Shillong, April 6: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Thursday asked the East Khasi Hills district administration to take appropriate action against the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Shillong for organizing a rally which has allegedly disrupted the ‘religious harmony’ in the society.
A memorandum in this regard was submitted by a delegation of the KSU Laban Circle to the deputy commissioner SC Sadhu for his necessary intervention into the matter.
“(We) humbly urge the district administration to take appropriate measures against the organisers of the rally for such provocative acts which has disturbed the religious harmony in the society and also against the ill-equipped police personnel who failed to maintain law and order,” president of Laban Circle Reuben Najiar said.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad, Shillong had organized the procession on April 2.
Najiar said through various videos that have surfaced and that have been circulating in social media platforms, it has appeared that this procession has disturbed the peace and tranquillity and disrupted the religious harmony in the society.
“To put it bluntly, this procession is nothing but a showcase of power and dominance of one religion over the other religions,” he alleged.
Citing one such instance, the KSU leader alleged that when the rally was heading through Red Cross, Laban to Laban Iewdak and the group of about hundreds two wheelers (some riding without helmets), cars and buses “intentionally” stopped outside Laban Presbyterian Church at around 1 pm when the Church was undergoing its service and was chanting slogan such “Jai Sree Ram” and other slogans for about 10 minutes or more which greatly disturbed the ongoing service and created a chaotic scenario among the people in the Church.
“This was done with a malafide intention to provoke the Christians of the State and to instil in them a fear psychosis of the other religion (in this case, the Hindus),” he said while further alleging that passer-by also heard people who were a part of the rally shouting that they would turn “Meghalaya into a Hindu State and situation of Gujarat riots will take place in Meghalaya soon”.
He also alleged that the gloomy part is that the Laban police were just mere spectators and made no efforts whatsoever to disperse the crowd which took part in the rally from disturbing the Church service nor made any appeal to them to move on. “Such an act of spinelessness and cowardice by the Laban police is condemnable and requires immediate intervention,” he added.
Further, the KSU leader in the memorandum complained that after disturbing the Church service in Laban Presbyterian Church, the crowd in the rally were headed towards St John Parish to do the same but due to the intervention of some locals, who forced the police to act to control the crowds who was going berserk, managed to stop them to enter St John Parish in Madan Laban and they went towards Laststop.
He also questioned the fact that ‘Ram Navami’ was celebrated on March 30, 2023 all over India, then why was it celebrated on April 2, 2023 on a Sunday in Shillong which was a Palm Sunday, notably a holy Sunday for the Christians and said, “Such an act can be said to be done only to hurt the sentiments and to provoke the Christians of the State and the District Administration permitting the same is also questionable.”
“After the said incident, the Union was of the opinion that the district administration and the Police will take note of such an act but to utter dismay there has been no action till date. The Union respects each and every religion and individuals’ rights to profess any religion but would not be able to endure such an act which would lead to ill and communal feeling of one religion against another,” he said.
Meanwhile, the KSU also reminded that the Christians would be celebrating Good Friday and Easter Sunday on April 7 and 9, respectively and urged the district administration to ensure such kind of rally does not repeat in these days which would clash with the Christians of the State.
