Gujarat Minister justifies demolition drive in sensitive island Bet Dwarka

Gandhinagar, Oct 9

As the Gujarat government's demolition drive at the Bet Dwarka island, a sensitive island off Okha port, entered its ninth day on Sunday, state's Tourism Minister Purnesh Modi took to Twitter to explain and justify the drive.

In one such tweet, he said, "According to the satellite image taken in 2005, there were six mosques, now the numbers have increased to 78, that includes mosque, Mazar and dargahs, most of them illegal and encroaching government land."

"In 1945, then rural Gaikwad (dynasty) had given 20X20 meter space to Muslims. According to the 1960 census, Muslim voters were 600 and Hindus 2786, with time Hindu population on the island should be 6,000 and Muslims 1200, instead Hindu population has dwindled to 960 and the Muslim population has increased to 6040," he stated in the same tweet.

The Minister also claimed that there were instances of love jihad and forceful conversion. Citing examples of two families, he said a few years ago Majid Jadeja had eloped with Veljibhai Malabhai's daughter, while four years ago family members of Dinesh were forced to adopt Islam.

According to Purnesh Modi, the majority of Muslim families living at Bet Dwarka have got their daughters married to a groom in Pakistan, and many Pakistani girls are married to males on the island.

He also claimed that the island has become a hub, anchoring point for smuggling, as Rs 1600 crore worth of drugs were seized at Narayan Koteshwar in Kutch district, with which Bet Dwarka's Ramzan Palani was arrested, along with six Pakistani citizens. Another history-sheeter of Bet Dwarka is Talab Jadeja, who is arrested for smuggling charas and marijuana.

However, an hour later, the Tourism Minister deleted all his tweets.

--IANS