“He is friendly with the Muslim boy, Owais, because they are from the same place, Bijnor, in Uttar Pradesh. Later on June 15, when I caught up in Purola with a local resident, Deepak Naudiyal, also an office bearer of the town’s traders’ association, he at once pronounced the Hindu youth accused, Jitendra Saini, innocent. The idea of Muslims propagating ‘love jihad’ in Purola gained ground among the Hindu residents after an underaged Hindu girl residing in the town was allegedly abducted by two youth, one of them a Muslim, on May 26. The Muslim residents of that area were being accused of inflicting on the majority Hindu population ‘love jihad’, an imaginary concept propagated by Hindutva groups as per which a conspiracy is hatched by Muslim men to wed Hindu women and convert them to Islam. On June 15, a clasp of Hindutva outfits - the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and Dev Bhoomi Raksha Abhiyan started by a self proclaimed ‘swami’ Darshan Bharti - had called for a mahapanchayat in Purola to throw out Muslims from the town and all other places nearby. It was to ensure the delicate peace in the hill town is maintained, particularly on June 15. Since June 14, the Uttarkashi district administration has clamped Section 144 at Purola. But ours was a journey fraught with uncertainty about how the day would pan out. Not many customers were asking for breakfast at that hour. The curd accompanying it was made of milk from a nearby village, she said. He seemed resigned to his fate, saying, “The government says it will give us compensation we will move a little ahead and set up a similar eatery there.” We thanked Mukesh’s wife for serving us extra large aloo parathas with a green chilli chutney so early in the morning. The eatery owner, Mukesh Chauhan, said it was only a matter of time before the entire area would be submerged under water as part of the dam project. The National Green Tribunal nod came in spite of that belt witnessing havoc in 2013 due to flash floods. The construction is underway by setting aside apprehensions of environmentalists about flood risks to Delhi in case of an accident at the dam site, besides it being a threat to the ecologically sensitive Himalayas. The work has begun after a long gap the Modi government had allocated funds for it recently. The gushing Yamuna river flowing by it has been dammed some kilometres away, as part of Lakhwar-Beasi project. On reaching Yamunapaar, which marked the end of Dehradun district, we stopped at a roadside eatery. BJP ne Uttarakhand ko khokhla kar diya (BJP has robbed Uttarakhand of its assets),” he remarked. That too has been taken over by the government. What will our boys get by joining the Agniveer programme? Most are at a loss now,” he rued.Īnother means of livelihood for people in the Garhwal belt, he said, “was from the pilgrims going to Badrinath, Kedarnath. “I’ve retired from the army typically, we choose army for employment in the hills but that option was taken away by Narendra Modi. We talked politics and he came across stressed about job losses. Though Purola has been in national headlines since end May due to rising communal tensions, the taxi driver, a native of Chamoli district, seemed not too aware of the goings on. Our destination was Purola, a sleepy town in the state’s Uttarkashi district. Because who goes to Uttarkashi if not for pilgrimage or trekking?Įarly the next morning, another affable taxi driver became a co-traveller. “Thankfully, tourists are coming now there is work but not too many are heading for Char Dham,” taking us to be Char Dham pilgrims. Conversations swerved from a glitzy airport being built at Jolly Grant to his struggle to keep going post COVID-19. On finding out that we are leaving town early the next morning for Uttarkashi district, he seemed glad. “The hills are still better it’s been raining in some parts too,” he said helpfully. Our taxi driver from the airport switched on the air conditioner though, complaining of the day time heat and how the city is no more the same in the summers. Disembarking from the aircraft in Dehradun, some heaved a sigh of relief as a cool evening breeze swept through. Several co-passengers waiting to board the flight were expectedly talking about their impending holidays. On June 14 afternoon, when I left Delhi for Uttarakhand’s capital Dehradun, the stifling heat was overwhelming at 42 degrees. Purola (Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand): Typically, when the summer temperatures soar in the plains of north India, many plan trips to the hills in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for respite.
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