Defying Police, Hindu Groups to Take out a Religious Procession in Nuh

Top Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said on Sunday that a religious procession will be organized in the Nuh district of Haryana state on Monday.

“The Braj Samaj Yatra will take place on 28 August, the last Monday in the Hindu holy month of ‘Saawan’,” VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said in a statement this morning.

Bansal underlined that the VHP was only backing the religious procession, which was being organized by ‘Sarv Hindu Samaj’, a local Hindu group.

“This is a teerth yatra (pilgrimage), for which we need no permission from the authorities. This is a country of teerth. We haven’t sought any permission from authorities and there is no question of denial on that. We hope that the local administration will take security measures so that the pilgrimage could be organized in a conducive and peaceful atmosphere,” Bansal stated.

Talking to Sputnik, Bansal also said that the organizers of the procession won’t allow any “outsider” to participate in the pilgrimage “in view of the upcoming G-20 Summit.”

“The yatra will be taken out at 11 AM on Monday. We have appealed to everyone in the state to support the procession by visiting the temples in their respective localities and by making offerings to Lord Shiva,” Bansal stressed.

The Hindu procession is scheduled to visit three to four Hindu temples located in Nuh as part of its pilgrimage on Monday.

The Nuh district is located next to the economic hub of Gurugram, which in turn is part of the National Capital Region (NCR).

Delhi Police officials have told Sputnik that at least two hotels in Gurugram have been “earmarked” for the accommodation of G-20 delegations which will be travelling to New Delhi for the upcoming summit on September 9-10.

Significantly, Section 144 had been put in place in Gurugram in the wake of communal clashes in July to keep the violence from spreading outside of Nuh.

Haryana Police Deny Permission for Hindu Procession

Bansal’s remarks come a day after Haryana Police said that they had denied permission to organize the procession.

Dhirendra Khadgata, Nuh’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), was quoted as saying in Indian media that Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code (preventing the gathering of more than five people) had been imposed in Nuh to prevent the demonstration.

Khadgata also said that internet services in the region had been suspended from Saturday till midnight on August 29.

On 31 July, the ‘Braj Mandal Dharmic Yatra’ in Nuh was reportedly attended by 25,000 Hindu pilgrims. As it was passing through the predominantly Muslim areas, it faced attacks from some locals, leading to violence and causing deaths of six people.

Haryana’s home minister Anil Vij has said that around 3,000 people were reportedly “held hostage” by locals in Nuh on 31 July as it was passing through those localities.

The six deaths included two police guards, members of Bajrang Dal (the youth wing of VHP) and a deputy imam at a mosque in the region.

Haryana Police told Indian media this month that over 1,600 cases have been registered and over 160 people arrested in connection with violence in Nuh.

Meanwhile, Muslim groups have claimed that at least 13 mosques have been vandalized in Gurugram and neighboring districts in the wake of communal clashes on July 31.

The Haryana state administration also targeted those accused of being involved in inciting the riots by demolishing their businesses and homes in Nuh this month.

The demolition drive was put on hold by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which reportedly observed that the law and order situation was being “used a ruse” to raze buildings without following due process of the law.

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