Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—Within a few days of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat sermonising to deal strictly with the forces of terror and those creating social unrest in the country, BJP MP Parvesh Verma and BJP MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar allegedly made highly provocative speeches against Muslims on October 9. Verma is Lok Sabha MP from Delhi, and Gurjar represents Loni’s assembly seat in UP.
While Verma allegedly called for a “total boycott” of Muslims, Gurjar hinted that he had taken part in February 2020 riots in Northeast Delhi. Both were among several BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders who made highly provocative anti-Muslim speeches at a “Virat Hindu Sabha” organized by the VHP and other Hindu organizations at Loni in UP, bordering Shahdara in Delhi on Sunday.
The Hindu Sabha was organized to protest the killing of a Hindu youth – Manish- by six Muslim youths identified as Sajid, Alam, Bilal, Faizan, Mohsin, and Shakir in Sundar Nagari, which falls in the Loni district. According to the police, the incident was the fallout of an old rivalry between the two sides, but BJP, VHP, and other Hindu organizations gave it a communal colour. The BJP and VHP speakers sarcastically called Sunder Nagari (beautiful township) “suar nagari” (township of pigs) because Muslims dominate the township.
The police have registered an FIR, but they have not named any person.
Mr Bhagwat, in his Dussehra speech on October 5 in Nagpur, said that “the forces fomenting terror, conflict and social unrest pit different sections of society against each other based on sectional self-interest and hatred, and increase chasms and enmities.” In the same vein, Mr. Bhagwat had said that “such forces needed to be dealt with fearlessly, relentlessly and be either protested or repelled, irrespective of their language, religion, region and policy.” RSS chief’s call to deal strictly with forces of terror and communalism must be supported by all, irrespective of political or religious ideology.
Mr Bhagwat, in his speech, also tried to allay the fears of the minorities from “the organized Hindus.” He categorically stated that the minorities should not have any fear of “the organized Hindus”, whom he equated with the “Hindu Rashtra.” Referring to his meetings with some “elite Muslims”, he assured the Sangh’s Muslim outreach programme would continue. Muslim leaders from various walks of life welcomed his dialogue with the Muslims in the hope that his initiative would bring down the country’s communal temperature and help establish social harmony. Muslims do not doubt Mr Bhagwat’s intentions and take him seriously because BJP, the ruling party at the Centre and in many states, is the political arm of the Sangh.
But the Loni development indicates that the message of Mr Bhagwat has either not reached the party leaders as also the lower rung of the Sangh Parivar’s outfits, or the leaders and cadres of Sangh Parivar have not been influenced by the stand taken by the RSS supremo. Had his message reached the party leaders and workers, Parvesh Verma, Nand Kishore Gurjar, and others in the meeting should not have engaged themselves in making hate speeches against Muslims.
Reports carried by a section of media allege that there is a lot of unrest among the cadres of Sangh Parivar, mainly affiliated with radical outfits, against Mr Bhagwat’s Muslim outreach programme. They are not ready to go with the changed policy of the RSS chief vis-a-vis Muslims. This shows that if we encourage extremists, a day will come when they begin devouring the same people and organizations that established and supported them. We can learn this lesson from our neighbouring countries, who have been eaten by the same extremist forces that were organized and trained to create trouble in their neighbourhood.
Hate speeches spoiling the country’s atmosphere: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has said that hate speeches are spoiling the atmosphere of the country. While hearing a petition to curb hate speeches on October 10, the Supreme Court observed that “hate speeches are sullying the country’s atmosphere and need to be curbed”. Petitioner Harpreet Mansukhani told the court that “hate speech has been turned into a profitable business.”
She submitted that hate speeches were made against the minority community “to win the majority Hindu votes, to grab power at all costs, to commit genocide and make India a Hindu Rashtra before 2024 general elections.” In her petition, she claimed that she had proof that a political party had funded the Hindi movie “The Kashmir Files”. The film is alleged to have fanned anti-Muslim sentiments throughout the country because the movie depicted the forced exodus of Hindus from the Kashmir valley.
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