When the Jain community in Indore sought permission to take out a procession welcoming a religious leader on Sunday, they were told they can do so only if the rally in against the new citizenship law. The conditional permission caused a furore in the community, which had sought permission for the procession to welcome its leader Acharya Vidyasagar. The letter granting conditional permission had 17 points and the 15th point referred to the citizenship law. The remaining points were about dos and don’ts for organisers as prohibitory orders under Section 144 were in force. Indore Collector Lokesh Jatav said an explanation has been sought from the SDM who issued the letter. Jatav termed it a “human error” because the administration issued similar letters to organisers who wanted to take out rallies to oppose the citizenship law. Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted, “A small example of how the administration in Madhya Pradesh is working under pressure from the Congress?” Vinay Bakliwal, the city chief of Digambar Jain Samaj and also the president of the ruling Congress’s Indore unit, said it was an error that was corrected. He said the rally was taken out without any problem and no political slogans were raised.
