Harish Rawat files police complaint on being targeted as ‘appeaser’ of Muslims by BJP

Harish Rawat files police complaint on being targeted as ‘appeaser’ of Muslims by BJP

S.M.A. KAZMI Dehradun, Dec 23

“When the Nazis came for the communists,
I kept quiet; I wasn’t a communist.

When they came for the trade unionists, I kept quiet;
I wasn’t a trade unionist.

When they locked up the social democrats, I kept quiet;
I wasn’t a social democrat.

When they locked up the Jews, I kept quiet;
I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to protest”

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Here in Uttarakhand, former Chief Minister and senior most Congress party leader has finally ‘realised’ to take on ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) / RSS only after a fresh brazen attempt was made to portray him as an ‘ Appeaser-in- Chief’ of Muslim minority community.

Harish Rawat has filed a police complaint against the BJP seeking an apology and threatening to make them ‘unemployed’. With next assembly elections fast approaching in next 13 months, the ruling BJP which had unleashed anti-Muslim ‘Jehad’ against the minority community has trained it;s guns on Harish Rawat, who has been running away from taking on the BJP/RSS on the issue of targeting of Muslims in the mortal fear of displeasing and losing upper caste Hindu votes.

Interestingly, on the contrary, the Muslim minority community of Uttarakhand which is at the receiving end of worst wrath of ruling BJP/ RSS dispensation for the past more than a decade has been eagerly looking for support and sympathy from Congress party and more particularly senior most leader Harish Rawat who himself had been a member of Lok Sabha from Haridwar Lok Sabha seat having aa sizeable Muslim population who overwhelmingly voted for him and his kith and kin in the past elections. His daughter Anupma Rawat is a legislator from Haridwar and his elder son Virender Rawat was a Congress candidate from Haridwar in the 2024 general elections.

While the Muslim minority population faced relentless organised vilification onslaught from ruling BJP/RSS in the shape of ‘Love Jehad’, Land Jehad’, ‘Mazar Jehad’, Thook (spitting ) Jehad’ and even ‘Nakal (copying) Jehad’, facing violence and even ethnic cleansing from small hill towns of Purola, Uttarkashi, Nand Nagar in Chamoli, Chauras in Tehri Garhwal and Gauchar, the Congress party as a whole and Harish Rawat in particular decided to look the other way. In the past more than decade, Congress party has turned a complete blind eye to the plight of Muslims believing that in a bipolar electoral contest, the Muslims have no other choice then to vote for Congress. Not even a casual statement condemning the atrocities on the minority community was seen.

There were up teem incidents in and around capital Dehradun where BJP/RSS workers threatened Muslim shopkeepers and other workers on one pretext or other, threatening them with violence if they do not leave ‘Devbhoomi’ ( Abode of Gods). There were Muslims in Garhwal hills who has been living and earning their livelihood for the past more than half a century but were forced to flee. Mosque and Mazars were on special target as at some places even Muslims praying in their homes were prevented from their prayers. Most interestingly, six of the Muslim councillors of Rudrapur Municipal Corporation threatened to boycott the ‘Vote Chor, Gaddi Chood rally off Congress held on December 14 in New Delhi as they felt that none of their local, state and national leaders are intervening in the issue of takeover of Rudrapur ‘Idgah’ by the administration on the pretext that the land belongs to the government. A court has stayed the government move presently.

The Muslims of Banphoolpur in Haldwani and Kashipur too suffered police atrocities police firing and deaths in February, 2024 and more recently. The beleaguered Muslim community had high hopes from Congress but the party completely failed them along with the national media particularly the English national media.

So scared were Uttarakhand Congress party leaders that except few none dared tp publicly mourn the death of Dehradun Shahar Qazi Mohammad Ahmed Qasmi, a revered figure. They did not want to be seen or associated with Muslims.

After a thorough vilification campaign against Muslims and creating a false scare of a demographic change in the state, the ruling BJP came up with another sinister design of it’s communal tool kit. But this time they targeted Harish Rawat showing him as ‘appeaser’ of Muslims. The state BJP state unit uploaded a reel on its official social media page, accusing the veteran Congress leader of “Muslim appeasement”.
Rawat asked the BJP to apologise and remove the reel immediately and filed a police complaint today.

The Artificial Intelligence Generated reel starts with Harish Rawat saying, “Muslim Sharanam Gacchami, Mazar Sharanam Gacchami, Love Jihad Sharanam Gacchami” (I take refuge in Muslims, I take refuge in shrines, I take refuge in ‘love jihad’). Then, the construction of a ‘mazaar’ and some people smiling and talking about turning ‘Devbhoomi’ (the land of gods) of Uttarakhand into a land of ‘mazaars’ is seen. At the end of the reel, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is seen walking with police and bulldozers.
The 29-second reel says, “The Congress, blinded by the lust for power, has always only cared about the (CM’s) chair, even if it means compromising the sanctity of ‘Devbhoomi’.”
“In its greed for vote bank politics, the Congress had completely changed the demography of the hills, but not anymore. Under the BJP government, every infiltrator will be held accountable and shown the door”.
“Tampering with the culture and demography of Devbhoomi will no longer be tolerated,” it said. In another reel, Rawat wearing a skull cap is seen as an ISI spy. In another reel, he is seen enjoying Christmas from a window as Santa Clause is seen distributing gifts to Children.

Harish Rawat charged that a malicious attempt was being made to create a false narrative against him which exposes the true nature of the BJP and the so-called “powerful Dhami”.

On the other hand, Uttarakhand BJP president Mahendra Bhatt claimed it is the Congress’ agenda to appease certain groups. “This image of the Congress appeasement politics is so deeply ingrained in the public’s mind that they cannot get rid of it even if they want to,” he said. Bhatt said if Rawat wanted to file a police report in this matter, he was welcome to do so.

It is for the second time that Harish Rawat has been targeted. It was during the 2022 state assembly campaign that BJP used a morphed image of Harish Rawat showing him as another sir Syed Ahmed Kjan, founder of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), with a flowing beard. This was prompted by the demand by a local Muslim Congress leader seeking a Muslim university in west of Dehradun. After a formal complaint was lodged with the Election Commission, the image was taken down by the BJP from it’s social media handles.