Vivek Gupta 
Chandigarh: Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla came to standstill on Wednesday (September 11) following violent clashes between protesters demanding the demolition of the allegedly unauthorised floors of a mosque in the city’s Sanjauli area and security forces deployed in large numbers in the wake of the protest.
Many protesters and cops reportedly sustained injuries in a lathi charge carried out by police in response to protesters breaking barricades on the path to the mosque.
Even as police claimed the situation had come under control, the chaos kept the whole city on tenterhooks throughout the day, with schools holding students back and tourists staying inside their hotels.
Several Hindu outfits led by the Hindu Jagran March, which the Congress claimed is aligned with the BJP, were responsible for Wednesday’s protest.
They held a massive campaign in the days leading up to Wednesday’s protest, asking people to come to Sanjauli to seek action against the mosque, which they claimed had risen to multiple stories in height without permission from local municipal authorities.
They also turned their focus to Muslim immigrants settled in the hilly city and in other parts of the state, claiming they were taking jobs away from locals besides creating communal tensions.
Apprehending the law and order situation, the local administration issued prohibitory orders under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which bars the assembly of more than five persons without permission and the carrying of lethal weapons and arms including lathis, daggers, sticks, spears and swords.
However, protesters – whose numbers in the city swelled – defied the said prohibitory orders and flared up tensions in the otherwise tranquil city.
As per media reports, protestors with the tricolour in their hands chanted slogans like “Himachal ne thana hai, devbhoomi ko bachana hai” (‘Himachal has decided that we will protect God’s land’) and “Bharat mata ki jai”.
What led to the protest?
The mosque in question has existed in Sanjauli for years. It was a single story building to start with, but three more stories were added to it over time.
While the legality of the mosque’s additional stories was sub-judice with local municipal authorities, the issue got a push and the invited attention of Hindu outfits soon after Congress minister Anirudh Singh brought it up in the state assembly last week.
Speaking at the assembly, Singh demanded an investigation into the mosque’s construction and even said that the alleged illegal construction at the mosque had led to tensions in the area.
The statement by Singh, who is a Congress MLA from the Kasumpti assembly seat in Shimla district, came after a scuffle reportedly occurred between a local person and some members of the Muslim community and raised communal tensions in his constituency.
Soon, locals turned their anger towards the alleged unauthorised parts of the mosque, where it was alleged that immigrants as well as the culprits of the aforementioned scuffle were accommodated.
The issue was then soon picked up by Hindu outfits, who first held a small protest in Shimla on Thursday (September 5) before calling for a bigger protest today.
Action as per law, says ruling Congress
Himachal Pradesh’s urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh in a media interaction on Wednesday claimed that the government had taken cognisance of the alleged illegal construction at the mosque.
“I have strongly said it in the assembly and am now saying it again, that the matter is pending with the municipal commissioner. Once he decides the matter, action will be taken as per law,” he said, adding that the additional floors would be demolished if found to be illegal.
“But we have to move ahead with the process of law. We want an atmosphere of peace to prevail in Himachal Pradesh,” he continued to say.
Singh said it was a matter of history that the Congress government in the state brought an anti-conversion law in 2006 and spent crores on the construction and rehabilitation of Hindu temples.
However, he then said that the Himachal government under the Congress was not a banana republic.
“We don’t work on sentiments; rather, the rule is law is sacrosanct for us. We have to follow the constitution and in this particular case, we will have to follow the ambit of the municipal act,” he said.
Addressing the issue raised by protestors of the alleged influx of immigrants, the minister claimed that the government had already clarified it was ready to constitute a committee to probe the matter.
The decision regarding this will be taken soon, Singh said.
On the contrary, former BJP Himachal chief minister and current leader of opposition in the state, Jairam Thakur, condemned the reported use of force on protesters in his media statement.
He claimed that the state government took the entire episode lightly from day one.
Thakur added that the issue started with the scuffle and alleged that the people who beat up the local man took shelter in the mosque in Sanjauli, leading to further resentment among the public.
“When it is clear that the mosque is not legal, then just action should have been taken. The work that could have been done according to the law is not being done under the pressure of the Congress high command,” he alleged.
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s media adviser Naresh Chauhan told the media that the BJP wanted to make the issue a Hindu-Muslim one.
“But the reality is that this is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. It is a law and order situation and the law will take its course. The chief minister has said that any action that needs to be taken related to any unauthorised construction, will be taken,” he said.
“Some people who see a political opportunity in this will not get support. The government has said that they will keep a track record of the people coming from outside, to make sure that there are no bad elements.”