Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Shripad Yesso Naik and Sanjay Seth, along with Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra, were present at the event, the party claims
NEW DELHI — The Narendra Modi government spent a whopping Rs 63 lakh to finance an event in the national capital wherein hate speeches were delivered openly targeting the Muslim community, the Congress has claimed.
The party raised questions on the use of public funds and the role of the government in what it termed the ‘mainstreaming of hate’.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital on Wednesday, party spokesperson Dr Ragini Nayak Basoya said the programme organised by Sanatan Sanstha at Bharat Mandapam Convention Centre in December, received Rs 63 lakh from the Union Culture Ministry. She said that the funding details were obtained through an RTI query.
The Congress spokesman, media reports said on Thursday, alleged that the event featured speeches in which Muslims were described as ‘infiltrators’ and discussions were held on methods of religious conversion. She said the fact that such remarks were made at a government-funded platform indicated that hate speech was no longer confined to fringe elements, but had entered the mainstream.
Dr Basoya further pointed out that Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Shripad Yesso Naik and Sanjay Seth, along with Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra, were present at the event. She said their attendance added legitimacy to a gathering where divisive remarks were made.
The Congress spokesperson alleged that since 2014, polarising rhetoric had steadily gained acceptance in public discourse. She referred to a recent social media post featuring Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and said that he was depicted pointing a gun at Muslims. She said this was not an act by a fringe activist, but by a sitting chief minister — reflecting what she described as the “normalisation of hostility in political communication”.
The Sanatan Sanstha, Dr Basoya said, has been under investigation by the Karnataka government in connection with the murders of journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar MM Kalburgi. She questioned why public money was allocated to an organisation facing such scrutiny. She asked whether the prime minister endorsed the politics of polarisation, and sought a response on why Rs 63 lakh was sanctioned for the programme.
The Congress leader further argued that the term ‘Sanatan’ was being misused, and said that the philosophy it represents does not endorse hostility or exclusion.
Calling for accountability, Dr Basoya demanded that the government enact preventive legislation against hate speech to curb divisive rhetoric before it escalates. She said the use of public funds for programmes that allegedly promote communal hostility raises serious constitutional and moral concerns.
