As Gujarat government’s demolition drive at the Bet Dwarka island, a sacred Hindu pilgrimage site off Okha port, entered ninth day on Sunday, state’s Tourism Minister Purnesh Modi took to Twitter to explain and justify the drive.

In one such tweet with the viral hashtag #StrikeOnDwarkaLandJihad he said, “According to the satellite image taken in 2005, there were six mosques, now the numbers have increased to 78, that includes mosque, Mazar and dargahs, most of them illegal and encroaching government land.”

“In 1945 then rural Gaikwad (dynasty) had given 20X20 meter space to Muslims. According to 1960 census, Muslim voters were 600 and Hindus 2786, with time Hindu population on the island should be 6,000 and Muslims 1200, instead Hindus population has dwindled to 960 and Muslims population has increased to 6040,” he stated in the same tweet.

The Minister also claimed that there were instances of love jihad and forceful conversion. Citing examples of two families, he said few years ago Majid Jadeja had eloped with Veljibhai Malabhai’s daughter, while four years ago family members of Dinesh were forced to adopt Islam.

According to Purnesh Modi, majority Muslim families living at Bet Dwarka have got their daughter married to grooms in Pakistan, and many Pakistan girls are married to males on the island.

He also claimed that the island has become hub, anchoring point for smuggling, as Rs 1600 crore worth drugs were seized at Narayan Koteshwar in Kutch district, with which Bet Dwarka’s Ramzan Palani was arrested, along with six Pakistani citizens. Another history sheeter of Bet Dwarka is Talab Jadeja, who is arrested for smuggling charas and marijuana.

But speaking such truths is considered blasphemous in the secular Republic of India, even when its coming from representatives of so-called Hindu nationalist parties. Within a short time of making these important disclosures, the minister must have received some message from higher ups and was forced to delete the tweets.

(With IANS inputs)