Guj panchayat's 'don't buy from Muslims' diktat to shopkeepers in protest against Udaipur murder baseless, say officials

The Banaskantha district administration in Gujarat on Saturday asserted that an order issued on the letter pad of Vaghasan group village panchayat prohibiting shopkeepers from buying goods from ''Muslim hawkers'' as a protest against the murder of a tailor in Udaipur in neighbouring Rajasthan was without any authority.

Banaskantha District Development Officer Swapnil Khare said the person who has signed the order on the letter pad of the Vaghasan group gram panchayat does not have the authority to do so as the panchayat is currently under an administrator and an election for the post of sarpanch is due.

''The administrator has issued a clarification stating the letter issued is baseless and nobody needs to follow this. Legal action will be taken against those spreading rumours,'' Khare said.

Vaghasan village is located close to the Gujarat-Rajasthan border in Tharad taluka of the district.

The instructions on the letter pad, dated June 30 and having the signature and stamp of former sarpanch Mafiben Patel, laid down that shopkeepers of Vaghasan village should not buy goods from hawkers (traders) belonging to the Muslim community in view of the murder of a tailor in Udaipur.

''If any shopkeeper is seen taking goods from Muslim traders, a fine of Rs. 5,100 will be levied on them and the contribution will be given to the gaushala (cowshed),'' read the letter, which came to the notice of the local administration after it was circulated widely on social media.

''No one has the authority to issue any such letter pad. The person who issued the letter is a former sarpanch. The election for sarpanch is due and it is currently under the administrator,'' Khare said.

A press statement issued by the Banaskantha district administration quoted Vaghasan gram panchayat administrator RR Chaudhary as saying he came to know about the text of the letter pad through social media. Vaghasan group gram panchayat has been divided and Vaghasan gram panchayat has been separated, the release said, adding that an administrator had been appointed on November 2 last year.

''At present, talati-cum-mantri of Savpura RR Chaudhary is working as the administrator of Vaghasan gram panchayat. Thus, this letter pad has not been written by the existing Vaghasan gram panchayat nor does it support it,'' stated the release.

Legal action will be taken against those behind this, it added.

Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal was hacked to death on June 28 by two persons who said in a video posted online that they had avenged an insult to Islam. Four people have been held for the murder so far.