'Mahayagya may repeat Holi's mayhem in Chittorgarh'

Jaipur, Apr 23: Hard on the heels of arson and rioting in Chittorgarh district's Begun block during the Holi festival the proposed ''Mahayagya'' from April 21-30 at the Badodiya temple here has raised a bogey of violence and tension among the minority Muslim community.

Thirty-three shops belonging to the minority community were set ablaze following communal tension that erupted in the area during the last Holi festival.

Among those who expressed the apprehension about the situation was the Magsaysay awardee Aruna Roy.

Aruna, in a letter to the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, drew her attention to the spate of communal incidents in Rajasthan.

She said, ''the immediate concern relates to Begun.'' There is a feeling among the minorities that they, despite being at the receiving end, are being viewed with suspicion while, the anti- social elements who, first flared up the situation are being treated with kid gloves''.

The community leaders complain that they often come across threats of a ''Gujarat type'' situation in the area from the workers of the Sangh Parivar. Muslims now fear that they would be targeted during the yajna.

The sense of insecurity among this community is so intense that the Sardar of Anjuman Committee of Begun Mohammad Hussain, in a gesture of buying peace for the community, volunteered to give in writing to the district authorities that Muslims would fully cooperate during the festivities at the Mahadev temple, not far away from which stands a 'mazar'(shrine).

UNI