Bharat Bandh

Ratnal and Navanagar villages

boycott Muslims

Bavaji and Gadhvi community

Akhil Kutch Sunni Muslim Hitrakshak Samiti

Kutch Range IG Subhash Trivedi

BJP Gujarat spokesperson Bharat Pandya

ByAt least four incidents targeting Muslims since the Jan 29 strike against the CAA.India is witnessing anti-government resentment on such a large scale for the first time since the Emergency. Leaderless protestors are spilling on to the streets against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act. While Muslims have been at the forefront of the protests as they battle provocative speeches by ministers and attacks on them, the assertion of their religious identity comes at the risk of social ostracism. After thecalled on January 29, by various organisations protesting against the CAA, there have been at least four incidents in Kutch where Muslims have been targeted. In, calls are being made to. There are no Muslim households in these villages. Here, Muslims are being refused entry and labelled anti-national.Ratnal is the hometown of Vasanbhai Ahir, minister of state for welfare of socially and educationally backward classes. A village with a population of around 6,000, Ahirs constitute a majority here. The other communities that live here are Dalits and Rabaris. Over the past few days, saffron banners have sprung up here. “Jai Shri Ram! Those not supporting the country must not park or stop their vehicles in the village,” read the banners put up by the ‘Akhil Bharatiya Desh Rakshak Sangh’. The villagers, however, say they have never heard of the outfit before. Asked about such an activity in his village, Ahir told Mirror, “I am not aware of it, nor do I know of such an organisation in that area.”In Navanagar village, a video is doing the rounds on social media that shows a Muslim vegetable vendor named Hasan Memon being warned by two youths against entering the village. When Mirror spoke to Memon, 39, he said: “The youngsters left me scared. They told me it is a Hindu village. They warned me against visiting it and recorded the video of our conversation on their phones. I later learned that they circulated it on social media to set an example for others to follow.”Memon travels from Panandhro to Navanagar to sell vegetables and earns around Rs 1,000-1,500 daily. On Thursday, it was business as usual for him till he was stopped by the duo and threatened with dire consequences if he entered the village again.Navanagar houses Hindu families from Pakistan who settled here after the 1971war. It has a population of around 1,500 to 2,000 and majority residents belong toAfter the January 29 call, Bharat Sanghvi, a BJP leader from Kutch, forwarded pictures of shops and hotels that had observed the bandh along with another forward that read: “Hotels are closed in support of bandh. We stop eating there to show our support for CAA.” When asked about the forwards, he said: “I get messages from several groups and forward them without checking. I later saw the messages and deleted them. I do not believe in boycott of Muslims. I have opened at least 800 accounts of Muslim labourers at post offices.”Ibrahim Halepotra, president of, said: “We are aware of what is going on. We do not want things to get ugly. So, we have compiled the incidents and informedabout it.”Meanwhile, Halepotra has appealed to his community members not to respond to social media hate posts and alert the police in case of any untoward incident. He said: “We have initiated talks with village elders in Panandhro and the issue will be solved soon.” Trivedi said: “We have initiated an inquiry into the matter.”said the party was “committed to ensuring the unity and sovereignty of the country is maintained”.