Days after violent mobs attacked Hindu religious processions across the country, injuring several people, a Muslim leader from Karnataka has now taken objection to the Hindu religious procession in Bengaluru and have demanded the authorities change the route of religious processions or deny permission for Hindus to hold the procession.
Gulab Pasha, a leader of far-left ‘activist’ Yogendra Yadav’s Swaraj India Abhiyan, has written a letter to Bengaluru Police requesting them to change the route of the annual Annamma Devi procession in the city by claiming that it will disturb peace and harmony between different communities.
In the letter, Gulab Pasha has claimed that a procession for Goddess Annamma Devi has been organised on April 23 from 8 pm to 12 am by a Hindu organisation in Bengaluru’s Yelachanahalli BBMP ward.
The letter to the Bengaluru police along with the press release was tweeted by the official party handle. It was retweeted by Gulab Pasha himself.
Swaraj India requests Bengaluru City police to change the route of a religious procession proposed to pass through areas mostly inhabited by Muslim Community in Yelachenahalli Ward, Bengaluru and to protect peace and harmony between different communities.@CPBlr @DCPSouthBCP pic.twitter.com/OUAQwhabIh
— Swaraj India Bengaluru Urban District (@SwarajIndiaBLRU) April 22, 2022
Pasha said that they believe that the organisers of this procession have sought permission from Kumaraswamy Layout Police Station and have shared the proposed route for the same. According to Pasha, Balakrishna, a local BJP leader and former corporater of Yelachanahalli BBMP Ward, is the main organiser of this procession.
In his letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Gulab Pasha also added that the Annamma Devi procession is proposed to pass through Muslim-dominated areas of Fayazabad and Kanaka Nagar areas en route from Manju Layout to Shani Mahatma Temple.
“Procession for Goddess Annamma Devi was never organised in the past. We are deeply worried as this is being organised for the first time that too in the context of many incidents in Karnataka and in other parts of India that led to disturbance of peace and communal harmony in the recent past,” the Swaraj India leader claimed in his letter.
The Muslim leader also requested the authorities to take immediate action to change the route of the procession so that it did not pass through Fayazabad and Kanaka Nagar areas, where there are several mosques, and one of them is on the procession route itself.
As a large number of people attend evening prayers in these mosques during the Ramadan month, Pasha claimed, demanding the police to “maintain peace and harmony and prevent any communal tension”.
The press release tweeted by the party also says that they got a “positive response” from the DCP and they are thankful for it.
This letter comes just a week after Islamists attacked Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra in Jahangirpuri, Delhi. Several people were injured, including police personnel. Even in Karnataka, a Muslim mob had attacked a police station and temple on the pretext that somebody had allegedly posted objectionable content on social media.
In the last month, at least ten incidents of mob violence in six states have been reported after Islamists had attacked Hindu devotees in Muslim-dominated areas for carrying out the religious processions.
