Former Chief minister of Jharkhand and BJP leader Raghubar Das on Sunday met with a fruit vendor in the state who had earlier had a case filed against him over a poster that had draped the front of his stall.
The poster proclaimed that this was approved by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) as a ‘Hindu fruit store’. The poster had also provided a name and contact number — presumably of the vendor. In the top left corner of the poster is the logo of the organisation. For those not in the know, the VHP is a right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation that was founded in 1964 by RSS leaders MS Golwalkar and SS Apte.
After the image was posted on Twitter by a social media user, the Jharkhand Police was quick to respond. Tagging the Jamshedpur Police, it urged the SSP and the police department of Jamshedpur to look into the issue and “do the needful at the earliest”.
Soon, the Jamshedpur Police replied stating that the poster in question had been taken down. “The Kadma police station is taking preventive action against the concerned shopkeepers under Section 107,” it had added.
“Met the victimised fruit vendor today while maintaining social distancing. Convinced him that of all possible help. Alongside, spoke to administrative officials. There will be no case against the fruit vendors,” Das wrote on Twitter.
आज पीड़ित फल विक्रेताओं से #Social_Distancing का पालन करते हुए मिला। उन्हें हरसंभव मदद के लिए आश्वस्त किया। साथ ही प्रशासनिक अधिकारियों से बात हुई। फल विक्रेताओं पर कोई केस दर्ज नहीं होगा।@BJP4India @BJP4Jharkhand @BJPLive#JharkhandDiscriminates#Hinduphobia_in_Jharkhand pic.twitter.com/sbdUaMPgT6
— Raghubar Das (@dasraghubar) April 26, 2020
Since the police responded to the initial tweet, netizens have expressed their ire vociferously. Many have even called it a violation of the individual’s Fundamental Rights.
Das too appears to have joined the bandwagon, using the hashtags “JharkhandDiscriminates” and “Hinduphobia_in_Jharkhand” in his tweet.