To ‘protect’ Hindu girls, Muslims barred from Gujarat Garba event

The organisation will ensure that any person entering the Garba pandal has a tilak on his forehead, and ‘Gaumutra’ (cow-urine) will be sprayed on him, he said.

A right-wing group on Sunday said it has issued a “diktat” barring entry of Muslims at Garba events during the upcoming Navratri festival at Mandvi town in Gujarat’s Kutch district to prevent “love jihad” incidents.

Girls in traditional attire pose for photographs as they practice the Garba, the traditional dance of Gujarat state, ahead of Navratri festival in Ahmadabad. (AP)

“We have issued a diktat barring the entry of Muslims at Garba events in Mandvi,” said president of Hindu Yuva Sangthan, Raghuvirsinh Jadeja, who is also chief of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of the Mandvi tehsil unit.

“Incidents of love jihad where Muslim boys lure and marry our Hindu girls happen at Garba. Our only aim is to protect our girls,” Jadeja told PTI.

“We are getting a good response from the people and if the people from other regions respond to this movement, then we will spread it to their regions as well,” he said.

The organisation will ensure that any person entering the Garba pandal has a tilak on his forehead, and ‘Gaumutra’ (cow-urine) will be sprayed on him, he said.

“My people would do patrolling outside and inside Garba events and if they find any non-Hindus, they would exclude them,” he said.

When asked how will they identify non-Hindus, he said, “We can identify such elements.”