In a viral video, Aadesh Soni calls on thousands of Hindus to target Christian women and ‘erase all traces of their faith from the region’.
Team Clarion
RAIPUR — A local Hindutva leader and media influencer, Aaadesh Soni, has threatened mass attacks on Christians in the state on March 1. The targeting of the Christian community includes attacking, raping women and killing them in the villages of Bishrampur, Ganeshpur and Jhanakpur, in Chhattisgarh. Soni accuses them of ‘brainwashing children’ through conversions.
In a video that has gone viral, Soni said at least 50,000 people will mobilise’ to ‘target Christian families, execute their leaders and erase all traces of their faith from the region’.
The video on his Meta profile and viewed by over 30,000 people shows Soni addressing an assembly of Hindutva supporters. His speech reiterated a hateful statement against Christians made in January by Swami Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati in front of a Hindu council held in the Uttar Pradesh city of Prayagraj: ‘Kill those who kill cows without sparing anyone. Don’t ask for the death penalty for them, but act yourself without waiting for the law’. “I have the support of the administration — added Soni — that’s enough for me”.
Msgr. Victor Henry Thakur, Archbishop of Raipur, said: “Now that Aadesh Soni’s hate speech has gone viral, if there is any incident or attack in that area, it will not be an accident, but rather a clear indication that the administration has not only failed, but has allowed something to happen. In this case the government of Chhattisgarh will be fully responsible. So far the government has done nothing against Aadesh Soni,” he was quoted by AsiaNews as saying.
The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has written to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, expressing ‘deep concern’ and calling for action against the forces inimical to the secular fabric of the country. The NBCC particularly condemned the comments about women and children, calling them deeply disturbing and a threat to communal harmony.
