In Rudraprayag, ‘non-Hindu’ warning by local outfits triggers fear and unease

Reason: Boards set up, mainly by local pro-Hindutva outfits such as Bhairav Sena, which read: “Warning: Non-Hindus/ Rohingya Muslims and hawkers are prohibited from roaming in the village and doing business. If caught anywhere in the village, punitive and legal action will be taken.”

“This campaign has been going on for the past year,” said Praveen Kumar, whose wife Chandani Devi is the pradhan of Maikanda. “The board was installed by some people in my village a week ago, after which I received a call from police saying we cannot use communal remarks,” he said

“I spent my entire life here, but such things are happening for the first time,” said Nadeem, a 28-year-old who runs a barbershop in Shersi village, a few kilometres away.

The Indian Express visited five villages in the area on Saturday, speaking to residents and tracing the source of this palpable unease. It found a volatile mix of “safety concerns” related to alleged thefts in temples and unfounded narratives surrounding local issues such as rain-related incidents and businesses being “taken over by outsiders”.

“I had put up the board in Shersi two months ago to stop outsiders because of safety concerns. In the recent past, there have been incidents of people stealing from temples. We suspect those coming from outside on the pretext of doing business,” said Ashok Semwal, a local resident who identified himself as district president of Bhairav Sena, a pro-Hindutva organisation.

Apart from Maikhanda and Shersi, similar boards had come up in villages such as Nyalsu, Triyuginarayan, Badasu, Jamu, Ariya, Ravigram, Sonprayag and Gaurikund. Guptkashi police station in-charge Rakender Kathait said they sent teams to these villages to remove the boards. “By Saturday, most of the boards had been removed. We informed the residents that if they find anyone suspicious, they can inform the police. Putting up such boards is wrong,” Kathait said.

Semwal claimed that several other villages had followed his lead but added that he “regrets the choice of words” now. “Recently, some people objected to the boards, and the use of certain words, which made us realise our mistake. We will remove ‘Non-Hindu and Rohingya Muslim’ to ‘Outsider and Hawkers’, and reinstall the boards… We will also put pressure on the administration to make sure shopkeepers and vendors put their names outside their shops,” he said.

Semwal’s father, Maheshanand, said the campaign began after “a silver statue of our deity Nagraj was stolen” from Shersi last year. “All we want is to keep our villages and homes safe,” he said.

A hotel owner in the Guptkashi market said this fear was fuelled by a series of incidents over the past year — most recently, the allegations related to an obscene gesture made by a man to a minor girl in neighbouring Chamoli district, which triggered a mob attack last Sunday on shops owned by the Muslim community to which the arrested accused belonged.

The hotel owner, who did not wish to be identified, said “talk” that members of other communities who earn from Chardham Yatra did not step up to help during the recent rain-related disasters in the state’s Kedar Valley is “adding to the rising tension”. “There is also fear that the state’s demography is shifting, with local businesses being taken over by outsiders,” he said.

The sign boards gained national attention last week after two delegations from the Muslim Seva Sangathan and AIMIM met Uttarakhand DGP Abhinav Kumar on September 5 to express concerns about what they said were “increasing anti-minority incidents” in the region. The DGP later told The Indian Express that Intelligence and local units have been directed to investigate and take necessary steps.

Back in Shersi village, meanwhile, Nadeem says he is “not sure how to feel about all this”. “I understand that there is no reason for me to be scared. I know this is not for me or my family, but for outsiders. Yet, I also see that an entire community gets a bad name because of things done by some,” he said in a measured voice while trimming the hair of a local customer at the shop started by his father who migrated from Bijnor in UP over 30 years ago.

Phata outpost in-charge, Sub-Inspector Jagadish Rawat, who was removing the boards in Shersi on Saturday, said they came to know about them through photos on social media. “We have told people that they can put up boards prohibiting unverified outsiders but not use communal terms,” he said.

For Naeem Ahmad, who hails from Nazibabad in Bijnor and settled in Badasu 12 years ago, the boards “don’t cause concern” even though the 36-year-old belongs to the only Muslim family in the village.

“I was not at home when I got a call from my wife a week ago about a board that had come up, threatening non-Hindus against entering and working in the village. She was alone in the house with our two children and was scared. I asked if anyone had come to our house and said something. She said ‘no’ and I told her we have nothing to worry about,” said Ahmad, who runs a lodge and a hair-cutting salon in the village, both on lease.

“We have never faced any discrimination. Some time ago, I had faced cardiac issues and was in hospital for two months. Everyone took care of my wife and children like their own family. We attend their marriages, and they attend my family functions. I know I have nothing to worry about,” said Ahmad, before taking a long pause. “But if anything ever happens, we can always pack our bags and leave.”