By Express News Service
DEHRADUN: A mob of around 500 people attacked a prayer house in Roorkee of Haridwar district beating up people, vandalizing the place of worship, alleged the local residents who had gathered there for Sunday Mass prayer.
They also added that the men shouted ‘Jai shri Ram’ and ‘Vande Mataram’. Police officials said that the matter is being investigated.
Vivek Kumar, circle officer of Roorkee said, “The matter is being investigated and soon those involved will be apprehended.”
The incident occurred at Solanipuram Colony in Roorkee at around 10 am when a group of around 500 people, which also included women, arrived at the prayer hall shouting and accusing Christian missionaries of carrying out religious conversion of Hindus in the name of religious gatherings and philanthropy.
The mob vandalised the prayer house as well as beat up the Christian devotees who tried to reason with them.
N Wilson from the Christian prayer house for the past few years said, “They manhandled, abused and hurled wild allegations of religious conversions. For over two decades we have been organizing prayers, mass meetings and philanthropic activities from the prayer house.”
This comes after Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami last week justified the state government’s steps to take action to check the ‘Demographic Changes’ causing ‘migration by some communities from those areas’ and said that the steps are to safeguard people of the state.
He also added that the government must have record of those arriving from outside of the state without any paperwork.
In September this year, Uttarakhand state government citing too much increase in population in certain areas of the state which is causing ‘Demographic Change’ resulting into ‘migration of some communities from those areas’, issued directions to take steps to find the ‘solution for the problem’.
Release from the state government stated, “It has come to the notice of the government that in certain areas of the state due to too much increase in population, demographic changes have occurred resulting in ‘migration by some communities from those areas’. No only this, there is also an apprehension of disturbance in communal harmony.”
However, the release does not name any community.
