On Friday (26th July) evening, a speeding car travelling on the wrong side of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway hit Hindu devotees part of the Kanwar Yatra and collided with a Kanwar. As per reports, the collision impact damaged the Kanwar making the aggrieved Kanwariya’s Yatra futile. Following the incident, Kanwariyas attempted to confront and nab the accused car occupants which led to clashes. While three out of the four accused fled from the crime scene, Kanwariyas caught one accused and handed him over to the Police.
However, it was later found out that the accused occupants in the car belonged to the Muslim faith, which triggered Islamists to peddle the boogie of ‘Muslim victimhood’ and launch a smear campaign against Kanwar Yatra, a religious Hindu practice. Additionally, the media reports on the incident have also painted the accused car occupants as victims and blatantly accuse Kanwariyas of indulging in violence, vandalism, and terrorising Muslim car occupants for a “minor incident”.
According to reports, the incident took place on Friday evening in Partapur near the T-point where the Delhi-Dehradun Highway and Delhi-Meerut Expressway intersect. The car which was travelling on the wrong side hit the Kanwar of a Hindu devotee who was marching on foot from Haridwar to Ghaziabad. It broke off his water pot thus ending his religious yatra before its culmination. Notably, Hindu devotees bring Ganga Jal (holy water) from Gaumukh, Gangotri in Uttarakhand, and other holy rivers to do Jal Abhishek of Shiv ji in their revered nearby temples. For this, they accumulate water in pots or other containers in Kanwar and do Padyatra from these holy cities back to their hometown.
After the speeding car travelling on the wrong side ramped into their yatra, the Kanwariyas attempted to nab the accused car occupants which escalated into violent clashes between them. However, three out of the four accused managed to flee the area to avoid getting arrested by the Police. But the Kanwariyas caught one accused and assaulted him before handing him over to the Police.
Meanwhile, after getting the information, SP Traffic Raghavendra Singh, CO Brahmapuri Pramod Kumar, and CEO Suchita Singh reached the spot with heavy police force and pacified the matter.
They convinced the Kanwariyas and made travel arrangements for the victim Kanwariya to fetch Ganga Jal again from Haridwar. Additionally, the police took the car involved in the accident into custody and sent it to the police yard.
Narrating the incident, the Kanwariyas recounted that the car was coming from the wrong side. They added that the riders didn’t pay heed to their warnings that they were driving on the wrong side of the road and could end up hurting Kanwariyas or disrupting their Yatra.
The Kanwariyas said, “The Kanwar has been broken due to the collision. We signaled the car riders that we were carrying the Kanwar and that they were coming from the wrong side, but they ignored us. This is why this accident happened. Our Kanwar was broken.”
Infuriated by the incident, the Kanwariyas demanded that the miscreant car occupants be handed over to the Police and that they should face strict actions for their act. However, it led to a violent confrontation and while the three accused managed to flee, the Kanwariyas assaulted one of them and handed him over to the Police.
However, media reports about the incident have painted victim Kanwariyas as the aggressor and accused them of assaulting and vandalising the car of the Muslim occupants for a minor collision incident. Soon, usual suspects and Islamists started peddling the boogie of Muslim victimhood and presented it as a near-lynching incident to launch smear campaigns against the Hindu religious Kanwar Yatra.
#Kanwad yatra is open license to hooliganism. In Meerut, a Muslim man was brutally thrashed while 3 other fled the brutal attack when their car touched a kanwad on the road. pic.twitter.com/6zvTnRnOz5
— Aasif Mujtaba (@MujtabaAasif) July 26, 2024
वीडियो मेरठ का है। कार सवार पर आरोप लगा कि कार की साइड लगने से कांवड़ खंडित हो गई है। उसके बाद कांवड़ियों ने कार को पूरी तरह क्षतिग्रस्त कर दिया। कार सवारों में से एक युवक को बेरहमी से पीट-पीट कर अधमरा कर दिया। हर दिन यह घटनाएं हो रही हैं, लेकिन एक्शन? pic.twitter.com/k4wzEsN8Kj
— Wasim Akram Tyagi (@WasimAkramTyagi) July 26, 2024
⚠️Trigger Warning : Disturbing Visuals.
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) July 26, 2024
In #UttarPradesh's #Meerut, car occupants were assaulted using iron rods by a Kanwariya group for accidentally touching the #Kanwariyas while driving on the wrong side.
In the video, car occupants could be seen trying to escape from the… pic.twitter.com/WfZ2K27Q6Y
Meanwhile, several X users also pointed out that concerted efforts have been going on to smear the Kanwar Yatra and present devout Shiva bhakts, and Kanwariyas as hooligans and vandals accusing them of wanton communal violence.
कांवड़ यात्रा के बारे में कहीं सकारात्मक बातें पढ़ने को नहीं आतीं। ऐसा लगता है जैसे- जानबूझकर एक तरह का माहौल बनाया जा रहा हो। यात्रा क्यों होती है, कैसे होती है, कितनी चुनौतीपूर्ण है आदि बातों की कोई चर्चा नहीं। कांवड यात्रा को लेकर हंगामे, तोड़-फोड़, ट्रैफिक जाम जैसी ही…
— Akhilesh Sharma (@akhileshsharma1) July 27, 2024
रॉन्ग साइड आ रही कार ने कांवड़िये को मारी टक्कर।
— HASHTAG BHARAT NEWS (@HTB_tweets) July 26, 2024
कांवड़ खंडित होने पर आक्रोशित हुए कांवड़िये
पुलिस ने कार चालक को हिरासत में लिया, 3 फरार#meerut pic.twitter.com/XC0gXzjcH9
पूरी मीडिया इस खबर पर चुप क्यों ?
— Panchjanya (@epanchjanya) July 26, 2024
कांवड़ियों के खिलाफ बड़ी साजिश हो रही है!
कांवड़ यात्रा को बदनाम करने की साजिश रची जा रही है।
पहले कांवड़ियों पर गाड़ी चढ़ाया, एक कांवड़िए की मौत हो गयी।
उसके बाद कांवड़ यात्रियों को ही हिंसक बताकर फंसा दिया गया।
4 मुसलमानों ने गलत साइड में… pic.twitter.com/XjY7A8Pjmh
Four Muslim men in a car allegedly tried to crush Kanwariyas and hit their Kanwad on Meerut – Haridwar Highway. They were driving on the wrong side too.
— Sunanda Roy 👑 (@SaffronSunanda) July 26, 2024
When Kanwariyas retaliated, 3 of them ran away and 1 of them was arrested by the Police.
They hate Hindus and want secularism… pic.twitter.com/3xiYlaYEKF
Many users pointed out the details of the incidents and called out media reports and Islamist propaganda being peddled in this incident.
