Concerned authorities familiar with the situation claim that Madhya Pradesh’s garba organizers have blocked non-Hindus’ access to dance pandals days after the state government demanded that visitors to such locations present their identity cards. Events featuring traditional garba dancing are scheduled throughout the nine-day Navratri holiday, which started on Monday.
On the Ujjain district’s Nanakheda, an organizer has up a sign that reads, “Entry of non-Hindus in garba premises is prohibited.” According to the witnesses, the organizer, Sanskriti Samiti, is scrutinizing entry-level visitors’ IDs and putting vermillion to their foreheads.
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Non-Hindus frequent garba pandals to cause trouble. To provide a secure environment, we have decided to forbid their admission, according to the organization’s president, Bahadur Singh Rathore. The same goes for the Narmadapuram district’s Shri Samarpan Welfare Society, which has severe identity card checks and a clothing code in place.
Event organizer Swadesh Saini stated, “We have made Indian dress mandatory and only religious individuals are allowed access.” On Tuesday, Narottam Mishra, the state’s home minister, gave the garba organizers instructions to verify people’s identity cards before granting them admission into the dance pandals.
“The center of our faith is Maa Durga’s celebration of Navratri. The organizers have been directed to allow access into the garba events only after checking the identity cards in an effort to preserve peace and harmony on such a sacred occasion,” he informed reporters.
To prevent “love jihad,” a term used by right-wing groups to describe an alleged conspiracy by Muslim men to court and seduce Hindu women, even though courts and the Union government do not officially recognize it, state culture minister Usha Thakur suggested that entry into garba dance venues in the state during the Navratri festival should only be permitted after checking of identity cards.
He further stated, “The garba organizers are currently on guard. Attendees at garba events should bring their IDs. No one should be permitted without an ID. Garbas had developed into a tool for love jihad.”
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Eight Muslims were detained in Indore on Tuesday after being ordered by the state government to check identity cards for attempts to join a garba pandal while concealing their identities, according to the police.
According to Ravji Bazar town inspector Pritam Singh Thakur, a 35-year-old Muslim male was detained on Thursday night in Palsikar colony under section 151 (creating disturbance) of the Indian Penal Code for reportedly making sexual remarks against Hindu women at a pandal.
