Gujarat: Saffron organisations force shut multinational fast food chains, car showrooms over Kashmir tweets

Gujarat, 12/2: The Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists across Gujarat on Saturday forced dozens of multinational fast food joints like Pizza Hut, KFC, and showrooms selling Korea-made cars such as Hyundai and KIA, to shut their businesses over a controversial tweet on Kashmir.

The saffron organisation’s leaders have demanded that “only apology is not sufficient as the firms will have to post on their social media accounts that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) is an integral part of India.”

Later in the day, Bajrang Dal issued a statement, which read, “In a protest demonstration by Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad led by Jwalit Mehta, about 50 activists on bikes took out a march and reached Panchvati in Navrangpura (Ahmedabad) and made to shut KFC and Pizza Hut near IIM-A Road.”

The statement also said that activists went to “Alpha One Mall to close Pizza Hut there but due to the presence of local police they couldn’t shut it.”

The group went to Ashram Road where they forced a Hyundai showroom to shut. It further added, “after closing the showroom, the protest was completed with slogans of Kashmir Hamara Hai (Kashmir is our) and Jai Shri Ram.”

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Most of the restaurants and car showrooms fall under the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone-1, Ravindra Patel. “No untoward incidents were reported from anywhere. We had deployed police personnel to keep law and order intact,” Patel told DH.

Patel also denied having received any complaints from affected owners of the restaurants or showroom.

VHP spokesperson Hitendrasinh Rajput said, “We held our protest across the state including Surat, Vadodara, Anand, among other places. And, we will keep doing it until these firms issue a statement that POK is part of India. These companies are here to do business and not get indulged in politics.”