On December 26, 2022, Hindutva Watch, a Hindu-phobic media outlet, reported in a tweet that Muslims in Ujjain’s Gulmohar colony are being asked to vacate their houses by municipal officials in order to pave the way for the approaching Kumbh mela celebration in 2028.
Not only Hindutva Watch, but ETV Bharat attempted to portray the Muslim community as the victim of Hindu festival and this whole move as anti-Muslim in its report, claiming the hundreds of Muslim families residing in the city of Ujjain are under threat.
Fact Check
We began our research with a keyword search for “Families staying in Gulmohar colony have been asked to vacate,” and we came across a report by Zee News. According to the article, the Ujjain Municipal Corporation issued a notice asking around 336 families from four colonies who had been residing in the Simhast region for several years to vacate the colony.
Hindutva Watch and ETV Bharat selectively cited the Municipal Corporation decision to mislead people. Sticking firmly to their propaganda, they very conveniently omitted the fact that not just Gulmohar but also Hindu families residing in the other three colonies, Gyarsi Nagar, Ram Nagar, and Suraj Nagar, had been ordered to vacate their houses.
To learn more about the matter, we combed through the archives of Madhya Pradesh’s local newspapers. Our research led us to a report from Nai duniya dated September 2022. We discovered after reviewing the report that this is not the first time the Municipal Corporation has issued similar orders.
According to the report, the Municipal Corporation, along with the tax department and the police force, began demolishing the homes of illegal colonies in the Simhastha region last year. Atmaram Patel and Wahid Khan were among those whose homes were razed.
Many homes were ruled illegal since this area is earmarked for the Kumbh Mela under the Simhastha Fair Act, which went into force in 1955. In Ujjain, the Kumbh Mela is held on the Shipra shore, near to the city. Any unauthorized encroachment or development is strictly prohibited in this region.
The claim that only members of the Muslim community residing in the Gulmohar colony have been ordered to vacate their houses is a one-sided narrative. The left-wing media sources are trying to create a communal angle here in order to propagate the narrative that India is an Islamophobic country and that Muslims in India are victims of religious dominance. Both the Hindu and Muslim communities are suffering. In fact, three of the four colonies have a Hindu majority population.
| Claim | The Ujjain Municipal Corporation has asked the Muslim families residing in Gulmohar colony to vacate their houses |
| Claimed by | Hindutva Watch and ETV Bharat |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
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