Hindu groups hold protest against Haryana violence in Delhi amid tight security

Amid tight security by the Delhi Police, the VHP and Bajrang Dal on Wednesday staged demonstrations in several parts of the national capital against violence in Haryana.

Carrying saffron-coloured flags and chanting slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Har Har Mahadev’, and ‘Vande Mataram’, protesters blocked the road at Badarpur border.

The protesters’ sit-in on the border caused a long jam, hampering the movement of traffic from Faridabad to Delhi.

The Delhi Police has beefed up security in the city and is maintaining a tight vigil using even drones to monitor several protests taking place and other movements.

A senior police officer said August is a sensitive month from the point of view of security for them because of Independence Day, but they are particularly alert this time because of the G20 Summit going to be held in the city in September.

Traffic was thrown out of gear at several other places where VHP and its allies held demonstrations.

Scores of Bajrang Dal supporters recited Hanuman Chalisa near the Nirman Vihar Metro Station in east Delhi. Later, they tried to block Vikas Marg but were removed by police.

In northeast Delhi, they raised slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and held a demonstration.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and the state governments to ensure no hate speech or violence takes place in Delhi-NCR during marches being held by VHP and Bajrang Dal.

Talking to PTI Video, Delhi Police PRO Suman Nalwa said forces are keeping a watch on social media and adequate manpower has been deployed at sensitive locations.

“It has been seen that false messages on WhatsApp and social media lead to flare-ups. We are monitoring social media. Patrolling is happening at sensitive locations while the district police are in touch with various religious leaders,” she added.

In Noida, not far away from Delhi, the Vishva Hindu Parishad carried out a demonstration against the communal violence in Haryana and demanded monetary aid to the kin of two members of its youth wing Bajrang Dal, who it claimed died in the clash.

The Hindu-right group carried out its demonstration despite the imposition of CrPC Section 144, which prohibits unlawful assembly of more than four people, in the city in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, where security has been stepped up in view of the clashes in the neighbouring state.

The right-wing procession started from Noida Stadium in Sector 21A of Noida around 10 am and culminated near the District Magistrate’s office in Sector 27, witnessing the participation of hundreds of members and supporters of VHP and Bajrang Dal.

The VHP in a statement said its protests were carried out within the limits of law and went peacefully.

Communal clashes broke out in the Nuh district of Haryana on Monday when VHP’s ‘Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra’ was stopped by a group of young men near Nuh’s Khedla Mod and stones were pelted at the procession. Cars were set ablaze. People in the procession also hurled stones back at the youths who had stopped them, reports said.

Many took refuge in a temple as police tried to evacuate them to safety.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said six people, including two home guards and a cleric, were killed in the violence in which 116 people have been arrested so far.

Khattar on Wednesday sought four more companies of central forces in the wake of communal clashes in the state and said one battalion of the IRB will also be deployed in Nuh.

Twenty companies of central forces are already deployed in Haryana, 14 of them in Nuh, three in Palwal, two in Gurugram and one in Faridabad, he told a press conference.