Anti-Muslim posters have surfaced in two villages of Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district over the past week, prompting a police investigation against suspected hate-mongers trying to provoke communal tension.
Villagers at Kargaina in Subhashnagar said on Friday that posters were found in the local mosques, asking Muslims to stop using loudspeakers for the azaan — the muezzin’s call to prayer five times a day.
The message printed on a white paper further said namaz or prayer would not be allowed in mosques if loudspeakers are continued to be used.
Kargaina is a thickly populated village on the Bareilly-Badaun highway. Of its population of 9,000, around 3,000 are Muslims, who mostly live on one side of the village.
“Two papers were found inside the village mosques,” said superintendent of police Sameer Saurabh.
“Prima facie, it appears to be a cheap prank of miscreants. But we have alerted our sources in the village and those behind the incident will be arrested.”
Police have collected the papers, registered a case against unknown people for promoting enmity between two groups, and started an investigation.
“The poster also says ‘sarkar hamari aa gayi hai, sudhar jao (mend your ways, our government is in power)’ and was signed ‘gaon ke sabhi Hindu (Hindus of the village)’,” said Taqi Ahmed, a mosque caretaker.
The BJP formed the government in Uttar Pradesh last weekend and appointed Yogi Adityanath, a five-term parliamentarian and head priest of Gorakhnath mutt in Gorakhpur, as chief minister after winning an unprecedented 325 seats with its allies in the February-March assembly elections.
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