New Delhi: On November 4, 2021, far-right YouTuber Suresh Rajput, popularly known as Hindu Sher boy, uploaded a video on his Facebook account to protest Arvind Kejriwal’s alleged anti-Hindu views on Diwali. In the video which went viral on social media, Rajput can be seen abusing the Delhi chief minister and even threatening to shoot him.
“Jab Pakistan se Hindustan hara tha, tab Dilli mein patakhe chale the tab tera ek baal bhi na ukhda … tera gyan Diwali aur Holi par hi bahar aata hai. Kejriwal, peetal bhar dunga, peetal (When India lost to Pakistan and crackers were used in Delhi, you had no issues … you only give lectures on Diwali and Holi. Kejriwal, I will fill you with brass [bullets]).”
The 46-minute video, which was soon deleted, was replete with violent sexual slurs and threats for Muslims.
“Yeh kati lulli wali jitne bhi aa rahe hain na, beta ek ek karke pel diye jaoge jao tumhari amma bula rahi hai apni amma k **** ****. Apni behan ka rishta lekar aa jaate hain. Shaheen bagh mein jitna bhi tumhari maa behno ka dhandha karna tha kar chuke hain… Saali jail jaane k baad bhi pregnant ho gayi. Toh Kat*** tum niklo. Matlab woh pregnant ho gayi jinki shadi bhi nahi hui (The katu**s coming here should know that they will be fuc*** one by one. Go, your mother is calling for ****. Your mothers and sisters have done enough prostitution in Shaheen Bagh… They come here for their sisters to get married. These [slur] went to jail after getting pregnant without marriage…).”
Later, Rajput and one Rahul Sharma describes how the “UP (Uttar Pradesh) police taught Muslim women a lesson”.
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Throughout the video, Muslim men are referred to as “pimps”, “puncture putras” and “jihadis”, and there are graphic threats of sexual violence. The YouTuber also celebrates the anti-Muslim violence in Tripura: “The real Diwali has been celebrated in Tripura. This is what Diwali is. Imagine if all Hindus woke up like Tripura [did], imagine what your fate would be.”
Reacting to the hate video, Safoora Zargar, an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) student activist from Jamia Millia Islamia, told The Wire, “The vitriol that I am subjected to online does not scare me, but what angers me is that they [the people making these speeches] are going unpunished. It is also important to point out that they are creating a base to normalise violence against Muslim women in the same way that the lynchings of Muslim men have been normalised in India.”
Not a lone wolf
In our detailed report on the Hindutva ecosystem headed by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, the chief priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, The Wire documented instances of threats of physical violence, rape, abduction and murder issued by several members of the group close to Narsinghanand.
In April 2021, for example, a Hindu Raksha Dal worker Sukhdev Sahdev released a video asking Hindus to weaken the Muslim community by honey trapping Muslim women. He said, “If we want to make Muslims weak and helpless in India, we need to target their girls. They will become helpless on their own. And also grab their property. That’s the main goal.”
While Suresh Rajput may give the impression of being a lone wolf, but he has been a part of several anti-Muslim events in the National Capital Region in the recent past.
For instance, in November 2020, Rajput had led the sloganeering with Hindutva leader Ragini Tiwari (whose role in the northeast Delhi violence has been covered by The Wire) at Jantar Mantar and said: “When Muslims are killed, they will shout the name of Ram.”
And in February 2021, in a video that went viral on social media, he and one Vikas Sehrawat had threatened to shoot the Delhi chief minister. Sehrawat is the man who had threatened to shoot news anchor Ravish Kumar and issued violent threats to Muslim women and Congress leaders like Priyanka Gandhi and Alka Lamba.
Like many others in the Hindutva ecosystem, Rajput is a “bhakt (worshipper)” of Narsinghanand, whom he describes as his “guru”. In 2018, Rajput created a YouTube channel by the name of Hindu Sher boy. Today, the channel has close to half a million subscribers and the videos often receive more than two million views. Usually, these are live videos in which Rajput issues violent threats or incites violence. Even the video thumbnails depict calls for sexual violence and death threats to critics of the Union government.
Also read: Beyond Blasphemy: Inside Yati Narsinghanand’s Militant Hindutva Machinery
In an interview with Newslaundry‘s Shivangi Saxena on August 31, 2021, Narsinghanand had justified Rajput’s comments, saying that no one would actually send women to him. But Narsinghanand protects all the young men who, like Rajput, have joined his mission including the Jamia shooter.
In a series of mahapanchayats in Haryana, this man – whose name The Wire is withholding because he was a juvenile when the shooting occurred – had called for the abduction of Muslim women and even incited violence against pregnant women and unborn babies. He was arrested for these offences, but released on bail on the condition that he would not make such comments again. On October 23, 2021, the National Commission for Women (NCW) issued a notice to the Mumbai police to take action against him for his incendiary comments against actress Urfi Javed.
Yati Narsinghanand was, in fact, the first Hindutva leader to endorse the Jamia shooter after his attack on students of Jamia Millia Islamia during the anti-CAA, praising the shooter in August 2020 for being “one of the two brave and alive Hindus (the other is Kapil Gujar) who defended Hindu honour”.
He abused Muslims at that time and asked the Jamia shooter, “How many kids will you have … these pigs have 12 [each].” “At least five,” he replied. Narsinghanand’s own virulent speeches during the pro-CAA movement and right before the February 2020 violence in New Delhi were documented by The Wire.
Recently, the case of another follower of Narsinghanand, Kunal Sharma, was taken up by the Delhi Commission for Women. On his Instagram account, Sharma had shared the mobile numbers, names and addresses of Muslim women, calling upon his supporters to rape them. This post, shared on July 11, 2021, said: “Marry Muslim women, Use them like your property. Enjoy them. And let other men also enjoy them. This is how ‘Sabka sath sabka vikas’ will happen.”
First the Ghaziabad Police had taken cognisance of the matter, but when it was learned that Sharma is from Shahdara, the Delhi Police was informed. Later, Sharma’s family claimed that he is mentally ill.
Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati is known to have made equally incendiary comments against minorities and women in the recent past. The Wire has extensively covered his statements and actions over the last two years. But even though the chief of the NCW asked the UP Police to take action against Narsinghanand for his comments on women in politics and first information reports have duly been filed, there has been no legal action so far.