'Those who love sword and dislike culture should leave country': UP minister Sanjay Nishad

Lucknow: Security arrangements have been tightened and an alert has been sounded in Uttar Pradesh with mosques being covered with tarpaulin as a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident during Holi, even as a state minister asked those who ‘love’ sword and ‘dislike’ culture, to leave the country.

Minister of fisheries in the Uttar Pradesh government and president of the Nishad Party, an alliance partner of the BJP, Sanjay Nishad said on Thursday that those, who ‘hate’ colours, should remain indoors on Holi.

‘’Those, who like swords and dislike culture, should leave the country and go elsewhere.....only those who hate colours, should remain indoors,’’ Nishad said.

Nishad’s remarks came a day after another UP minister Raghuveer Singh ‘suggested’ that Muslims should cover themselves with ‘tarpaulins’ if they wanted to avoid colours on Holi.

Since ‘Juma’ (Friday) prayers will also be offered on the day of Holi celebrations tomorrow, police have been directed to be on the alert, especially in the sensitive towns. The timings of the ‘Juma’ prayers have been changed at many places.

According to the reports, mosques in Aligarh, Sambhal, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur were covered with tarpaulin to prevent them from being smeared in colours on Holi by the revellers as it might trigger communal tensions.

Tight security arrangements would remain in place in sensitive districts on the occasion and large force of security personnel would be deployed along the route of Holi processions, sources said.

‘’All the mosques, which are on the routes of the processions, have been covered with tarpaulin.....security personnel will accompany the processions,’’ said a senior police official on Thursday.

The timings of the special Friday prayers were changed at many places in view of the Holi festival. In Sambhal, the Jama Masjid Intezamia Committee said that the Friday prayer would be held at 2.30 in the afternoon.