Press Release, 24 Dec 2021
Spreading Hate: Open Call for Genocide
[Statement Released on December 24, 2021 at a press conference organized by Anhad. Dr Syeda Hameed, Prof Ram Puniyani, Prashant Bhushan, Gauhar Raza, Anjali Bhardwaj, Dev Desai and Shabnam Hashmi addressed the press conference.]
From December 17 to 19, the ‘Dharma Sansad’ or ‘Religious Parliament’ was organized in Haridwar wherein several religious leaders and those associated with Hindutva extremist organisations gave an open call for Hindus to arm themselves and eliminate Muslims from the country. Sadhvi Annapurna, general secretary of Hindu Mahasabha gave a direct call for the mass murder of Muslims. She said, we need 100 soldiers who can kill 20 lakh of them ( Muslims) . She added ‘Matr shakti ke sher se panje hain. Phaad kar rakh denge’ .
Dharam Sansad was organized by Swami Yati Narsinghanand, who has been spewing venom against Muslims for months. He said at the Dharam Sansad, ‘Economic boycott (against the Muslims) will not work. No community can survive without picking up weapons. And swords won’t work, they look good only on stages. You need to update your weapons…more and more offspring and better weapons can protect you.” He promised Rs.1 crore to anyone who is ready to become a Prabhakaran or a Bhindranwale for Muslims. He gave a clarion call, Shastra Mev Jayate for inciting armed violence against Muslims.
‘If I was present in Parliament when PM Manmohan Singh said that minorities have right over national resources, I would have followed Nathuram Godse and shot him six times with a revolver’ said Dharam Das Maharaj from Bihar. Anand Swarup Maharaj threatened to wage a war ‘more scarier’ than 1857 if the government does not concede the demand of creating a Hindu Rashtra through violence against the minorities. He said that in Uttarakhand he will not allow Christians to celebrate Christmas or Muslims to celebrate their festivals since the state belongs only to Hindus. Ashwini Upadhyay known for his anti Muslim vitriol at Jantar Mantar in October, also a BJP spokesperson; stood before the gathering and presented Bhagwa Constitution to his Gurudev Yati Narsinghanand. Swami Prabodhanand Giri, president of the Hindu Raksha Sena, a right-wing organisation based out of Uttarakhand said, “get ready to kill, there’s no other way. This is why, like in Myanmar, the police here, the politicians here, the army and every Hindu must pick up weapons and we will have to conduct this cleanliness drive (safai abhiyan). There is no solution apart from this.”
All this is an open violation of provisions of India’s Constitution and various provisions of the law which prohibit spreading of Hate. This is not just spreading of Hate; this is a call for violence against Muslims.
It’s been a week since the Haridwar Sansad began and 5 days since it ended; all under the state government’s watch. While poison was disseminated from here to the country and indeed all over the globe via social and other media the administration looked on. We all heard one sentence repeated ad nauseam by a police spokesman ‘Hum nazar banayen hain… uchit karavahi hogi’. (We are keeping an eye, will take suitable steps) It’s the mother of all banalities!
This Sansad has been held under the benign gaze of CM Uttrarakhad Pushkar Singh Dhami who has recently been seen paying respects to Yati Maharaj.
It is time when every sane Indian must think where the country is heading? Will the present regime uphold the Constitution of India or will they allow Bhagwa Constitution to be forced on them? This Sansad, permitted to be held on the eve of Elections in several states including Uttarakhand and UP, smashes to smithereens the ‘Idea of India’ held by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and Bhimrao Ambedkar. When a state remains silent while hate speech and poison shards are flung at its citizens it bodes the worst evil for us the people who love this land, who are citizens of this country.
We strongly condemn the hate speeches, the calls for a genocide and demand immediate legal action and arrest of Swami Yati Narsinghanand, Swami Prabodhanand Giri, Annapurna Maa, Dharam Das Maharaj, Anand Swarup Maharaj and all others who organized the event and are indulging in hate mongering .
We demand an immediate stop to such gatherings which are organized to vitiate the atmosphere and polarize the people of India.
(Courtesy: Countercurrents.org.)
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‘National Security’: 2 Ex-Service Chiefs, Others Demand Action Against Communal Haridwar Event
The Wire Staff
As news on a Haridwar event attended by Hindutva leaders and which saw open calls for a Muslims genocide spread on social media, several prominent citizens – including two former service staff chiefs – pointed out the lack of action against those who made such calls. Many others pointed to the silence on mainstream media when it came to this incident.
In its report on the conclave called ‘Dharma Sansad’ or ‘Religious Parliament’, The Wire had noted the presence of “a large collection of major religious leaders, right-wing activists, hardline fundamentalist militants and Hindutva organisations” between December 17 and 19.
Retired Admiral Arun Prakash, a former Chief of Naval Staff, is among those who have tweeted on the lack of response to what he has described as a clear threat to India’s national security.
“With our jawans facing enemies on two fronts, do we want a communal blood-bath, domestic turmoil and international disgrace?” he asked on Twitter.
Admiral Prakash’s tweet received several responses, among which was one from retired General Ved Prakash Malik, who was formerly Chief of Army Staff and Army chief during the Kargil war.
General Malik wrote that such speeches harm national security and urged for action as well.
RTI activist and Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale tweeted that he has filed a complaint against the organisers and speakers of the event and that, if an FIR is not registered at Jwalapur police station, he will file a plea with a judicial magistrate.
Many commentators on social media used the hashtag “Haridwar hate assembly”. Economist and Congress party member Salman Soz noted that police, bureaucracy and the judiciary must act.
In a similar call to end violence, actor Swara Bhaskar tagged the Uttarakhand DGP.
Many pointed out the disparity of response to the hate-mongering, with a commentator asking if singer Rihanna ought to tweet about this incident in order for it to make it to mainstream news. During the farmers’ protests earlier this year, a tweet by Rihanna had set a chain of incidents in motion.
News reports and tweets on the Haridwar event – along with a similar event in Delhi where rightwing attendees swore to “fight, die and kill if required,” to make a “Hindu nation” dream come true – were commented upon by international participants as well, including tennis legend Martina Navratilova.
(Courtesy: The Wire.)
