The residents of a Hindu-dominated neighbourhood in the city of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh have allegedly stopped a Muslim man from moving into a house he had bought in the area, Hindustan Times reported.
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, led the protests, which occurred on Sunday night. “Many Hindu-dominated localities like Shyam Nagar, Baniyapara, Tiwari quarters and Bank Colony have become Muslim areas in the last few years,” said Deepak Sharma, an office-bearer at the city unit of the organisation. “We cannot allow this to go on.”
This was part of a “sinister strategy by members of the minority community to buy a house in a Hindu-dominated locality,” The Times of India quoted Balraj Dungar, the Bajrang Dal’s convener for Meerut province as saying. “Over time, due to their activities, their Hindu neighbours are compelled to sell their houses to other minority families and move away. In this way, the entire neighbourhood becomes dominated by that community and there is exodus of Hindus.”
According to police, jeweller Sanjay Rastogi had sold his house to Noman, a resident of Ismail Nagar, for Rs 28 lakh. The residents staged a protest when Rastogi was about to hand it over to Noman. After the police intervened, the two sides reach a compromise, Inspector Yashveer Singh said.
Noman agreed not to take possession of the house after Rastogi said he would pay him back within two months. Sharma, the BJP youth leader, said the people in the neighbourhood would help Rastogi find a Hindu buyer for his house.
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