Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
yogi-adityanath

New Delhi: On Tuesday, a letter signed by 104 former IAS officers, including former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, and former Adviser to the Prime Minister TKA Nair, released which stated that the Uttar Pradesh government’s controversial anti-conversion law has turned the state,” the epicenter of politics of hate, division, and bigotry.”

They have asked that the “illegal ordinance be withdrawn forthwith”. They have also said that all politicians, including the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, need to “re-educate yourselves about the Constitution which you… have sworn to uphold”.

“…UP, once known as the cradle of the Ganga-Jamuna civilization, has become the epicenter of the politics of hate, division, and bigotry, and institutions of governance are now steeped in communal poison,” the letter said, quoted NDTV.

“… a series of heinous atrocities committed by your administration against young Indians across Uttar Pradesh… Indians who are simply seeking to live their lives as free citizens of a free country.”

The letter stated different examples of minorities being targeted on, including an awful case from UP’s Moradabad recently – in which two men were supposedly harassed by the Bajrang Dal, hauled to the police, and captured on claims that one of them had forced a Hindu woman to wed him.

“What is inexcusable is the police remained mute as vigilantes harassed and interrogated the innocent couple. (The woman) suffered a miscarriage, possibly as a result of harassment,” the letter said, quoting an Indian Express report that said the husband told the attackers his wife was pregnant.

A week ago two youngsters in UP’s Bijnor were trapped, harassed, and taken to a police station where a case of “love jihad” was filed. One adolescent has been in prison for longer than seven days for supposedly coercively attempting to change over a 16-year-old Hindu girl – a charge denied by both the young lady and her mom.

“Around 11.30 pm some people caught hold of us – the villagers beat us up. They accused us of theft. They caught one boy, I don’t know who he was, and they caught me. I did not know who the boy was. It is not true that he was trying to convert me,” the girl said in a brief interview with NDTV.

“These atrocities regardless of indignation of Indians devoted to rule of law, continue unabated. The anti-conversion ordinance… is being used as a stick to victimize especially those Indian men who are Muslim and women who dare to exercise their freedom of choice,” they added.