Hindu group, BJP leaders hold dharna for three hours at Shri Ram Chowk, Jalandhar

A day after tension flared up between Hindu community members and a Muslim organisation in Jalandhar over the chanting of religious slogans, members of the Sanatan Raksha Manch and BJP leaders held a three-hour protest at Shri Ram Chowk here.

On the other hand, members of the Muslim Sangathan, Punjab, too maintained that Hindu activist Yogesh Maini had deliberately tried to provoke them by raising ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans outside the DC office, where they had already been holding a peaceful protest by carrying ‘I love Mohammad’ banners. Naim Khan, president of the sangathan, Mazhar Alam, general secretary, and Ayub Khan called it all a malafide attempt to disturb peace and communal harmony in Punjab and the rest of the country ahead of the Bihar elections.

Both sides shared videos supporting their claims. Muslim leaders tried to project that Maini had tried to incite them while they were waiting outside the DC office yesterday for the Commissioner of Police to receive a memorandum from them over ‘I love Mohammad’ row in UP.

Those siding with Maini shared videos of the Muslim community leaders gheraoing him, trying to manhandle him and had even taken out their footwear to beat him up. “How can a man be beaten up for saying Jai Shri Ram? What is wrong with these words? Did he commit any sin saying so? How could the Muslims force him to say Allah hu Akbar?” asked BJP leaders, including ex-MLA KD Bhandari and activist Amit Taneja.

While Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Sharma reached out to the agitating BJP leaders, Deputy Commissioner of Police Naresh Dogra and ADCP-1 Akarshi Jain tried to pacify the Muslim leaders. Dogra even received a memorandum of their demand. The complainant, Maini, had got added the name of Ayub Khan and Naim Khan in the supplementary copy of the complaint and had demanded that they be named in the FIR. However, both leaders claimed that they were in the office of ADCP Dogra to hand over the memorandum when the incident had happened. On the contrary, the two demanded that Maini and the Hindu activists who blocked the BMC Chowk while trying to flare up communal sentiments should be booked.

Bhandari countered the arguments of Muslim leaders, “Maini is an accountant by profession. He is not even our party worker. He is a simple Sanatan Dharam follower. He saw the effigies of PM Narendra Modi and CM Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath burning. He just felt like remembering God and hence said Jai Shri Ram. How could this be provocative?”

BJP leaders Amit Bhatia and Rajesh Jain, who reportedly jumped over the wall of the DC office to act as saviours of Maini, have said, “Had we not reached there in time, anything could have happened. We had to rescue him to safety.”

On Maini’s complaint, FIR number 177 had been lodged against unknown persons under Sections 115 (2) (voluntary causing hurt), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) and 299 (act to outrage religious feelings) of the BNS.