On 21st January (Sunday), Gujarat Police officials said that they fired teargas shells at a crowd after it pelted stones at Shobha Yatra of Lord Ram in Mehsana district. Police also detained 15 people in a combing operation adding that the situation is now under control.
According to news agency PTI, the incident occurred in Kheralu town ahead of the mega ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya tomorrow (22nd January). According to the Police, when the procession was passing through the Hatadiya area in Belim Vas of Kheralu, stones were pelted at the procession. Notably, Belim Vas is a Muslim locality.
Video clips of the incident are going viral on social media in which several miscreants can be seen pelting stones from rooftops. In one of the videos that has surfaced, a crowd of people involved in the yatra can be seen standing while a police jeep is also seen nearby. Some women and youths are seen throwing stones from the roof of a nearby building. Soon the women leave and some other young men come with blunt objects in their hands. They are also throwing stones at the Yatra.
Inspector General of Police Virendra Singh Yadav said that three shells had to be fired to control the situation.
The IG said, “Fifteen people have been rounded up after a combing operation at the site. The police personnel accompanying the shobha yatra took immediate action to avert any (further) incident and brought the situation under control.”
He added that no one seems to have been seriously injured in the stone pelting. The situation at the spot is peaceful, and police patrolling has been intensified in the area.
Hindu organisations assert that the stones were pelted on the Shobha Yatra when it reached a mosque.
According to the information, a procession of Lord Ram was taken out in Kheralu of Mehsana ahead of the grand consecration ceremony in Ayodhya at Shri Ram’s birthplace. A large number of Ram devotees including women and children had joined the Shobha yatra. Meanwhile, the Kheralu police also joined the Yatra to ensure that no untoward incident took place.
But when the Shobha Yatra reached the mosque in the Hatadiya area, stone pelting was reported with people throwing stones from their rooftops in the Muslim neighbourhood.
To get more information on this matter, OpIndia contacted Visnagar Bajrang Dal coordinator Pratik Dave. Giving information about the incident, he said, “At present, the situation is tense in Kheralu. The Hindus of Kheralu organised a procession to celebrate the arrival of Lord Rama. The procession was passing through a Muslim-populated Hatadiya area. Meanwhile, the incident took place as soon as they reached the mosque. This kind of incident has already happened here before. Women were also among the stone pelters. As if they had no fear of the police, they pelted stones on the Yatra in the presence of the police.”
Giving more details, a Bajrang Dal activist said, “The yatra was passing peacefully. As soon as they reached the mosque in the Hatadiya area, a group of women and men started pelting stones from the rooftop. Women were sitting in 2 tractors during the journey. There was chaos due to the sudden attack. Some people were also injured in the journey. Before even the police present there realised anything, stones started pelting. It is being said that the police have also received minor injuries.”