New Delhi: Protesting against the Hindu right-wing or ‘Dharam Sansad’ held in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar earlier this month, student groups, activists and civil society members collected outside the Uttarakhand Sadan in Delhi on Monday (December 27).
Following political outrage and pressure over the event, the police in Uttarakhand booked Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, earlier known as Wasim Rizvi, and others for their alleged hate speeches at a convention in Haridwar. The FIR has been registered under IPC Section 153A – promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language. Several well-known Hindu right leaders, including Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, who made calls for violence at the event have not been named in the FIR. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale has also filed a complaint against the provocative speeches made at the event in Haridwar. However, no arrests have been made in the case so far.
Moreover, another such “Sansad” was organised in Chattisgarh’s Raipur on Monday, wherein inflammatory speeches were reportedly made against Muslims.
Speaking to The Wire at the protest, activist Shabnam Hashmi said, “The BJP and RSS are spearheading a drive across the country to polarise and communalise voters ahead of the polls pending in five states. This is a pattern that we have been witnessing for a long period of time. The question is, are citizens going to stand against this or act as mere spectators?”
She added, “The BJP-RSS is using polarising planks such as the Dharam Sansad to create divisions in the society and to polarise voters, this is a long term strategy that they have adopted over a period of time. This does not end at the Dharam Sansad – instead more such Dharam Sansad’s have been announced.”
Between December 17 and 19, a large collection of major religious leaders, right-wing activists and Hindutva organisations came together at Haridwar for an event called the ‘Dharam Sansad’ or ‘Religious Parliament’. Over the course of three days, this event witnessed an outpouring of hate speeches, mobilisations to violence and anti-Muslim sentiment.
The protest in Delhi. Photo: Sumedha Pal
The event was also attended by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who has previously been arrested for an event he allegedly helped organise where slogans were raised calling for violence against Muslims, and BJP Mahila Morcha leader Udita Tyagi, giving the event a level of political encouragement from the ruling party.
Speaking to The Wire, RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj said, “The Hindutvavadi extremist leaders – such as Yati Narsinghanand and others – are enjoying state impunity and complicity. We are not shocked to see that there is no action against these people. If the police look the other way, this needs to be understood as a direct attack on our constitution and the secular fabric of the country. When the government will not arrest or act against these people, their voice grows stronger.”
She added, “We believe firmly that hateful assemblies such as these cannot be allowed to take place until they are sanctioned by the state.”
Recently, the Chhattisgarh Police has registered an FIR against Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj on the charge of promoting enmity between classes after he used derogatory words against M.K. Gandhi and hailed his assassin, Nathuram Godse.
During the conclusion of the two-day ‘Dharam Sansad’ at Ravan Bhata ground in Raipur on Sunday evening, Kalicharan had used an “abusive” word against Gandhi and asked people to elect a staunch Hindu leader as the head of the government in order to protect the religion.
Speaking to The Wire, Shamseer Ibrahim, national president of the Fraternity Movement, one of the organisations leading Monday’s protest, said, “We have seen that Uttarakhand police is ineffective – in a way they are backing this anti-Muslim hindutva-sponsored genocide calls as no one has been arrested yet despite overwhelming evidence available against them. Our demand is to not just condemn the sansad but also to demand that those making these speeches are no longer protected and are put behind bars.”
Seventy-six lawyers of the Supreme Court have written to Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana and sought suo moto cognisance to be taken of the ‘hate speech’ and calls for ‘ethnic cleansing’ at two religious events held recently in Delhi and Haridwar.