Staunch Hindutva group Kranti Sena held its first activist convention on June 1 in Muzaffarnagar, in Uttar Pradesh where speeches involving hate towards Muslims ruled the event.
According to a report by The Caravan, speeches as far as “sterilisation system to curb the explosively growing Muslim population in the country,” were called for.
Rajesh Kashyap, the district general secretary of Kranti Sena’s Muzaffarnagar claimed that if Hindus don’t produce more children, they will be in danger in the coming years. “Now we are safe because all are Hindus in administrative services. But tomorrow, when our population decreases and if the number of Muslims increases, we will not be safe,” he said adding, “A population control law should be enacted.”
The event was attended by nearly 500 people of which one-fourth were reported to be women participants.
Another speaker, Sajeev Shankar, who is a priest from Rajasthan and heads a sect of worshippers of the Hindu deity Ghatushyam, emphasised the importance of protecting Hindu temples. “Today, even when so many Hindutvadi organisations are active, our temples are being demolished but no one speaks up. And not speaking is becoming fatal for us,” he said.
When they were not speaking about Indian Muslims, the focus shifted to Muslims who took refuge in the country. Referring to the Rohingya Muslims and their motive to stay in India, the event described them as “infiltrators and illegal people who are a threat to India’s internal and external security of India.”
They demanded that the government should “drive out these infiltrators” from the country.
They also asked for rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits who have been driven away from the Valley. They demanded that the country be declared a “Hindu Rashtra immediately.”
Apart from that, the leaders who spoke at the convention demanded that every young Hindu should be provided with a trishul in order to “protect their religion from the Muslims.”
Kranti Sena was established in 2020. Its president, Lalit Mohan Sharma, was initially with the Shiv Sena and was in charge of the western Uttar Pradesh committee.
But when the Shiv Sena formed alliances with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2019, it did not go well with Lalit Mohan Sharma and he parted ways.
He then formed the Kranti Sena with like-minded people like Basant Kashyap, who is the Muzaffarnagar vice-president of Kranti Sena. Basant had known Lalit Mohan Sharma for years and coaxed him to join the Kranti Sena.
“Shiv Sena is a Hindu fundamentalist organisation, how can it have an alliance with these parties? We didn’t like it. We are staunch Hindus, so we together formed the Kranti Sena,” Basant said.
Basant Kashyap comes from a politically active family. His father once contested on a BSP (Bahujan Samajwadi Party) ticket.
The Kranti Sena came into the limelight when in 2021, it had patrolled its workers during the Hindu festivals such as Teej and Karva Chauth and threatened those who would employ Muslim Mehendi artists. They demanded that no Muslim should apply Mehendi on a Hindu woman’s hand.
According to them. it is the start of ‘Love Jihad”. According to Basant, they were able to shut the business of nearly 19 Muslim Mehendi artists.
“One day we will have to flee the only country that belongs to Hindus,” Lalit Mohan said. “The Hindutva people have to be strong. Hindu organisations have to be united for the sake of Hindu interests. Wherever Hindus are attacked, religious places are attacked, wherever cows are slaughtered—not the BJP, but Hindu organisations will be present,” he said.
Last few months, the country has witnessed similar events where misinformation about Muslims, calls for genocide against the minorities and population growth of the Hindus have taken center stage. States such as Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, New Delhi, and even Kerala have been hosts of such events.
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