Uttarakhand: The Making of a 'Hindu-Only' Devbhoomi
Uttarakhand: The Making of a 'Hindu-Only' Devbhoomi
The pleas to “protect” and “cleanse” the ‘Devbhoomi’ are in an endeavor to cement Uttarakhand as a Hindu-only state. Watch our Documentary.
By: FATIMA KHAN
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Muneefa Khatoon, 56, had spent the last many months getting her decades’ old home in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani renovated for her son’s imminent wedding. Her son was scheduled to get married in April, after Eid. Khatoon, a widow, had warned her children against elaborate expenditure on the renovation. “They said a home isn’t renovated every day. This is a once in a lifetime expense, so we should go all out,” Khatoon recalls. Now, in February, two months before the wedding, Khatoon finds herself sitting amid shards of broken glass.
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In the last few years, Uttarakhand has seen a steep rise in incidents of violence against minorities, demolition of mosques and shrines (or mazars), economic boycotts of Muslims, and a forced mass exodus of members of the Muslim community from certain areas. While similar incidents can be seen in other states too, what sets Uttarakhand apart are attempts to legitimise these as part of the movement to “protect” and “cleanse” the ‘Devbhoomi’ (holy land).
The Quint traveled across Uttarakhand, to document how such repeated pleas in favor of the ‘Devbhoomi’ are effectively means to cement the conception of the state as an exclusive Hindu-only land.
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