The Uttarakhand High Court has ordered the people to vacate 29 acres of railway land in Haldwani. The area houses 4000 homes, schools, mosques, and many more. The residents of the area continue to protest, pray, and urge officials not to go ahead with the demolition.
The area even has four government schools, 11 private schools, a bank, two overhead water tanks, 10 mosques, and four temples, besides shops, built over decades.
The district administration has issued a legal notice, asking people to take away their belongings by January 9. Officials carried out an on-ground inspection while residents continued to hold candle marches, sit-ins, and prayers to stop the eviction.
Blaming the BJP government for action against an area where most residents happen to be Muslim, activists, and politicians have also joined the protests. For instance, senior Congress leader and former chief minister, Harish Rawat, held an hour-long ‘Maun Vrata (vow of silence) at his home in the state capital. “Uttarakhand is a spiritual state,” he stated, “It would be a very painful sight if 50,000 people including children, pregnant women, old men, and women, are forced to vacate their, homes and come out on roads.”, He stated.
Living as a minority in India is becoming difficult with each passing day. Apart from taking shelter away from the Muslims, Christians are nowhere at peace in the country. For instance, a group of Hindu extremists barged into a church and broke it down until nothing remained intact.