At meeting in Jind, khaps and farmers call for religious unity

JIND: Khaps and farm unions from Haryana participated in a congregation of all religions, or what it called a sarva dharma sammelan, at Uchana Kalan town of Haryana’s Jind district on Saturday to call for peace in the state amid heightened tension after communal clashes broke out in Nuh district on July 31.
Representatives of Kandela, Binain, Majra, Ujhana, Narwana, Thuwa, Chahal, Mor, Daharan and Khera khaps participated in the meeting.Farm unions which participated included Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha. Some former army personnel also were present.
In the meeting, Azad Pahwa, a Jind-based farmer unionist, said they passed resolutions calling for unity between members of all religions in the state, and a ban on prominent right-wing groups. They also accused BJP and RSS of playing the politics of divide and rule, he added.
Suresh Koth, a representative of SKM, said: “Muslims are our brothers and Haryana people of Haryana will not tolerate any wrong with them. We will go to Nuh to hold meetings with locals to establish a fraternity. We have planned an event on August 9 at the grain market of Bass village in Hisar district in which people across the state are invited to talk about the violence. We lost 30 persons during Jat agitation in 2016 and over 700 farmers during the farm agitation. Even then, BJP's associates had made efforts to defame peasants by calling them Khalistanis, Pakistanis and aatankwadis (terrorists), and making a mockery of people who died during the protest. We will not tolerate any kind of violence.”
A member of the Muslim community who participated in the meeting, Firoj Khan, said everyone wanted peace. “We should not be targeted as we love this country, just like every patriot,” he added.
After the meeting, a peace march was carried out in Uchana city. Participants raised slogans of “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isaai (Christians) aapas me sab bhai-bhai”.