BJP link to Delhi's Hindu Rashtra panchayat booked by police

A case has been registered against the organisers of a Hindu Rashtra Panchayat held in north-east Delhi, which was rocked by the 2020 riots, for not taking permission to hold the meeting, the police said on Monday.

The panchayat, held on Sunday, gave a call for making north-east Delhi the first Hindu Rashtra district of the country and asked its residents not to sell or rent out their properties to minorities.

A senior police official said a case has been registered against the organisers under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) as they did not take permission for holding the meet.

Once more facts emerge during the investigation, action will be taken accordingly, another police officer said.

The meet in northeast Delhi was organised by Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Hindu United Front head Jai Bhagwan Goyal and attended by BJP parliamentary board member and former Union minister Satyanarayan Jatiya and former north Delhi mayor Awatar Singh among others.

A Delhi BJP spokesperson said the event did not have the approval of the party and that Goyal was not holding any party post.

Addressing the gathering on Sunday, Goyal said no Hindu should sell or rent out his or her houses or shops to members of other religions. "We will first make north-east Delhi a Hindu Rashtra district and then the entire country a Hindu Rashtra," he said.

In February 2020, riots in northeast Delhi left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.

Referring to the north-east Delhi riots, Goyal alleged that there was a plan to turn the area into a "mini Pakistan".