Tag: Pushkar Singh Dhami

After UP, Uttarakhand Govt Issues Guidelines To Prevent ‘Thook Jihad’, Offenders to be Fined

The guidelines were issued by the Uttarakhand police and health department after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami termed such incidents as “thook (spit) Jihad.

New Delhi: The Uttarakhand government has issued detailed guidelines for preventing instances of people spitting in food and has also announced a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.

The other measures include mandatory police verification of hotel staff and installation of CCTV cameras in their kitchens, reported Press Trust of India.

The Uttarakhand government’s guidelines come right after the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh announced that it is set to bring in a new stringent law to curb incidences of contamination of food and beverages with human waste, spit, inedible items or other filthy material.

The guidelines were issued by the Uttarakhand police and health department after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami termed such incidents as “thook (spit) Jihad,” saying that strict action will be taken against offenders.

Uttarakhand DGP Abhinav Kumar said the offenders will be booked under Section 274 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (adulteration of food and drink intended for sale) and section 81 of the Uttarakhand Police Act (arrest without warrant for creating public nuisance, knowingly spreading rumours or causing false alarm to mislead police, fire brigade or any essential service) and in case the act has an adverse effect on religion, ethnicity, language etc., then action should also be taken under relevant section 196 (1) (B) ( promoting enmity between different groups based on religion, race, language, place of birth, or residence) or 299 of BNS (deliberate and malicious acts that are intended to insult the religious beliefs or religion of any class of citizens in India).

 

‘We Are Not in the Feudal Era’: SC on U’khand CM Appointing Forest Officer Despite Apprehension

Pushkar Singh Dhami had approved posting an IFoS officer named Rahul as director of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve last month despite senior bureaucrats expressing apprehension because Rahul is the subject of departmental proceedings.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 4) took a dim view of Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami appointing a forest officer subject to departmental proceedings as director of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve despite senior officials’ apprehensions.

“The chief minister cannot take a decision like this … We are not in the feudal era when raja jaise bole waisa karein [what the king says must be done],” The Hindu quoted Justice B.R. Gavai as saying.

“Just because he is the chief minister, can he do anything?” PTI quoted the judge as also saying.

The court was hearing a case involving Dhami’s approval for posting an Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer named Rahul as director of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve near Haridwar last month.

Uttarakhand forest minister Subodh Uniyal had amended a list of proposed IFoS transfers to include Rahul as Rajaji’s new director, but file notes routed through the state’s principal secretary (forests) and its chief secretary sought reconsideration of the decision on July 22, the Indian Express reported.

They sought this “in view of the ongoing disciplinary proceedings against Rahul, the CBI probe and the case in the Supreme Court regarding illegal felling and construction work for Pakhro tiger safari inside Corbett [Tiger Reserve],” the Express‘s report said.

Rahul, under whose watch the illegal activities allegedly occurred, was removed as Corbett director in 2022.

After the bureaucrats routed the file notes, Uniyal forwarded a proposal to keep Rahul at his then-position of chief conservator of forests (monitoring, evaluation, IT and modernisation) and appoint a different officer as Rajaji director on July 24, the newspaper said.

But Dhami on August 8 decided to approve Rahul’s appointment as Rajaji director.

On Wednesday, Justice Gavai, who was accompanied in the three-judge bench hearing the case by Justices P.K. Mishra and K.V. Viswanathan, noted that Dhami had explained his decision in just one line.

“He had to give reasons when he is disagreeing. He is ignoring everything … It’s not a judgment, but he has to give reasoning as to why he disagrees with the bureaucrat, the minister,” the Express quoted him as saying.

According to reports, the case reached the Supreme Court following a report submitted by the Central Empowered Committee, a body that monitors the Supreme Court’s orders on forest and wildlife-related issues and reviews instances of non-compliance with these orders.

During the hearing, senior advocate Atmaram Nadkarni, who appeared for the Uttarakhand government, noted that neither the police, the CBI nor the Enforcement Directorate had indicted Rahul in the illegal tree felling case.

“Good officers should not be lost because of such things,” Nadkarni said according to The Hindu.

But Justice Gavai responded saying that “if there is nothing against him [Rahul], why [are] there departmental proceedings?”

“Departmental proceedings are not initiated unless there is a prima facie finding against an officer … And the chief minister has gone against the advice of everyone in this case.”

Uniyal has maintained that the decision was taken “unanimously” following his and Dhami’s consent.

While the court considered asking Dhami to file an affidavit, it closed proceedings because Rahul’s appointment was revoked on Tuesday, reports said.

Uttarakhand: Gurdwara Chief’s Murder Sparks Outrage in Sikh Community

Police have said that the murder at ‘most important religious places in our state’ was a ‘matter of concern.’ A larger conspiracy angle is being probed.

New Delhi: The chief of a revered Gurdwara in Uttarakhand was on March 28 shot dead within the premises of the shrine by two bike-borne assailants. The murder of Baba Tarsem Singh, the dera karseva chief of Nanakmatta Gurdwara in Udham Singh Nagar, has triggered widespread outrage within the Sikh community.

The Uttarakhand police has formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident, which took place early morning when Singh was seated on a chair, alone, in the compound of the dera. The murder was caught on CCTV and police said they have a clear description of the two assailants.

While the police are investigating the motive behind the murder, local reports said Singh had in February in a social media post expressed a threat to his life amid a dispute with the management committee of the Gurdwara.

Uttarakhand Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar said the state STF and local police were probing the murder as a “top priority” from all angles. He said the police were not only trying to identify the assailants but also uncover any larger “conspiracy” behind the murder.

The state police have also contacted central agencies to find out if they had any valuable information about the victim or the assailants, said the police officer.

The incident took place around 6:15-6:30 am, when two men on a bike entered the Gurdwara premises and after closing in on Singh, who was on a chair, fired at him twice while turning their vehicle. They escaped from the spot.

Singh was taken to a hospital in an injured state but was later declared dead, said police.

Manju Nath TC, Senior Superintendent of Police Udham Singh Nagar, said they had clear footage of the suspects, who appeared to belong to the same community as the victim. Another officer said the two had stayed in a guesthouse of the gurdwara.

While Sikhs form 2.34% of the state’s population, as per the 2011 Census, their numbers are much higher – almost 10% – in Udham Singh Nagar district, which borders Uttar Pradesh.

Udham Singh Nagar was carved out of Nainital district.

Tarsem Singh’s followers have demanded that the culprits be nabbed at the earliest.

Shivnarayan Pal, a prominent farmer who was close to Singh, said he was “shocked” by the murder. Pal suspected that a dispute over the “gaddi” or seat of the Gurdwara could be behind the crime, even as he hoped that the police would uncover the truth soon.

“I met him within the last week. He did not speak of any fear or threat. How could such a thing happen? He was a mahatma,” Pal told The Wire.

Pal also said that local sources said that the two assailants belonged to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and Tarn Taran district in Punjab.

Singh was also considered close to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who, in the middle of his election campaign, travelled to Nanakmatta to offer his tribute.

“This was a very emotional moment for me which cannot be expressed in words,” said Dhami in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Strict instructions have been given to top police officers to arrest these murderers who are enemies of society and humanity as soon as possible,” Dhami said after the murder.

DGP Kumar told a news agency that the murder at Nanakmatta, one of the “most important religious places in our state” was a “matter of concern for us.”

The Nanakmatta Gurdwara is associated with the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak. According to the Uttarakhand government, Guru Nanak is believed to have visited Nanakmatta on his way to Kailash Parvat in 1515 AD. Citing local lore, the state tourism department said, the place was earlier known as Gorakhmata, and after Nanak’s visit, its name was changed to Nanakmatta. It is today a popular pilgrimage site. A lake, Nanak Sagar, formed after the constriction of a dam there is also popular with tourists.

Pan Singh, one of the 250-plus ‘sevadars’ at the Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee, which manages the sprawling shrine, said Tarsem Singh had no public dispute with anyone.

Pal recalled Tarsem Singh for being helpful to the poor and the needy. “He would solve all kinds of problems for people and also resolve their disputes,” said he.

Rajpal Singh, formerly associated with the Gurwara and now vice-president of the state farmer’s commission, said a “suspense” prevailed over the likely motive of the crime.

“I had known Babaji for 20-25 years. He always behaved well and was amicable. He would provide shelter to elderly people and women abandoned by their families. He would arrange large langars and feed people,” said Rajpal Singh.

Uttarakhand Set to Pass UCC: Jail Time for Unregistered Live-in Relationship; Exemption for Tribals

The Congress has alleged that its MLAs were not given enough time to read and respond to the Bill.

New Delhi: With slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ reverberating in the Bharatiya Janata Party-dominated assembly, the Uttarakhand government on February 6 tabled a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill in the state assembly. A part of this Bill mandates compulsory registration of live-in relationships and punishment of three to six months in jail for failing to do so.

If passed, Uttarakhand would become the first state in the country to implement a UCC, which has been a long-standing election agenda of the saffron party. The Opposition Congress accused the ruling BJP led by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami of introducing the Bill in the assembly without giving its MLAs time to study or review the provisions, and said it wanted to pass the law without debate.

The Bill bans bigamy or polygamy; regulates live-in relationships including setting up rules for their compulsory registration and punitive measures for failing to do so; standardises the process of divorce for both men and women; lays out procedure for compulsory registration of marriages and prohibits marriages and live-in relationships between those who fall within degrees of prohibited relationships such as close family members and relatives; and eliminates the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children and treats adopted child on an equal footing as a biological child and provides equal inheritance rights for men and women. The Bill will not be applicable to members of the Scheduled Tribes, who are less than 3% of the state’s population.

Dhami described it a “historic moment” and said that his government had introduced the Bill in the assembly taking along all sections of the society. “That historic moment is near for Devbhoomi when Uttarakhand will become a strong pillar of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat’,” said Dhami.

Mandatory registration of live-in relationships

A key highlight of The Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand, 2024 is that it mandates the obligatory registration of live-in relationships. Even those residents of Uttarakhand who are in a live-in relationship outside the state must submit a statement to the registrar of the state. Those in a live-in relationship, or intending to get into one, will need to submit a statement of live-in relationship to the registrar who will carry out an inquiry which might include the persons or couple to provide additional information or evidence or be summoned for verification. After conducting the inquiry, the registrar shall within 30 days of the receipt of the statement of live-in either register the relationship and issue a certificate or refuse to register the statement. The partners will be informed about the denial of registration in writing. The Bill mandates that the registrar has to forward a statement of the live-in relationship to the in-charge of the local police station for record and, in case either of the partners is less than 21 years of age, also inform the parents or guardians of such partners.

Also read: The Things We Need to Do Before We Speak of the Uniform Civil Code

The Bill says that whoever stays in a live-in relationship for more than one month without submitting the statement of such a relationship shall be punished on conviction by a judicial magistrate with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine not exceeding Rs 10,000 or both. If the individuals submit false information or withholds information during registration, they would also face a jail term of three months and an ever bigger fine of Rs 25,000. If any of the partners fails to submit the statement of live-in relationship on being required by a notice, they shall face a jail term of six months and Rs 25,000 fine.

The UCC Bill also declares that a child of a live-in relationship shall also be a legitimate child of the couple and mandates that if a woman gets deserted by her live-in partner, she shall be entitled to claim maintenance from her partner.

Rules on marriage and divorce

A five-member committee of experts under retired judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, formed by the state government as part of its election promise, had last week submitted its report on the UCC to Dhami. The committee was to examine the relevant laws regulating personal civil matters of residents of the state and to prepare a draft law or suggest changes in existing laws on marriage, divorce, property rights, succession, inheritance, adoption, maintenance, custody and guardianship. The committee was also tasked with preparing a report on implementing a UCC in the state.

The UCC Bill draft was introduced in the state assembly on Tuesday, two days after the cabinet gave a nod to it.

The Bill makes compulsory the registration of marriage solemnised and contracted after the commencement of the UCC. It prohibits polygamy by stipulating that a person entering into a marriage should not have a living spouse and should be at least 18 (women) and 21 (men) years of age. Interestingly, it says that marriages may be solemnised or contracted between a man and a woman in accordance with the religious beliefs, practices, customary rites and ceremonies including but not limited to “Saptapadi”, “Ashirvad”, “Nikah”, “Holy Union”, “Anand Karaj” under The Anand Marriage Act 1909 as well as under, but not limited to, The Special Marriage Act, 1954 and Arya Marriage Validation Act, 1937.

The Bill also lays out a common procedure for divorce. Marriage, either before or after UCC, can be dissolved by either partner (through petition) on several grounds including cruelty, adultery, desertion for two years and conversion of religion. A wife may also present a petition to the court for the dissolution of marriage by a decree of divorce on the additional ground that the husband has, since the solemnisation or contracting of the marriage, been guilty of rape or any other kind of unnatural sexual offence or that the husband had more than one wife from marriages solemnised before the commencement of the UCC.

Opposition to the Bill

Premchand Aggarwal, cabinet minister, while introducing the UCC, said a policy of “appeasement” had prevented previous governments from bringing in such a law. “The UCC gives uniform rights to women of all castes and religions,” said Aggarwal in the assembly while seated next to Dhami.

Aggarwal also tried to counter charges by the Opposition about the intent of the BJP behind a UCC, saying that even Muslim countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sudan, Pakistan and Indonesia had a uniform civil code.

Also read: The Social and Economic Dangers to the ‘Mother of Democracy’ if a Uniform Civil Code Is Implemented

The Congress said its MLAs were not given any time to prepare for a discussion on the Bill and were not kept in the loop on the content of the expert committee report. Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya said before introducing the Bill, the government should have presented the expert committee report for discussion. Arya accused the government of depriving Opposition MLAs of their right to ask questions after the Question Hour was waived off for this session. Arya suggested that the Bill be sent to a select committee to examine it.

“They are suppressing the voice of the MLAs on the strength of their numbers. We didn’t even get time to review the report,” said Arya, who further accused the ruling party of undermining the rules of the assembly and setting a “new precedent” by ignoring constitutional traditions.

The Congress is yet to respond to the specific provisions of the UCC Bill. Arya, however, said he was not against the UCC. Former chief minister Harish Rawat, talking to a news agency, asked if the Union government would allow others states too to bring in similar laws, even as it has promised to bring in a UCC at the national level. “If a state government brings in a law for the ruling class in the name of the UCC to intervene in the personal tradition of another community for vote bank politics, won’t there be disharmony in the state?” Rawat asked. He took the example of the ethnic conflict in Manipur

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani said he could not accept any law that was against the Shariah and said that the UCC was in conflict with the fundamental rights given to citizens. Commenting on the exclusion of STs from the UCC, under Sub-Section 342 of Chapter 25 of Article 366 of the Constitution of India, Madani asked that if tribals can be exempted from the law then “why religious freedom cannot be given to us under Sections 24 and 26 of the Constitution, recognising the fundamental rights of citizens.”

The legal team of the JUH will review the legal aspects of the Bill and take a decision on legal action, said Madani. “Religious freedom is guaranteed; thus, the Uniform Civil Code negates fundamental rights. If it is a uniform civil code then why this distinction between citizens?” he asked.

Pushkar Singh Dhami, Nitish Kumar and the Media’s Inability to Outrage When it Really Matters

At an event attended by the Uttarakhand CM, priest Dhirendra Shastri made incendiary comments against Muslims. These found no mention in the newspapers.

A media outrage storm against the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, has been brewing in India for much of the past two days. Kumar has been accused of making misogynist remarks in the state assembly. Many prominent people including PM Modi have slammed Kumar and the INDIA alliance for “stooping to a new low.”  

A BJP MP even described his remarks as an assault on the spirit of Indian democracy. 

Writing on The Wire Abantika Ghosh noted that Nitish Kumar gave a rather graphic description of withdrawal as one of the means that an educated woman can make her husband practice in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Speaking informally in Hindi, Kumar had stressed on the need for educating women in order to bolster the government’s population control efforts. It’s not that Kumar’s remarks should not be the subject of scrutiny. Ghosh has already covered that in her piece.

I want to focus on another aspect of the story that has received little attention – the extreme bias of the Hindi media against prominent leaders of the opposition. While there is no dearth of examples to illustrate this bias, a recent incident explains this quite aptly.

 Two days before Kumar’s speech went viral, on November 4, a grand katha or Hindu religious sermon was organised for Dhirendra Shastri, the chief priest of the Bageshwar Dham, at the parade ground in Dehradun. At the event, Hindutva leaders including Shastri, made hateful remarks targeting the Muslim and Christian minorities in the chief minister’s presence. However, it has received little coverage and almost no outrage in the national media. Almost no Hindi channel reported on the contents of the speech and one channel reported it as the Godman’s advice to religious minorities. 

This is summary of the supposed ‘advice’ that Shastri gave:

If a person is O+, can he accept another blood group?…So, if the body can’t accept another blood group then how can we accept another religion?

When I was coming here, I was told that JCBs have been run over the lands of “those people”. I replied that’s very good…Right now Maharaj ji was also telling us how they capture land and cover it with a chadar…This is how the CM should be who takes away the homes of those who say that it’s Babur’s land.

I don’t want mosques to be made in Uttarakhand. Only Ram temples should be constructed. 

Shastri also compared Muslims and Christians to ghosts and ghouls who can be shooed away by chanting the names of Hindu Gods

Shastri was received by CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and even escorted to the stage. After Shastri’s address, Dhami described him as the “guardian of the Hindu culture,” and as one conveying the true identity of India to the future generations.

Apart from Shastri, Swami Darshan Bharti was also mentioned by Dhami in his address.

Bharti, who was also present on the stage, had hit the headlines earlier this year when Muslims were driven out of the Purola town and their businesses were targeted after being marked with the ‘X’ sign. Later, it was revealed that the whole ‘love jihad’ charge was false. ‘Love jihad’ is a bogey claiming a conspiracy by Muslims to convert Hindu brides.

Bharti is one of the Hindutva leaders from the state whose name regularly features in anti-Muslim hate videos. In a recent interview to a local online portal, he was asked if his speeches can incite people, to which he lamented that people do not get provoked enough. “If they were actually getting provoked then the limbs of so many Muslims would have been chopped off till now,” he is heard saying.

Bharti was a prominent speaker at the infamous Haridwar Dharam Sansad where calls for mass killings of Muslims were made. 

The Wire had reported that at the Haridwar Dharma Sansad, Bharti spoke about “Islamic activities in the devbhoomi.” He said that even Aurangzeb had not managed to conquer the devbhoomi and claimed that its people have not allowed any mosque to be built there since 2015.

“No mazar was allowed to be built.. No madrasa was allowed to be built…Remember this too…Learn this from these poor…I definitely wish to put to you people that only after saving that shrine of Hindu religion can we talk of a Hindu nation…If India follows the path shown by Shankaracharya ji, then surely this saint will give you this knowledge,” he said.

This time around, in the presence of the chief minister, he said that Uttarakhand is suffering because of “jihadis who’ve invaded” the state.

“If the wave of Hindutva doesn’t start from Uttarakhand then the nation won’t become a Hindu state…This country has to be made a Hindu rashtra and all the people of the Devbhoomi need to take this vow.”

Almost all Hindi newspapers had great things to say about the event.

Meanwhile, the adjectives being used for Nitish Kumar’s speech in the media are: vulgar, incendiary, misogynist, sexist, controversial, and bizarre. 

The Supreme Court and Uttarakhand high court have repeatedly questioned the state government for their inaction against hate speech, something that seems to have become so routine in the state that no media has even bothered to report about it, despite it happening in the CM’s presence.

The Supreme Court had warned that any delay in registering hate speech cases would be considered contempt of court, and described hate speech as a severe crime that can damage the secular fabric of the society.

At Least 15 Killed as Power Transformer Explodes in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli

The incident occurred at the Namami Ganga project site on the banks of the Alkananda River due to ‘electricity circulation on a metal railing’, authorities said.

New Delhi: At least 15 people were killed and seven injured when a power transformer exploded at the Namami Ganga project site on the banks of the Alkananda River in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Wednesday, July 19.

According to Indian Express, an additional director general (law and order), V. Murugesan, said electricity circulation on a metal railing caused casualties as per preliminary information. A police sub-inspector and three guards were among the 15 killed when the incident occurred at 11:35 am at Chamoli sewage treatment plant.

Two injured were airlifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh while five others were rushed to a hospital in Gopeshwar. The helicopter is set to return to airlift other victims, the IE report said.

Uttarakhand chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and said rescue teams, district administration, and state disaster response force have reached the spot.

“For those severely injured, we are taking the help of helicopters to refer them to higher centres,” said Dhami in a video statement.

Taking to Twitter, he said, “Extremely painful news was received of many casualties due to electrocution in Chamoli. Those injured in the accident have been sent to the nearest hospital for treatment. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into this unfortunate incident. I pray to God for the peace of the departed souls and the speedy recovery of the injured.”

Chamoli district disaster management officer, N.K. Joshi, told PTI that the police had gone to the spot to prepare a report on the electrocution of a person working on the project site late on Tuesday. At that time, a surge of electricity at the same spot hit the police personnel and the curious onlookers, leading to deaths and injuries, he added.

Double-Engine Govt in Uttarakhand Flouted Rules To Allow River Mining: Report

An investigation by The Reporters’ Collective has brought to light the Union environment ministry and Uttarakhand government’s brazen disregard for environmental safeguards as they work to further river mining in the state.

New Delhi: An investigation by The Reporters’ Collective (TRC) has revealed that the Uttarakhand government enjoys impunity in flouting environmental norms as it pushes for increased mining in the state’s Gaula river.

The Gaula is already dying due to excessive mining and deforestation, TRC’s report says, but this has not deterred the Union government from extending Uttarakhand’s permission to mine from the river.

The Union environment ministry is also undeterred by Uttarakhand’s unwillingness to comply with rules meant to protect the environment. TRC reports that it has also relaxed existing environmental regulations, allowing the state government to further degrade the Gaula.

Flowing through eastern Uttarakhand, the Gaula originates in the state’s Nainital district and eventually joins the Ramganga river in Uttar Pradesh, which in turn joins the Ganges further downstream.

It passes through Uttarakhand’s Haldwani city as it enters the plains and is an important source of water for the city.

During its course, the Gaula collects stones and minerals from upstream and deposits them in the plains. These also regulate the Gaula’s flow, and unfettered mining risks allowing the river to take unprecedented paths downstream during the monsoon and damage farmland as well as bridges, TRC reported.

Flooding from rivers is a major cause of destruction during the monsoon in India.

Also Read: Redevelopment Projects at Badrinath Must Respect its Unique Natural and Spiritual Heritage

A statutory body in the Uttarakhand government, known as the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation (UFDC), was granted permission by the Union government to mine the Gaula for 10 years starting in January 2013, TRC’s report said.

The state government attempted to renew this permission starting in April 2022, and obtained a temporary extension from the Union environment ministry in January this year.

But TRC reports that the ministry granted this temporary extension without knowing the full extent of the state government’s compliance with forest conservation rules – as the latter submitted only an incomplete compliance report – even though it should take this information into consideration as per regulations.

In fact, even with the available information, the ministry noted that Uttarakhand violated forestry conditions by allowing construction works in areas marked for compensatory afforestation.

One month later, the Uttarakhand government obtained a permanent extension of its permission to mine the Gaula from the Union ministry, although by only half its requested period of 10 years, owing to its poor compliance with conditions imposed on it from a previous approval, according to TRC‘s report.

The Union ministry also granted permission to Uttarakhand to mine the Gaula through June this year, relaxing its own guidelines prohibiting the mining of rivers during the monsoon in order to allow them to recover from the effects of mining.

“There is no use of forest conservation and environment protection laws and policy if those going against them are allowed to exploit resources and are given relaxations to do that,” environmental lawyer Rahul Choudhary told TRC.

He also said that violating compliance conditions under forest conservation laws can amount to violating the law itself. “What is the purpose of [the] law if it’s openly flouted?”

Also read: Uncontrolled Construction, Ignored Warnings: How Joshimath Sank

Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand’s chief minister, announced the renewal of the state’s mining permission (which was also granted in relation to three other rivers) in a Facebook post, where he thanked the Union environment minister and attributed this success to the “double-engine government”.

He used the term double-engine government to refer to the Union and Uttarakhand governments being ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Pushkar Singh Dhami. Photo: PTI

TRC notes in its report that the Union government’s actions were an effort to “help the state government of the same colour leapfrog over regulations and multiple court orders meant to safeguard rivers and livelihoods, and squeeze more money out of the river.”

The Uttarakhand government obtained its five-year mining extension just days after Dhami met Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi.

The state government has said that the extension will create profits of up to Rs 50 crore, which will cause the prices of construction material to go down and provide employment to the state’s residents.

This is not the first time that the sidestepping of environmental safeguards has put Uttarakhand’s population at risk. Land subsidence in the state’s Joshimath town early this year caused hundreds of buildings to develop cracks that led several families to become homeless.

Experts as well as the town’s residents have alleged that successive governments’ failure to heed to warnings relating to heavy construction, including by building a hydro-power tunnel and a highway to facilitate religious tourism, are partially responsible for the sinking of Joshimath.

As Tensions Run High in Purola, Muslims Flee Uttarkashi; BJP Minority Wing Leaders Feel ‘Betrayed’

The Uttarakhand town has been on tenterhooks from May 26, following the hate campaign by the Hindutva outfits to “cleanse” town of Muslims. Even the BJP leaders from the Muslim community, who served the party for decades, have fled the town to save their lives.

New Delhi: “For 30 years, we have lived in peace here, but now we are being made to leave our own houses,” said Mohammed Saif, a trader from Purola – a town that faced an exodus of Muslims following open calls for violence against the community.

Saif and his family of seven have vacated their two-storeyed house and their hardware shop in the town. Many others like Saif have met the same fate, they too have had to vacate their ancestral homes after their own neighbourhood turned violent against them.

Locals told The Wire, large-scale vandalism and harassment of Muslims began on May 26 after one of the accused men in the kidnapping bid was found to be a 24-year-old Muslim. This escalated tensions as local Hindu groups alleged that the kidnapping was an attempted case of “love jihad”. Intensifying the hate campaign, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal called for a Mahapanchayat in Purola with the objective to “cleanse” the town of Muslims.

Also read: In Uttarakhand’s Purola, Controversial Mahapanchayat Cancelled But Tensions Still High

Fleeing the violence and vandalism are Muslims from all walks of life and even those who batted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Himalayan state. Purola’s Muslims, even those who served as BJP leaders and members, have not been spared.

Betrayed by the BJP

Sonu Meer was an ardent supporter of the BJP until the hatred hit home. Meer, who always thought of himself as an equal Indian citizen under the law, today sits exiled 200 km away from his home in Purola – for being Muslim.

“When we saw what was happening, we had no option but to flee,” says Meer, alleging that his mobile phone shop was vandalised by the Bajrang Dal workers.

Meer, who served as the president of BJP’s minority wing in Uttarkashi district four times, said that if the state government was more aware and willing to help Muslims, this could have been avoided.

For 21 years, during his association with the BJP, he served in various positions as part of the leadership in the BJP unit of Uttarakhand. He had genuinely believed that the ascendancy of Modi would really bring in “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”, as promised. Now, he believes that this sudden rise in communal activities by Hindutva groups in the region is aimed at tilting results in municipal elections in the state, scheduled for late 2023.

Another ardent BJP supporter, who is also Muslim and the president of BJP’s minority wing in Uttarkashi district, also fled overnight to save himself. Mohammed Zahid Malik, 46, has seen the circumstances change rapidly, for the worse. The Himalayan town, Malik told The Wire, has never witnessed anything like this in the 30 years that he has lived there.

“Musalmaan ka naam ab Musalmaan nahi Jihadi rakh dia gaya hai. Humara naam hi badal dia gaya hai, humara naam hi jihadi kardia gaya hai innlogon ne (They have changed our names from being Muslims to Jihadis),” said Malik.

He also pointed out that Muslim lives have been reduced to mere numbers and do not matter to anyone. Malik, who also fled after seeing a poster threatening local Muslims to flee, feels that the state’s BJP leadership has been completely silent on their exodus. He is disappointed by their silence.

‘Nothing to eat’

The posters, which Malik recalls shook Barkot, another town near Uttarkashi, two days before the posters surfaced. Members of Hindutva outfits, which locals refer to as Bajrang Dal, held massive protests in the town and attacked shops and houses belonging to Muslims. At least 30-40 Muslim shops and properties have been vandalised.

A view of Purola on June 15, 2023. Photo: Atul Ashok Howale

Taher Hassan, a local from Barkot, remembers the horrifying details the town saw. “It was like a red sea of angry men and Bhagwa flags rushing towards us, to uproot us, drown us,” Hassan said.

While Hassan says, he has been fortunate enough to find accommodation out of Barkot, many Muslims who also fled the town do not come from economically sound backgrounds.

Mohsin Khan and his family fled with whatever clothes they were wearing and food that they had on their plates on the afternoon of June 13. While Khan does not wish to disclose his location at the moment fearing his safety, he contacted Malik and other local leaders once he started running out of cash to feed his family.

Also read: In Photos: Police Enforce Denial of Permission To Controversial Mahapanchayat in Uttarakhand

“It’s not like we are new Muslims in Barkot, but some people use words like Love Jihad just to empty out Muslim homes. Today I have no money, nothing to eat, because I am Muslim,” Khan said.

The Wire also contacted Intezar Hussain, BJP’s minority wing’s state chief, who was of the opinion that local Muslims shouldn’t have left Purola. Malik and Meer counter this, saying that they couldn’t have waited for their families to be killed by the Hindutva mobs.

‘Never wanted Muslims to leave’

Monali Rana, a local from Purola’s main market area, is perplexed at the rallies in her town. Rana who would often get her mobile recharges done from a shop owned by a Muslim sees the idea of enmity between the communities as an alien concept that did not exist before.

While Uttarakhand has been in the news for communal chaos since December 2021 – when Haridwar hosted a provocative, radical Hindu event calling for the genocide of Indian Muslims – Rana says the two communities have never even had so much as an argument on matters of religion. “Nobody wants Hindus or Muslims to leave, we did not paste any posters, it was all outside elements,” she explained.

But locals say outside elements are not the only catalyst for communal chaos. The state government recently flagged off an anti-encroachment drive to raze “illegal” religious structures and other encroachments on forest land.

This drive commenced in April 2023 right after news reports claimed that Islamic shrines were rapidly increasing in a state famous for the Char Dham yatra.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told Panchjanya, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s weekly publication, that more than 1,000 unauthorised Islamic shrines or mazaars had been constructed by encroaching on forest land in the State. He described it as “mazar jihad”.

As Paper Leaks Rock Uttarakhand, Police’s Treatment of Protesters Come as a Fresh Blow

‘Are we terrorists or criminals? Why have our names and addresses been made public in the newspapers?’

Dehradun: Paper leaks have kept Uttarakhand on the boil, with students demanding an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged leaks which have taken place in the last seven years.

In the meantime, police have booked 13 students under charges of riots and attempt to murder, over protests against paper leaks. Students have alleged high-handedness and brutality on the part of the cops.

Successive leaks

Question papers from exams of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) and the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission were leaked in 2022. 

In the past year alone, there have been leaks of question papers in exams taken to recruit for the positions of Junior Engineer, Assistant Engineer (JE-AE), and Lekhpal Patwari.

The Uttarakhand government established a committee to seek solutions to curb the ongoing leaks and by late 2022, brought in a change of guard. The UKPSC was handed control of the JE-AE test and other exams that UKSSC had previously been in charge of.

In January this year, however, papers in multiple recruitment exams were once again leaked. UKPSC section officer Sanjeev Chaturvedi told the special investigation team that this was not the first time that he had leaked a paper and added that the had done so in the previous four years too. A section officer is a key position holder in the recruitment process.

According to the special investigation team, three students had purchased the leaked materials and took the JE exam. The same was done by five in the AE test. No official figures have been released for the other exams and investigation is ongoing.

Successive paper leaks have left batches of government job hopefuls disappointed.

The 2016 exam for village panchayat development officers was found to have irregularities. The recent UKPSC exam was canceled after it was discovered that exam papers had been stolen and sold off. The same happened for the UKSSSC exam for 916 positions in December 2021.

Agitation

On February 8, students sat in a meeting at Dehradun’s Gandhi Park where they intended to discuss how to move the protest ahead. The demonstrations started in the same park that evening with students holding a largely silent sit-in protest. But by late evening, police started to make rounds in the park and requested that they leave before it got late.

The students were ultimately ordered out of the park by the authorities at around 11.30 pm. Some have alleged that policemen dragged and mistreated women students. “The gathering was quite small. Sheela, who was dragged by one of the policemen, said that the officers at the site were drunk,” said a young woman at the protest.

Another woman present that evening said there were no policewomen and that cops “thrashed them mercilessly.” This woman also said that she could smell alcohol on the cops.

“One of them came close to my face and said ‘Will you be the one to tell us if we can drink or not’?” she said.

All protesters, including the women, were taken to Ekta Vihar in a bus. This was a barren field, which the protesters say, had no lights. At around 12.30 am, cops asked the protesters to leave.

Reaction

On February 9, several students gathered close to the same Gandhi Park. Students also gathered at Ghanta Ghar. 

By then, news of the protest and police action spread through social media, bolstered by videos of cops appearing to beat the students.

The protesters said that as a result on February 9, they noticed an increase in the number of police officers stationed at their protest site.

By 4 pm, there was a commotion when cops began to lathicharge the students. Between the Clock Tower and Rajpur Road, the roadways were congested with hundreds of protesters. Numerous students were hurt as police began to lathi-charge them after the students refused to leave and clear the road. 

Some of the students said that while the protest took place under the umbrella of the Berozgar Yuva Sangh, several other parties had extended support. “The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha was also part of the march. We think they were the ones to first pelt stones at police, even though the blame fell on us,” a Students Federation of India leader said.

Protesters said that a man who was not even a part of the protests suffered an injury to his head as a result of police beating. 

Protesting students fear more police action in the days ahead. Some of their names and addresses have also been published in newspapers.

“Are we terrorists or criminals? Why have our names and addresses been made public in the newspaper? This is nothing but a dictatorship,” one of the protesters said.

A woman quoted earlier in this report noted how a friend of hers, while narrating the situation for an NDTV broadcast, was arrested while giving an interview.

A magisterial inquiry has since been ordered on the lathi charge incident on youth protesters.

The state government under Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami, a day later, brought an anti-copying ordinance, which would subject anyone found engaging in cheating operations during recruitment exams, to a life sentence and a fine of up to Rs 10 crore.

For one of the protesters, this means little. “The leaks are interfering with our future. We prepare for exams with our whole hearts. These are positions that become available after a lengthy 6-7 year wait. A UKPSC position was last advertised in 2015,” the hopeful said.

Edited by Soumashree Sarkar.

Uttarakhand: Congress on the Offensive as Two Former BJP CMs Slam Dhami Government

Allegations of corruption and slow pace of development work from within the party fold come as the government is on the back foot over multiple recruitment scams and the Ankita Bhandari murder case.

New Delhi: With just about a year-and-a-half to go for the general elections, the BJP which had won all five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand in 2019, is now struggling to battle charges of corruption and incompetence levelled against its government in the state by two former chief ministers from its own fold.

Apart from this, a number of recruitment scams and the Ankita Bhandari murder case in which the relative of a party leader is allegedly involved have painted the saffron party in a poor light.

Having changed two chief ministers in quick succession – Trivendra Singh Rawat in March 2021 and Tirath Singh Rawat in July 2021 – BJP heaved a sigh of relief after it managed to win a second term in the state assembly under the leadership of incumbent CM Pushkar Singh Dhami earlier this year.

Scams, Ankita murder portrayed BJP in poor light

However, its relief was short-lived. First, a spate of recruitment scams – including those involving appointments to the state assembly, the paper leak case of Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UKSSSC) – rocked the state.

Then came the murder of Ankita Bhandari, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Rishikesh. According to the police, the 19-year-old was allegedly killed by the resort owner Pulkit Arya, manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta when she resisted their attempts to force her to offer “extra services” to a VIP guest.

Pulkit is the son of former state minister and BJP leader Vinod Arya, who was expelled by the party following the incident. In damage limitation mode, the Dhami government said it wanted a fair probe into the matter and demolished a part of the Vanatara resort and instituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the murder. But the woman’s parents have charged that the government was trying to “shield the accused”. On Tuesday, they held a protest in Rishikesh demanding that the probe is handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

A protest seeking the death penalty for those involved in the killing of Ankita Bhandari in Uttarakhand. Photo: PTI

Crisis of credibility

The BJP government in Uttarakhand has faced a similar crisis of credibility in connection with the investigation into the multiple recruitment scams in the state.

As reported by The Wire earlier, on a petition from the Congress deputy leader in the assembly Bhuwan Chandra Kapri, the Uttarakhand high court had sought a detailed report from the Dhami government on the alleged irregularities in the appointments made by the UKSSSC.

Though the state government then directed the Special Task Force (STF) to probe the charges, Kapri had alleged that the BJP government was only attempting to protect the accused. “While the police are conducting a probe, it is trying to do a leepa-poti (cover-up) as it has found involvement of the people from the government in the scam,” he said.

Former CM says “20% commission” is a norm under BJP

As if these serious allegations were not enough, two former BJP CMs recently accused the government of corruption and spoke about the non-completion of projects in the state, thereby causing further embarrassment to Dhami.

First, it was former CM Tirath Singh Rawat who railed in an undated video released last week that “no one can get anything done in Uttarakhand without paying commission”. Alluding to the carving out of Uttarakhand as a separate state from Uttar Pradesh in 2000, he said: “After separation, it (commission) should have come to nil here but the practice continued and we began with 20%.”

Alleging that “commissonkhori” was rampant in the state, he elaborated, “Though I have been a chief minister and perhaps shouldn’t say this, I have no hesitation in admitting that when we were separated from Uttar Pradesh, up to 20% commission used to be paid there to get public works done”.

Tirath was further quoted by PTI as saying: “It is a mentality. It will go away only when we begin to look upon our state as our own family.”

Another former CM slams slow pace of development

The BJP suffered greater ignominy as Tirath’s predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat also spoke, around the same time, about projects remaining incomplete in the state.

Trivendra Rawat had spoken out against the “slow pace” of the Dehradun Smart City project, saying it was causing discomfort to party leaders. Speaking at an event, he referred to his over three-year tenure as chief minister and claimed that work on the Smart City project was going very well. “In three years, it had jumped from 99th position to 9th,” he said.

Indicating that the pace of development works has slowed down after he demitted office, Trivendra Rawat added: “Unfortunately, the pace slowed and now everyone has complaints about the way it is going. It is a matter of concern. Smart City project CEOs should not be changed again and again. Every new CEO blames the previous one for whatever goes wrong in the implementation of the project. This is not a solution.”

BJP goes into damage control mode

Following the comments by the two former CMs, the Uttarakhand BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt is learnt to have met BJP national president J.P. Nadda to explain the situation to him. After this, the BJP summoned both the former CMs to Delhi.

Trivendra Rawat met Nadda on November 17 and offered an explanation. He also shared a picture of his meeting with Nadda on social media, even as party sources said the central leadership issued a “stern message” to its leaders in Uttarakhand to refrain from making public statements against the government and to only air their grievances in party forums.

Congress slams BJP for scams, failing law and order

While there is no word yet on how Tirath Rawat explained himself, these incidents have provided enough ammunition to the opposition Congress to attack the BJP.

The state Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana has already stated that the ‘commission-khori’ statement by a former BJP chief minister is an admission that corruption has thrived in the state.

Meanwhile, other party leaders have also started using these statements to win over those who voted for the BJP in the assembly polls earlier this year.

The Congress organised a large meeting in Dehradun on Tuesday, where former cabinet minister and former state Congress president Pritam Singh said that in the past nine months, the Pushkar Singh Dhami government has failed on various counts. The six-time MLA from Chakrata said that despite earning a massive mandate, the state government has failed to protect the lives of people. He claimed that the Ankita Bhandari murder case has exposed the pathetic state of the law and order situation.

Further, Singh also charged that the unemployed youth in the state have been “cheated” of jobs by a series of recruitment scams and paper leaks.

The meeting, a show of strength by the Congress, was also addressed by the leader of opposition in the Uttarakhand assembly Yashpal Arya, former cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat, the deputy leader of the Congress legislature party Bhuwan Kapdi, and several past and present legislators.