As per the quint report, this Monday amid the Shobha Yatra, few Hindu owners of the shops which got damaged claimed it was Hindutva vigilantes who focused on their properties. Within the violence that followed totally in different parts of Haryana, Hindus claim their shops were assaulted by vigilantes who befuddled them for Muslim-run shops.
In Sohna, Shatrughan Shukla, owner of an automobile shop saw his bullet bike set on fire as he stowed away the interior of his home while his shop got damaged. “I’ve seen all of it hidden away in the room. Bajrang Dal men set my bike on fire while coming from the yatra. One Scooty and one car have also been damaged. I’ve seen all this, and I can’t go out because one man doesn’t know how to do it in front of 100 people. ‘I couldn’t do anything at all,” Shukla said to The Quint.
When inquired why he considers they focused on his shop, Shukla said, “This entire route is lined with houses and shops run by Muslims; people might have assumed it’s typically a Muslim-dominated area.”This whole path has only Muslims’ houses and Muslim-run shops, they must have thought it was usually a Muslim’s shop”. Numerous of those got annihilated as well. Mine is a Hindu-run shop. I needed to tell them I am a Hindu, but I was also frightened, who knows in case they would have accepted me, it was a risk,” Shukla said.
The other shops within the adjoining path, claimed by Muslims, were moreover harmed.The shop is called the ‘Shiva automobile’. I am a shiv bhakt, but would’ve not spared me. I can tell you that it is their mentality”, he said. I have been running this store for ten years. “But I have never faced any difficulty from any Muslim. We’re like brothers to each other,” he said.
In addition, a restaurant called “Shankar Shambhu Hotel and Restaurant” in Sohna has been vandalized with broken boards, kitchen equipment and refrigerator. When they saw the crowd coming in, the owner, Lokesh Singh, said he and his brothers hid upstairs. “They broke in, broke our windows, refrigerators, stole our cylinders, set fire to one part of the dhaba, we could see everything from the upper floor,” Singh told The Quint.
According to the quint “the worker at the dhaba, who was hiding inside, said he’d seen the people of the yatra with sticks who’d damaged the place”.
Singh was asked why they’d do it and he said, ‘I don’t know what made them target our dhaba like that. It is a 40 year old dhaba that the family runs for so long. Hindus aren’t safe here. Pandit Lal Chand told The Quint, “The local rioters came and dragged me out, vandalized the temple gate and destroyed my motorbike”, he said.
The pandit charged the Haryana government and police for failing to prevent violence.”The cops should have been here from the beginning. But they’ve appeared after the violence is over. The government’s gone down in flames. We’ve got to be protected here,” he went on.
Tensions persisted in different parts of Haryana on Wednesday, two days after the initial violence erupted during VHP and Bajrang Dal’s Shobha Yatra or “Brij Mandal Jalabhishek yatra.” “Six people killed, 116 arrested, 90 detained since Monday’s clashes. There will be no mercy for those deemed responsible. They are looking for four more Central Army companies on Wednesday,” said CM Manohar Lal Khattar.
