New Delhi: A group of activists, eminent citizens and leaders of religious organizations has urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps to check coercive fund collection for the Ayodhya Ram Temple.

“We wish to draw your urgent attention towards the recent activities with regard to Fund Collection for the Construction of Ram Temple. In many sensitive areas, the element of coercion by the fund collectors has all the ingredients of creating a breakdown of law and order and social harmony,” the group wrote on January 26, India’s 72nd Republic Day.

The letter points out that the fund collection that started on December 26, 2020, led to sectarian violence in Madhya Pradesh state that resulted in destruction of public and private properties, loss of lives and grave wounds to many. The worst affected districts were Mandsaur, Chandankhedi (Indore), Ujjain and Rajgarh.

The letter accused the state government of callousness as it not only ignored the violence but continued the collection drive in theMalwa region from January 15.

In the last of January, a video went viral on social media where two men were seen making objectionable remarks against Muslims during a motorcycle rally to collect funds for the Ram Temple.

In another incident, three people were injured in a clash between members of two communitiesin Gujarat’s Kutch district. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, K. Gopalaiah together with legislatore Preetham Gowda and other BJP workers, went door to door to raise donations at Beerahnahalli, Shivamogga, Karnataka.

The letter has pointed out that the slogans being shouted and the routes chosen intentionally from specific areas strengthens the apprehension and indicates towards the actual objectives of such activities. “It seems that more than the fund collection, the objective is to polarize the society on communal grounds. These elements are teasing, provoking and trying to create an atmosphere of fear among specifically the Muslim community and all others who are not in line with these elements,” the letter added.

The group of leaders and activists suggested that the rallies and fund Collection drives studiously avoid localities and the immediate vicinity of religious places of other communities. “It is the duty of the forces of law and order to ensure that there is no coercion and communal provocations in these fund collection drives,” the letter further added.

Some signatories of the letter included Naved Hamid, president of All India Muslim Majlis Mushawarat, Maulana Wali Rahmani head of Imarat-e-Shariah Bihar, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan President of Ittihad-e-Millat Council, Ravi Nair, executive director of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, Ram Puniyani, Apoorvanand of Delhi University, Kavita Shrivastava of PUCL, RTI activist Dankesh Oza, Sawai Singh, activist Rajasthan and Ambarish Rai, educationist.

Source: twocircles.net