tazpur, Mahasar, Bajad, Mohlada, Prithipura, Naangal, Saidpur, Rampura and Khairana Panchayat passed anti-Muslim resolutions.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The Haryana government has warned various panchayats in the state of strict action over passing anti-Muslim resolutions. Top bureaucrats in different districts have asked the sarpanchs (village heads) to refrain from passing such resolutions and warned them of penalisation under the Panchayat Raj Act.
The government warning comes after various panchayats recently passed resolutions against Muslims, barring them from running businesses and shops or entering the villages, an India Today report said on Friday.
Social media is awash with copies of the panchayat resolutions. Many village heads also acknowledged writing letters to authorities and police officials stating that they “feared the outsiders” or the people of a particular community “in the garb of hawkers can spoil the peace in their village”.
“I had written a letter to the SHO informing that the people of a particular community or anti-social elements should not enter our village without permission so that the village remains peaceful. The activities of hawkers are suspicious as they often steal things during the night”, the sarpanch of Bhudpur Panchayat in Rewari, Monika, was quoted in the report as saying.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Rewari, Imran Raza, most of the sarpanches did not get the nod of their panchayats to pass the resolutions or write to the authorities. They did it on their own, he was quoted as saying.
He said that the sarpanches found guilty of writing the controversial letters to the authorities will face action under the Panchayat Raj Act.
Deputy Commissioner of Mahendergarh, Monika Gupta, also advised sarpanches of various panchayats not to publish provoking posts on social media. She also held a meeting with them.
Thirteen panchayats under Narnaul Tehsil in the Mahendergarh area passed the resolutions. These resolutions read, “Keeping in view the attacks on Hindus in Nuh, the village has decided that any person belonging to the Muslim community and the mischievous elements will not be allowed to seek alms, doing any kind of business including hawking and buying the cattle. For this, the people of the Muslim community first do a recce during the day and indulge in thefts in the dark. This decision has been taken keeping in view social harmony and does not mean hurting religious sentiments of any community”.
Bachhaud, Navadi, Uninda, Silarpur, Tazpur, Mahasar, Bajad, Mohlada, Prithipura, Naangal, Saidpur, Rampura and Khairana Panchayat are some of the local bodies that passed this resolution, the report said.