‘Should not allow Muslims’: Hindutva groups target Muslim barbers in Rishikesh
text_fields
Representational (Justdial photo).
Rishikesh/Uttarakhand: Right-wing extremist Hindutva groups in Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh are targeting Muslim hairstylists in the region who are running unisex hair salons, accusing them of “love jihad”, a report by The Observer Post stated.
The news agency reported that a new salon shop opened in Tilak Road, but was forced to shut after Hindu organisations gathered and created a ruckus outside it. They demanded that the owners shut and leave, claiming that unisex salons are “dens of immoral activities”, the report said.
The leader of a Hindutva group, Hindu Shakti Sangathan, told The Observer Post that boys of a certain community are using such salons to take phone numbers of Hindu customers. These boys brainwash them, trap them with “jihadi talk” and elope with them, which is a danger to Hindu “daughters and daughters-in-law”, the Hindutva leader said.
He said that when workers in these saloons are Muslim men, Hindu girls are appointed as assistants.
“Why don’t they employ women from their own families? Why are only our daughters being dragged into this?” The Observer Post quoted a Hindutva leader, who warned that there will be a “massive movement on the streets”.
Leader of another Hindutva organisation in the region, Swabhiman Morcha, said that Muslims should not be allowed to run businesses in the state. He claimed that the state government is filled with Sanatani people and it should act on this, since salon workers include Hindu women.
Meanwhile, Muslim barbers in the area told Clarion India that they are being targeted only because of their faith.
The local barber association has also sided with Hindutva groups, and it has declared that unisex salons should not be allowed in the city.