Uttarakhand: Why are boards put up in the village asking non-Hindus and Rohingya Muslims not to enter our village?

“It is completely wrong to use words like ‘non-Hindu, Rohingya Muslim’ on boards.

“We have already told those who put up this board that it is not right to write like this. I don’t know which organisation the founders are associated with,” he said.

The BBC spoke to village elders in a few other villages. However, they refused to talk about the incident.

Ashok Semwal, who works with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, lives in Rudraprayag. He said these boards have been set up to create awareness among the people.

“These boards have been set up by the village elders and some organisations. Their aim is to create awareness among the locals. Similar boards have been set up in many villages. With this campaign starting from Kedarghati, everyone is putting up boards,” he said.

Ashok questioned why there was a need to come to the village when it was possible to do business in the market. He told the BBC that the police had asked him to make changes to the boards.

“The police and some people have asked for changes in the boards. The police suggested that instead of writing about any category on the board, they should write ‘outsider’. We will make changes in other villages as we have made changes in the existing board in our village,” he said.