Hate speech against the Muslim community dominated the Hindu Janjagaran Dharmsabha, an event organised by a Hindutva organisation called the Sakal Hindu Samaj in Daighar Gaon in Thane district, Maharashtra.
The event occurred on Sunday, on the eve of Maharashtra Formation Day which falls on May 1.
Many right-wing leaders took part and spun a narrative regarding how the Hindu community is in constant danger from the Muslim minorities in the country.
One of them, Muni Nilesh Chandra Maharaj, went as far as crediting Nathuram Godse (assassin of Mahatma Gandhi) as the sole reason why India is still dominated by the Hindus.
Using the metaphor chand-sitaare (which translates to the moon and the stars), symbols in an Islamic flag, he said, “Gandhiji ka prem sirf chand-sitaare see tha. Godse ne yadi seene mein goli nahi thoki hothi tho aaj tho aaj poora Hindu samaj Makkah-Madina mein namaz pad raha hotha (Gandhiji was only interested in stars and moons. Had Godse not shot Gandhi on his chest, the whole Hindu community would be offering namaz in Makkah-Madina).”
Chandra Maharaj further added that it is required to transform oneself into a hardcore Hindu to save the community.
Other speakers such as Bharatanand Saraswati Maharaj urged Hindu women to carry a weapon in order to ‘safeguard themselves from Muslim men’.
“These (Muslim) graveyards in Mumbra should be destroyed. If the Forest Department does not take any action, then kar sevaks will do the needful,” the seer said.
He also appealed to the crowd to watch ‘The Kerala Story’, an upcoming Hindi movie that allegedly speaks about religious conversions of Kerala Hindu women and how the Muslim community ‘trap’ and recruits them into ISIS (a Muslim terror organisation).
“I would ask everybody to support The Kerala Story movie. It says around 32,000 Hindu women are trapped as part of ‘love jihad’,” Saraswati Maharaj claimed.
Sadhvi Saraswati targeted Muslims by discouraging the crowd from doing any kind of business with the Muslim community.
“Take that car you always wanted to buy after two years, but refrain from doing any kind of business with them (Muslims). Do not sell your land to Muslims,” she said referring to ‘land jihad’.
“Hindu ko Hindu ki kaatha hai. Secularism ke vajah se (Only a Hindu can destroy another Hindu and secularism is to blame),” she said.
Referring to AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi as a jackal, Sadhvi said, “Bhool ja geedar, tera sapna sapna reh jayega kyunki is dharthi pe keval Hindutva raaj karega (Your dream will remain a dream. Only Hindutva will rule in this soil).”
Siasat.com tried to contact the Thane police but received no response.
On April 28, the Supreme Court of India passed an order giving a free hand to the police force of all states and Union Territories to file a suo moto case against those inflicting hate speech.
The order shall be made applicable irrespective of religion and warned that any delay in registering cases will be treated as contempt of the court.
“Where have we reached in the name of religion? What have we reduced religion to is really tragic,” the apex court had then observed and directed Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Uttarakhand to crack down hard on those making hate speeches, calling them shocking for a country that is religion-neutral.
