Protests against the alleged illegal construction of mosque at Sanjauli in the suburbs of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh refuses to relent with the Devbhoomi Sangarsh Samiti threatening to hold protest across the state on 28 September.
Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, the samiti’s convener Bharat Bhushan said that the protest will be held at all the district headquarters of the state. He said that on October 5, if the decision in the court of Shimla Municipal Corporation is not in the interest of the state’s public, they will start ‘jail baro andolan’ across the entire state. He said that a movement against the issue had been started on September 1 and the protests have been held at 28 places across the state so far.
“This is the first movement in the history of Himachal Pradesh, which does not have a single leader, no political party or organization is leading it. For the first time, the society has stood up for the movement,” he said, adding that the message is clear that the public is not silent on this issue. He said that if the decision comes in the favour of the interest of the people of Himachal, it will be welcomed, or else the committee will struggle till the illegal encroachment is removed.
The samiti has has formed 26 units in the entire tehsil level to pursue the issue and all the Panchyats have been asked to pass resolutions regarding illegal immigrants in the Gram Sabha to be held on October 2 and strict action should be taken. “Complete verification of the migrants selling goods and items should be done and timing for doing their business should also be fixed,” he asserted.
The immigrants are to be blamed for the increasing crime in the state and they are also responsible for the elopement of young daughters and daughter-in-laws, he alleged, stating that in the last one year, more than 300 women’s missing reports have been registered in the various police stations of Himachal.
“The Sanjauli mosque which led to the state wide protest has been built by encroaching on government land, he claimed, adding that the Samiti is helping the government in removing encroachment.