Meghalaya CM appeals to all not to give communal colour to Mahadev Khola incident

SHILLONG, JULY 28: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said the Mahadev Khola incident was not in any way religiously or communally motivated.

“It was a standalone incident and not at all religiously or communally motivated but it just so happened that the two groups are from two different communities and hence, it is not right to connect those dots and then try to give it a communal or religious colour,” Sangma told reporters.

Police have arrested three persons and two juveniles for their alleged involvement in attacking and robbing a shopkeeper at Mahadev Khola on July 24.

Sangma informed that police have also studied the background of the individuals arrested and found that they are not related to any particular organization. “It was a standalone incident that happened between two groups and as per law whatever action needs to be taken will be taken,” he said.

The chief minister also appealed to everybody not to give such incidents a communal colour and said, “This is not correct as it leads to unnecessary tensions.”

Whether government will take action against misreporting by a national media on the incident, Sangma however said, “We have not gone into that level but I mean we do expect the news agency to be responsible to not give it a communal colour but if it goes beyond a certain point then we will take actions against agencies that do unnecessarily create this kind of a picture. As I said the agencies should do their homework first, find out the facts and only then come out with these kinds of things but I will reiterate there is no communal or religious angle to this incident.”

Further, the CM said that the Mahadev Khola incident has got nothing to do with the situation in Manipur. “We should avoid connecting what is happening in Manipur with this incident. It is absolutely not connected at all.”

Stating that the Manipur situation is very complex, Sangma said, “It is easy to bring religious colour to it but you need to understand that this is a situation where two communities are involved and of course in the process we have seen many people are affected but we should all try our best to find a way to find peace in Manipur I think that is important.”

By Our Reporter