Hundreds of activists and students have rallied in the national capital New Delhi to protest against the calls of Muslim genocide by Hindutva leaders and Hindu monks at two Hindu parliaments in Delhi and Haridwar.
Calling the hate assemblies the “state-sanctioned Islamophobic gatherings”, the protesters outside Uttarakhand Sadan in New Delhi demanded the immediate arrest of Hindu monks and Hindutva leaders who delivered hate speeches against Muslims.
“Muslim Lives Matter,” “Zero tolerance for hate assemblies,” “Arrest Haridwar hatemongers,” and “Hindutva is hate” placards were carried by the protesters.
The protest was first called by United Against Hate, a civil society collective in Delhi, and several groups like Fraternity Movement, CPIML, AIDWA, AISA, SFI, SIO, DYFI, and KYS have also joined the demonstration.
“By not arresting the Hindu religious monks and Hindutva leaders, the Uttarakhand government is effectively normalising these kind of anti Muslim hate assemblies,” Shamseer Ibrahim, national president of Fraternity Movement said to Maktoob.
Shamseer who joined the protest said that ‘arrest the hate mongers’ is their primary demand to the government which should be followed by further legal proceedings and proper punishment should be ensured.
“But the police is not ready to arrest anyone which means that police and BJP government find nothing wrong in the speeches delivered in Dharma Sansad and they are backing the creation of a genocidal atmosphere in the country,” he said.
“Haridwar hate assembly is going to be followed by similar assemblies in Gaziabad, Aligarh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. The state governments should not allow these kind of hate gatherings to happen,” Shamseer said.
Several Hindutva leaders and Hindu monks, who addressed a 3-day Hindu Parliament ‘Dharam Sansad’ in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, called for “war against Muslims” and urged “Hindus to take up weapons” to ensure a Muslim “didn’t become the Prime Minister in 2029.”
Ex-Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay was among those present at the meeting led by controversial Hindu religious leader Yati Narsinghanand.
An FIR has been lodged against Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, a former Muslim who converted to Hinduism, and unknown people in connection with hate speeches delivered at a Dharma Sansad in Haridwar to incite violence against the minorities, police said on Friday. None of the other Hindutva leaders and Hindu monks in attendance, despite the evidence, have so far had any cases registered against them.
Following outrage on social media, two more names were later added – Dharm Das and one Sadhvi Annapurna.
Many including AIMIM Uttarakhand’s president, Dr. Nayyer Kazmi, Trinamool Congress’s Saket Gokhale, and two former service staff chiefs had filed police complaints against the Haridwar event.
