Illegal encroachment in the name of land jihad will not be allowed in Uttarakhand: CM Dhami

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday said encroachments in the name of “land jihad” will not be allowed to vitiate the environment of Uttarakhand, amid an ongoing state-wide drive to remove illegal structures from government land.

Addressing the concluding session of the two-day meeting of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) Central Margdarshak Mandal here, Dhami said, “Uttarakhand shares its borders with two countries (China and Nepal). In the border areas of the state, which are being removed as part of an operation.

Dhami said, “Illegal encroachment in the name of land jihad will not be allowed to vitiate the atmosphere in Uttarakhand.” He said that the state government has already appealed to the encroachers to remove such structures themselves or the administration would demolish them.

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Last month, Dhami warned encroachers of illegally constructed mazars (mausoleums) to remove them on their own and reiterated that his government would not allow ‘land jihad’ in the state. He had said that under a conspiracy, thousands of religious places have been constructed illegally on public and forest land without permission.

“Not a single illegal religious structure will be allowed to stand in the state. All illegal structures will be completely demolished,” Dhami said on Friday. He said that Uttarakhand would be the first state in the country to implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC). “The committee constituted to draft the UCC has completed 90 per cent of its work and will submit its report to the state government by June 30,” he said.

The UCC will be implemented after scrutiny, he said, adding that it will be applicable to people of all religions and communities. Dhami said that the UCC of Uttarakhand will become a model for the whole country.

Several issues including religious conversion, land jihad, same-sex marriage and live-in relationships were discussed during the two-day meeting. Dhami took the blessings of over 250 saints who attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the VHP decided that shortly before Diwali, it would launch a nationwide mass awareness campaign against illegal conversions.

Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad President Mahant Ravindra Puri welcomed the state government’s action against illegal encroachments, but appealed to the chief minister not to demolish temples that are more than 50 years old, even if they have encroached on government land.

Puri suggested that they should be leased out to a trust that manages the temples, while areas reserved for Bairagi saints should also be leased out to Bairagi Akharas.

Swami Yatindra Nand Giri, who was present in the meeting, demanded strict action against a person arrested for allegedly running a dhaba in Har Ki Pari area assuming a fake Hindu identity.