A garba event in Indore was cancelled on Thursday, the first day of the Navratri festival, after a right-wing outfit objected to a Muslim man on its organising committee, said the organisers.

The Muslim man said he has been associated with the folk dance programme since childhood.

Bajrang Dal had submitted a memorandum to Bhanwar Kuan police claiming that the 10-day event had been planned at Ganesh Nagar to promote “love jihad” and spread obscenity, Vishva Hindu Parishad local leader Rajesh Binjwe said.

He said Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of VHP, had urged police to ban the event organised by ‘Shikhar Garba Mandal’ saying one Feroz Khan was associated with it.

‘Love Jihad’ is an unofficial term used by right-wing groups to refer to an alleged campaign by Muslim men to convert Hindu girls under the pretext of love and marriage.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Dandotia confirmed that they have received a memorandum from Bajrang Dal against the proposed Garba event. He said the organisers have not sought police permission for the event.

“If anyone contacts us for permission for this Garba event, it will be looked into as per the law,” he added.

Khan claimed the police had given them the permission to hold the folk dance programme but some people mounted “undue pressure” on the owner of the land where the Garba event was to be held. As a result, it has been cancelled, he said.

“We have been organising Garba events at Ganesh Nagar for the last 36 years. I have been serving in the Garba pandal since childhood. But for the first time, some people have a problem with this Garba programme because I am a Muslim,” he lamented.

Khan appealed to those objecting to the event to allow them to hold the programme so that the 250 to 300 women, who have been preparing for it for the past many days, get an opportunity to perform.

“If people have a problem with my name, I won’t set foot on the garba pandal,” he said.

Khan said he is the only Muslim in his locality and celebrates Diwali with as much enthusiasm as Eid.

Another organiser, Deepak Hardia, said, “Our pandal was decorated and ready. We had also decided on the place to install the idol of Goddess Durga on the pandal. But as we don't want to trigger any controversy in a religious event, we have dismantled the pandal and cancelled the event.” Hardia said Khan is the lone Muslim man on their committee and he has been participating in Hindu events since he was eight.

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