Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], April 4 : A unique protest was staged outside a liquor shop during which Hindus recited Hanuman Chalisa, sold milk while the Muslims orgsed an Iftar.
Through the unique mode of protest, the two communities came together to put forward the demand for shifting the liquor shop somewhere else in state capital Bhopal, on Tuesday evening.
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The protest was orgsed in Shahjahanabad area of the state capital. The protestors also offered roses to the liquor shop employees while requesting the owner to remove the shift the shop elsewhere in the city.
Locals said there is a temple, a mosque and a gurudwara at a very short distance from the liquor shop. "There were schools and hospitals as well. We have been facing a lot of problems owing to the location of the liquor shop," said a local.
"Also, anti-social elemments and trouble-makers routine gather at this liquor store putting us at a grave security risk. This is why we are holding this unique protest today, asking the owner and the local authorities to shift the shop elsewhere," the local added.
The protestors also handed a memorandum, addressed to the collector, to the local police station in-charge, requesting him to shift the shop somewhere else.
Earlier in the day, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a cabinet meeting in which he said the state government implemented what had been decided in the new excise policy.
CM Chouhan said, "It was decided that as part of the new excise policy, Ahatas (open-air liquor joints) would be closed. I am happy to inform you that the same has been implemented. A total of 2,611 Ahatas across the state have been closed."
"Besides, 232 such liquor shops, which used to come within 100 metre radius of religious places, schools etc. have also been removed from there. So I think that we have implemented what we had decided in the excise policy," Chouhan added.
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