Noida: VHP says 'Remove illegal mausoleums and withdraw false cases or else will protest'

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will call for state-wide protests in Uttar Pradesh if illegal mausoleums are not removed in Noida and false cases against its workers are not withdrawn, General Secretary of VHP Meerut Prant (Region), Dr. Raj Kamal Gupta stated. Dr. Gupta averred that if the illegal mausoleums that have grown like mushrooms in Noida are not removed, then ''we will be forced to have a state-wide agitation.''

While returning from the office of the District Magistrate, Noida, VHP workers were attacked outside Sector 39 police station. The police informed that the attack was carried out by the police officials in plain uniform, which the VHP termed as highly condemnable and demanded that cases filed against the VHP workers allegedly to falsly implicate them, should be taken back immediately and any laxity in the matter will invite a state-wide agitation from the organisation. "It is our demand that the policeman, who has threatened to kill VHP-Bajrang Dal activists in front of the police station by pointing a gun on chest, should be arrested immediately and strict action should be taken for making false allegations on activists," demanded Gupta.

Loudspeaker row

After Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) Raj Thackeray warned the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharshtra to remove all loudspeakers from the Mosques in the state before May 3, otherwise MNS will recite Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers in front of Mosques, the loudspeaker issue has snowballed into a communal flashpoint. However, before the issue could even reach Uttar Pradesh, the state government following an order on April 23, removed over 32,000 loudspeakers from various religious places in the state and also reduced the decibel levels of over 39,000 loudspeakers to premissible limits. 

UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said, "We had discussions with 30-40,000 religious leaders of the state regarding how festivals can be celebrated peacefully. As a part of this confidence-building measure, everyone was requested that the law should be followed pertaining to loudspeakers whether they have been installed in a temple or mosque." The MNS chief also praised UP CM Yogi for taking swift action on the issue.  

However tensions are high as MNS Chief Raj Thackeray will attend and address a public rally in Maharashtra's Aurangabad on Maharashtra Day on May 1, wherein he is expected to reveal his future strategy on the loudspeaker issue.

Image: Unsplash, ANI, Representative