Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and his daughter Suranya Aiyar have received a notice to vacate their house in southeast Delhi’s Jungpura area over a social media post condemning the Pran Pratishtha at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya that took place on January 22.
The notice, issued by the Jangpura Extension Welfare Association’s RWA urged them to not indulge in any kind of rant that may disturb the peace of residents or hurt their religious sentiments.
“As a Residents’ Welfare Association [RWA] it is our responsibility to see that there is cordial relation between all the residents and we do not appreciate a resident rant which may disturb the peace in the colony or hurt religious sentiments of the residents,” the notice said.
However, on JEWA’s Facebook page, it says it is a registered society and a non-political organisation founded in 1951 with the objective to promote and encourage activities which are conducive to social, recreational, cultural, moral and intellectual for the residents of Jangpura Extension.
‘Highly unfortunate’
The notice further said, “a hate speech and act by a resident like you Ms. Aiyar for announcing a three-day fast, in a peace-loving locality where, mostly residents inhabitating here came from Pakistan after losing all their wealth and fortune, is highly unfortunate.”
The notice said, in case, you still thought your protest against the consecration of Ram mandir was fine, “we would suggest you to kindly move out to another colony, where people and RWAs can turn a blind eye to hatred.”
On January 20, in a Facebook post, Ms. Aiyar claimed that she is fasting in protest against the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram temple. She claimed this was an expression of love and sorrow to fellow Muslim citizens.
However, the RWA said, “What Ms. Aiyar said through social media was unbecoming of an educated person, who should have understood that the Ram mandir was being built after 500 years and that too after 5-0 Supreme Court verdict.”
The notice was signed by Dr. Kapil Kakar, president of the JEWA.
Ms. Aiyar said she received a call on Wednesday morning regarding a certain RWA issuing a notice against her for fasting in her house.
“I would like to say, one of the reasons why the atmosphere in the country is toxic today is due to the television being used to have debates, which aren’t debates. The manner in which the TV channels are conducting themselves, I feel people in India deserve better conversations, and better engagement,” Ms. Aiyar said.
She said, “we are better than this, there will be disagreements. In the current issue, I made a spiritual presentation of my own pain about this, when I was fasting peacefully in my home. This is why I have decided to not engage with any debate….”
“I am 49-years-old. I have lived in this country all my life…., except when I was studying abroad. This is not how we should be conducting ourselves. This should give people an opportunity to think about where we’re going and how we’re going and whether we want to become like this….” she said.
‘Creating confusion’
Ms. Aiyar said one can express their views, but there are ways of expressing it in a civil manner. “The press is the fourth pillar of the democracy, but unfortunately, it is creating confusion and toxicity…,” Ms. Aiyar said.
Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar refused to comment on the incident.
BJP leader Amit Malviya too posted on X, saying, “this should serve as a message for everyone, who think abusing Hindu beliefs is par for the course. The Jangpura Extension Welfare Association, in a terse letter, has asked Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and his daughter to apologise for defiling the Pran Pratistha ceremony at Ram mandir, and leave the residential colony.”
In the Jangpura’s RWA network, the notice has not received a positive response.
Anil Goswami, Secretary at the Jangpura RWA, said, “In Jangpura, we residents have lived in harmony for decades. This notice has created a lot of tension in our neighbourhood. If one has problems with somebody’s beliefs, we cannot keep issuing letters and notices like this.”
RWA president B.S. Monu Chadha said, “This is shameful because of a certain somebody’s political inclination, one has to keep quiet, they are even threatened to leave the colony, where people of all communities have lived in peace. We have celebrated Id and Deepavali together, but today, this is what people have to see.”
The RWA members in Jangpura alleged that Mr. Kakar’s notice is inclined towards the ideologies of the ruling party. To which, Mr. Kakar told The Hindu, “The notice is purely fact-based and not an opinion. The previous councillors in Jangpura belonged to the BJP and we had a difficult time with them. It is not associated with BJP.”
He said the residents had approached him regarding Ms. Aiyar’s video on social media. “When I saw the video, I found the content objectionable. We decided that we had to stop it. There was nothing illegal happening in Ayodhya,” Mr. Kakar said.
