BJP MLA’s son evicts Muslim vendors & workers from Indore market
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Indore: In BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Muslim vendors are allegedly forcefully removed from an Indore market, and the son of a BJP MLA has a role in the drive. The person has put a ban on Muslims from doing business in the market, and issued an ultimatum for Muslim vendors to leave the area, an investigative report by Scroll suggested.
It is reported that the BJP MLA Malini Gaur’s son Aklavya Singh Gaur is driving out Muslim vendors, tenants and employees in the Sitlamata market in order to protect “Hindu culture”. Aklavya Gaur is using a Hindutva outfit he leads, named Hind Rakshak, which has the aim to protect Hindu culture, according to the news house.
According to Scroll, it spoke to some business persons in the market and learned that Aklavya had held a series of meetings with them around a month ago and asked them to evict their Muslim tenants and sack their Muslim employees by September 25.
In the past week, around 40 to 50 Muslim tenants in the market were forcibly made to leave their shops, and around 100 Muslim workers were removed from their jobs.
Many of the evicted Muslim vendors here had invested all their savings into their businesses, and out of the blue, they were asked to leave their stores there.
The shop owners here said that the Silmata Cloth Market Association has backed Gaur’s diktat and ultimatum, and the organisation has verbally communicated its stand to all merchants in the market.
However, on September 24, Hindu and Muslim shopowners and workers gathered together in the city’s main square to protest forced eviction, which was a rare show of unity between the two communities. The protesters held black posters with phrases promoting Hindu-Muslim unity.
When asked about the ongoing issue, triggered by the Hindutva leader Gaur, Indore Deputy Commissioner of Police Anand Kaladgi told Newslaundry that there is no visual evidence or any statement by Gaur announcing the ultimatum, and that is why no case was registered or any action was taken against him. The officer said that Gaur has not made any statement openly, too, but said that the police are working on the matter and are “trying to resolve it.