From events in Faridabad and Rohtak in Haryana to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, Khushbu Pandey in Bihar, and Bajrang Dal leader Neeraj Denoria in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, these leaders seem to be using their platforms as tools to create hatred and animosity between communities.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — In flagrant violation of the Supreme Court directives, far-right Hindutva protagonists have been making inflammatory speeches against Muslims across the country, especially in north India, with impunity. Security authorities, specifically in the states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), look the other way when Hindutva exponents stoke communal passions with their open calls for violence against the Muslim community.
Law enforcers at almost all locations from where divisive ideology is blatantly advocated completely ignore the apex court’s directive issued on 28 April this year to suo motu register FIRs on hate speech incidents and proceed against the offenders without waiting for someone to lodge a complaint.
A bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna said the court’s order would apply to all hate-speech makers irrespective of their religion. The secular nature of the nation should be protected, the court stressed.
Later on 18 August, another Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S.V.N. Bhatti orally observed that all hate speeches should be treated alike and dealt with under the law.
From events in Faridabad and Rohtak in Haryana to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, Khushbu Pandey in Bihar, and Bajrang Dal leader Neeraj Denoria in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, these leaders seem to be using their platforms as tools to create hatred and animosity between communities. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), a human rights movement dedicated to upholding and defending the freedom and constitutional rights of all Indians, has chronicled these hate speeches. In its report, the CJP has drawn heavily on Hindutva Watch posts on X (formerly Twitter) platform to bring home the point of inaction of the police in the face of blatant violation of the apex court’s directive on hate speech.
Hindutva Watch is an independent research project that documents hate crimes and hate speeches against religious minorities in the country.
In a speech on November 18 in Haryana’s Faridabad, far-right leader and an accused in the Nuh violence, Bittu Bajrangi, fuelled fear and animosity against the Muslim community. In his speech, he asserted, “In Mewat, a child was born… There the mothers and sisters were going to some puja when someone pelted stones on women. So, today, we have to be vigilant especially when our female relatives can’t even perform puja. Then we must be united, and give Dharma (Hindu religion) education and Sanskar (etiquettes) to our children. But if my children come under the influence of other people, then nothing is of use!”
Bajrangi is currently on bail. Granting him bail, a Nuh Special Sessions court had directed him to not make any public statements, but he violated his bail conditions and delivered incendiary speeches in Faridabad and at other locations of the district without any action being taken against him.
On the same day, in Udaipur’s Jhadol in Rajasthan, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made a speech targeting Congress in the poll-bound state.
“Priyanka Ji, we don’t want to ask you, but you ask why we do politics in the name of the Hindus? Then I must ask you why you do politics in the name of Babur and Aurungzeb. I will keep singing praises of Ram as long as you do politics in the name of Babur and Aurangzeb! You (Congress) cannot do anything until Congress gets rule…When there is BJP rule, Babur and Aurangzeb bury themselves in the sand. Here is the land where Kanhaiya Lal was sar-tan-juda (beheaded). Did this sar-tan-juda ever occur here in India? I googled to find that such practices only happened in Bangladesh and Pakistan, not in India. (Chief Minister) Ashok Gehlot said that he caught the culprit in four hours. Four hours? If this had happened in Assam or Uttar Pradesh, we would have made the “hisab barabar” (taken revenge) in five minutes!
In Jalore, a far-right leader propagated hate against members of the Muslim and Christian communities at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) event. The speaker accused Christians of engaging in conversion with greed, violence, coercion, and manipulation. Islam too, he said, started in Arabia with a group of “looters”.
“They set out to loot since there was nothing there. They were ***** (casteist slur). They spread out to loot. Mahmud Ghazni came to India. Looted a lot, and took a lot of gold and jewels. Ghazni thought that if India must be destroyed, then their centres of Sanatan Sanskriti must be destroyed. And hence, Somnath Temple was destroyed and looted,” he said.
In Bihar’s Jamui, Hindutva exponent Khushbu Pandey, who is the founder of Veer Jagdamba Sena, asked Hindus to arm themselves and deal effectively with the Muslims. “When it comes to gau raksha (protection of cows), then Sanatanis (Hindus) will have to pick up their swords and do Mahabharat (epic battle). We are not naphunshaks (eunuchs) to see our mothers and daughters getting dishonoured every day.”
In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Bajrang Dal leader Neeraj Denoria propagated conspiracy theories surrounding halal food items. Denoria claimed that these products, including those related to dairy and food consumption, generate significant profits, creating a parallel system that allegedly ends up funding “Islamic Jihadis.”
This economic system, he said, was created by Islamic Jihadis. “It is through halal products … that these things have a business of crores. It is through this, there is a parallel system run by Islamic Jihadis. This money is being spread on ‘Love Jihad’, ‘Islamic Jihad’, ‘Ghazwa-e Hind’, and ‘Madrassas.’ I appreciate the UP CM for banning halal products. My contention is that this is something that is a matter of concern for the entire country.”
On November 20, at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, Hindutva supporters organised a large rally, fervently urging the government to grant sacred status to cows. However, this gathering was saturated with anti-Muslim rhetoric, coupled with explicit calls for brutal violence against people “involved in cow slaughter.” The rally, which also saw gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) being hailed for their “work”, also witnessed Supreme Court advocate Ashwini Upadhyay making a call to add “Ram Rajya” after “Republic” in the Preamble.
Ashwini Upadhyay, was one of the speakers, who stated,
“In the Preamble, where it is written, We the people of India, Democratic Socialist, Secular Republic, there should be Ram Rajya written after the Republic,” he said.
In a video that was reportedly shot on November 20, firebrand Hindutva activist Pravin Togadia can be seen making incendiary comments at a rally in Haryana’s Rohtak. “We have seen Israel’s attack on Palestine…If Israel did not have Iron Dome, the dead in Israel would be 5-6 lakhs. The very same attack Israel faced by Palestine, we have faced in India for 1000 years by our ancestors. The fighters who died are 10 crores. Remember, today is just Israel’s turn. In our villages here, we can see a ‘Palestine’ coming together,” he said.
