A Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha rally was held in Vashi in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, during which calls were given for the Muslim genocide and the economic boycott of the Muslim community.
This is the third Hindutva gathering of its kind being organised by Sakal Hindu Samaj in Mumbai in the past month.
The rally comes in the backdrop of recent Supreme Court directives, wherein the bench of Justice K M Joseph and J B Pardiwala directed that the Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha in Mumbai would be allowed only if ‘no hate speech’ is guaranteed.
The Sakal Hindu Samaj claimed that they were protesting against ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad’, the two Islamophobic campaigns coined by Hindutva groups to spread anti-Muslim hatred across India.
The saffron mob marched for about 3 km from Vashi’s Blue Diamond Chowk to Shivaji Chowk on Sunday and many BJP leaders including Ganesh Naik MLA were at the rally.
The Sakal Hindu Samaj is a collective of many Hindutva militant groups including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal.
The slogans for Muslim genocide were raised throughout the rally.
“Kill all the Muslims, make India a better place,” (English translation) slogan was raised during the rally, a student who lives in Vashi said to Maktoob.
“From the balcony of my apartment, I witnessed a distressing sight: thousands of men, women, and even children shouting genocidal slogans. The faces of everyone present were filled with hate, and it was a truly harrowing experience to behold,” she said.
Kajal Shingla aka ‘Kajal Hindusthani’, a GujaratI Hindutva figure said in his speech: “Here, land jihad has become so prevalent that today at least 25 Bangladeshi Muslims live in one room. They have hijacked our vegetable markets. I want you to repeat after me that – we, the people of Maharashtra, will economically boycott them.”
The Navi Mumbai police have said they have video-graphed the gathering and are analysing the content of the speeches, Indian Express reported.
Navi Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone I), Vivek Pansare, said, “There were utterances at the rally which we think may come under hate speech. So we will scrutinise the recording again, and assess if it can be categorised as such,” the newspaper quoted Pansare as saying.
The award winning journalist Rana Ayyub who was in town during rally, shared an emotional note on Twitter.
Her tweet reads: “The perils of reporting this rally as a Muslim, to witness these snippets of hate. 4 year olds to 60 year olds carrying placards of anti-Muslim posters. ‘Abdul, Aslam ki kya pehchaan, Ladki bakri ek saman’ says this placard.”
