Atrocities against Hindus in Bihar, Haryana: VHP

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has raised concerns over "security" of Hindus in BJP-ruled Haryana and NDA-ruled Bihar.

The BJP has been in power in Haryana for nearly six years. Last year, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP came to power for the second time with a reduced majority with the help of rival-turned-post-poll-ally Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janata Party.

In Bihar, it is the alliance government of JD(U) and BJP which has ruled the state for 13 of the last 15 years. Nitish Kumar and BJP have been associates for the last two decades. Assembly polls in Bihar are due in October. Strains between the two allies have time and again come to the fore but they have stuck together for nearly 19 years barring a four-year break in 2013-2017.

While voicing concern over the rise in alleged attacks by "Jihadi elements" in the border areas of Bihar, the VHP petitioned the Governor. In Haryana, it sent a three-member team to probe "atrocities" against Hindus in Mewat, which has a large number of Meo Muslims.

Also Read: RSS watchword Swadeshi could be the BJP's next big thing

Tablighi Jamaat, which recently courted controversy over its big event in Delhi, adding to the coronavirus spread, traces its origin to the Mewat region. The VHP alleged that Jamaatis were later sheltered in Mewat.

According to the VHP, among the atrocities are cases where no Hindu businessman dares to recover his petty dues from a Muslim and is beaten up for doing so and that a Hindu boy's shikha (lock of hair) was made a point of indecent remarks on May 12. His family was severely beaten by 200 people for protesting this treatment.

Alleging that two districts of the region are safe havens for Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingya Muslims, it said VHP has set itself up for the protection of the Hindu society suffering from the growing terror of Islamic Jihadis there and announced the formation of a three-member high-level investigation team having Major General (Retd) G D Bakshi and Mahamandaleshwar Swami Dharmadev Maharaj.

VHP's Central Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain rued that the way the local police and the administration are showing helplessness in the face of the growing Jihadi activities in the area is a very serious matter.

On Wednesday, the VHP Secretary-General Milind Parande voiced anger over the "growing Jihadi attacks on Hindus" in Bihar.

Citing incidents of murder of a 15-year-old Hindu boy in Gopalganj, alleged gang-rape of a 15-year-old Hindu Dalit girl by Muslims in Kishanganj, a family in Begusarai not allowed to recite the Ramayana in the month of Ramzan or alleged suing of Hindu businessmen for putting up "Om" flags in Nalanda, VHP alleged such premeditated and deliberate conspiracies were going on at multiple locations including Sitamarhi, Begusarai, Purnia, Araria, Katihar and East Champaran.

"The atrocities and footprints of Islamic Jihadists and somewhere direct and somewhere indirect support to them by the administration are quite in plain sight. Many Hindu families of the state are forced to flee," Parande said.

He also said that new mosques and Madrasas are persistently popping up in the border areas of the state and those are serving as the Jihadi terror dens of Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators.

Last week, the VHP had slammed Odisha and Tamil Nadu governments over the affront to goddess Sita by some writers in the state and attempted to take money from Hindu temples respectively.