Chhattisgarh Police Probing Apartheid Pledge against Muslims Circulated through Viral Video

New Delhi, 10 Jan 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: The Chhattisgarh Police have launched an investigation into an incendiary video footage viral on social media. In the video, a Hindu crowd was shown taking oath to impose economic apartheid on Muslims.

The video is said to be from a village in Surguja district of the central Indian state where Hindutva supporters gathered to take a pledge to stop doing business with members of the Muslim community.

“From today, we Hindus pledge that we will not sell our land or give it on lease to Muslims,” in the video a man administering the pledge is heard saying. “…We Hindus will not work as labourers and take up any other work for Muslims.”

Coming as it does in the wake of a recent religious assembly at Haridwar, where calls were made for the genocide of Muslims, the call for economic boycott is part of the growing anti-Muslim sentiments being systematically instigated by Hindutva figures on the Internet and through religious gatherings.

The event triggered outrage among the residents of the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh forcing the authorities to file a case in the matter and undertake investigation.

According to the Hindustan Times, the police said they were looking for people who had attended the event.

The video surfaced after recent communal clashes in the area. District authorities say some elements seem to have taken advantage of the situation to incite the people against Muslims, and hence the apartheid pledge.