Following a campaign by opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh who allege that Hindu places of worship are being attacked under the watch of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the ruling YSRCP government on Thursday formed state and district level ‘communal harmony committees.’ The state level committee will be headed by the Chief Secretary as the Chairman and the Director General of Police as the Vice-Chairman. One representative from each religion — Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and others, will be the members.
The other members include Principal Secretary (Home), Principal Secretary (Endowments), Principal Secretary (Minority Welfare) and Principal Secretary, General Administration (Political) as Member Convener. Similarly, the district level committee will be headed by the District Collector along with the Superintendent of Police and one representative from each religion will be its member. A Government Order in this regard was issued on Thursday.
Besides spreading messages of communal harmony in the state, the role of these committees is to prepare detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for different situations that can cause communal disharmony, prepare guidelines related to the security plan of all religious buildings, structures and monuments and to review all the cases booked against persons accused of disturbing communal harmony.
Programmes would be held in schools and colleges to inculcate the spirit of togetherness and communal harmony in the children. At the district level, these committees will prepare a list of sensitive and hypersensitive areas and periodically review the situation in such areas. The committee will make frequent field visits to build confidence among community members. They will also study the history of past disputes and prepare an action plan to deal with such instances.
In a press communique, the government said that apart from taking up several confidence building measures, the communal harmony committees are entrusted to expose and take stern action against perpetrators who intend to disturb religious harmony in the state.
Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a polarising political campaign in the state following the desecration of a Rama idol at the Sri Rama Swamy Devasthanam in Ramatheertham, Vizianagaram district last week. The BJP, JSP and TDP have hit out at the Jagan government, and accused it of being ‘anti-Hindu’.
The incident is the latest in a spate of such ‘attacks’ on temples across Andhra Pradesh. Watch TNM’s detailed report on the issue below.