Uttarakhand: Harish Rawat Files Police Complaint Against BJP Painting Him a Muslim ‘Appeaser’

Dehradun: “When the Nazis came for the communists,
I kept quiet; I wasn't a communist.

When they came for the trade unionists, I kept quiet;
I wasn't a trade unionist.

When they locked up the social democrats, I kept quiet;
I wasn't a social democrat.

When they locked up the Jews, I kept quiet;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to protest”

-----------------------------------------------------------

In Uttarakhand, former Chief Minister and the senior-most Congress leader has finally ‘realised’ that it is time to take on the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), but only after a fresh attempt was made to portray him as ‘Appeaser-in- Chief’ of the Muslim minority community.

Harish Rawat has filed a police complaint against BJP, seeking an apology and threatening to make them ‘unemployed’. With next Assembly elections due in the next 13 months, the ruling BJP, which had unleashed an anti-Muslim ‘jehad’ against the minority community, has now trained its guns on Rawat, who has been so far running away from taking on the BJP-RSS on the issue of targeting of Muslims in the mortal fear of displeasing and losing upper caste Hindu votes.  

The Muslim minority community of Uttarakhand, which is at the receiving end of the BJP-RSS’s wrath for the past over a decade, had been eagerly looking for support and sympathy from Congress and more particularly its seniormost leader Harish Rawat. Rawat had been a member of the Lok Sabha from Haridwar, having a sizeable Muslim population who overwhelmingly voted for him and his kith and kin. His daughter, Anupma Rawat, is a legislator from Haridwar and his elder son, Virender Rawat, was a Congress candidate from Haridwar in the 2024 general elections.

While the Muslim minority population faced relentless organised vilification and onslaught from the ruling BJP-RSS dispensation in the shape of ‘love jehad’, land jehad’, ‘mazar jehad’, thook (spitting ) jehad’ and even ‘nakal (copying) jehad’, facing violence and even ethnic cleansing from small hill towns of Purola, Uttarkashi, Nand Nagar in Chamoli, Chauras in Tehri Garhwal and Gauchar, the Congress party as a whole, and Harish Rawat in particular, decided to look the other way.

In the past more than decade, Congress has turned a complete blind eye to the plight of Muslims believing that in a bipolar electoral contest, Muslims have no other choice than to vote for Congress. Not even a casual statement condemning the atrocities on the minority community was seen.

There were umpteen incidents in and around the capital Dehradun where BJP-RSS workers threatened Muslim shopkeepers and other workers on one pretext or other, threatening them with violence if they do not leave ‘Devbhoomi’ (the Abode of Gods).

Muslims in the Garhwal hills, who has been living and earning their livelihood for the past more than half a century, were forced to flee. Mosque and Mazars were special targets and in some places even some Muslims praying in homes were prevented from their prayers.

Interestingly, six Muslim councillors of the Rudrapur Municipal Corporation threatened to boycott the ‘Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod’ rally by Congress held on December 14 in New Delhi, as they felt that none of the party’s local, state and national leaders were intervening in the issue of takeover of Rudrapur ‘Idgah’ by the administration on the pretext that the land belongs to the government. A court has stayed the move at present.

The Muslims of Banphoolpur in Haldwani and Kashipur too suffered police atrocities, police firing and deaths in February 2024 and more recently, too. The community had high hopes from Congress but the party completely failed them, along with the national media, particularly the English national media.

So scared were Uttarakhand Congress party leaders that except a few none dared to publicly mourn the death of Dehradun’s Qazi Mohammad Ahmed Qasmi, a revered figure. They did not want to be seen or associated with Muslims.  

After an intense vilification campaign against Muslims and creating a false scare about a demographic change in the state, the ruling BJP came up with another sinister design in its communal toolkit. This time, they targeted Rawat, terming him as an ‘appeaser’ of Muslims. The state BJP state unit uploaded a reel on its official social media page, accusing the veteran Congress leader of "Muslim appeasement".
Rawat has asked BJP to apologise and remove the reel immediately and filed a police complaint on Tuesday.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated reel starts with Rawat saying, "Muslim Sharanam Gacchami, Mazar Sharanam Gacchami, Love Jihad Sharanam Gacchami" (I take refuge in Muslims, I take refuge in shrines, I take refuge in 'love jihad'). Then, the construction of a 'mazaar' and some people smiling and talking about turning 'Devbhoomi' (the land of gods) of Uttarakhand into a land of 'mazaars' is seen. At the end of the reel, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is seen walking with police and bulldozers.

The 29-second reel says, "The Congress, blinded by the lust for power, has always only cared about the (CM's) chair, even if it means compromising the sanctity of 'Devbhoomi'." "In its greed for vote bank politics, the Congress had completely changed the demography of the hills, but not anymore. Under the BJP government, every infiltrator will be held accountable and shown the door”.
The reel further says that "tampering with the culture and demography of Devbhoomi will no longer be tolerated," it said.

In another reel, Rawat wearing a skull cap, is shown as an ISI spy. In another reel, he is seen enjoying Christmas from a window as Santa Claus is seen distributing gifts to children.

 Harish Rawat seen enjoying Christmas

Rawat has charged that a malicious attempt was being made to create a false narrative against him which exposes the true nature of BJP and the so-called "powerful Dhami".

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand BJP president Mahendra Bhatt claimed it was the Congress' agenda to appease certain groups. "This image of the Congress appeasement politics is so deeply ingrained in the public's mind that they cannot get rid of it even if they want to," he said. Bhatt said if Rawat wanted to file a police report in this matter, he was welcome to do so.

This is the second time that Harish Rawat has been targeted. During the 2022 Assembly campaign, BJP used a morphed image of Rawat showing him as another Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, founder of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), with a flowing beard. This was prompted by the demand by a local Muslim Congress leader seeking a Muslim university in Dehradun west. After a formal complaint was lodged with the Election Commission, the image was taken down by BJP from its social media handles.    

The writer is a senior freelance journalist based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The views are personal.