An Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leader has stirred up a fresh controversy after a viral video showed her purportedly calling for open violence against Muslims, particularly the six students opposing the hijab ban.
“If you ask for water, Indians will give you juice. If you want milk, we will give you curd. But, if in India you want everyone to wear hijab, we will get Shivaji’s sword and cut you to pieces,” Pooja, a leader of ABVP, the student wing of the RSS, is heard saying at an event organised in Vijayapura district to protest the murder of a Bajrang Dal member. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
On February 19, a 23-year-old Bajrang Dal activist Harsha was stabbed to death at the Ravi Varma lane in Bharathi Colony in Shivamogga district. The reason behind the murder was not immediately known, but a police officer familiar with the development had pointed to an old enmity as the possible reason. Police, however, have not ruled out other reasons behind the murder.
Addressing the crowd, Pooja further said: “Our country is saffron. We are happy with all the arrests that have been made, but it’s not enough...if you (government) cannot do it... give us 24 hours...let the government give us just one hour...not just these six girls in hijab, we’ll cut 60,000 in hijab into pieces.”
{{/usCountry}}Addressing the crowd, Pooja further said: “Our country is saffron. We are happy with all the arrests that have been made, but it’s not enough...if you (government) cannot do it... give us 24 hours...let the government give us just one hour...not just these six girls in hijab, we’ll cut 60,000 in hijab into pieces.”
{{/usCountry}}The six girls she was referring to are the students of the government pre-university college in Udupi, who have approached the Karnataka high court after they were denied entry into the college for wearing a hijab.
Taking to the media on Friday, she claimed that she was not referring to “all Muslims” in her speech, but only to those “wearing a hijab”. “I was only referring to those six girls who have stirred a controversy for political gains and caused the death of innocent people,” Pooja said.
“Muslims killed Harsha, isn’t it? That’s what I was referring to,” she told a news channel.
Even though there has been outrage on social media demanding action against the leader, police in Vijayapura are yet to register an FIR against the leader. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has openly supported the leader’s statement, but later added that “it doesn’t want to blow it out of proportion”.
In December last year, the three-day religious gathering in Haridwar in which the speakers allegedly called for open violence against Muslims. The Dharma Sansad was organised between December 17 and 19. As the videos went viral inviting massive condemnation and FIRs against the organisers.
After the videos from the religious congregation openly calling for genocide went viral, the Uttarakhand police registered an FIR against Jitendra Tyagi (Wasim Rizvi). Rizvi converted to Hinduism recently. On the basis of the video clip, more people, including Sagar Sindhu Maharaj and Yati Narsinghanand Giri, have been added to the FIR.
Yati Narsinghanand has been released on bail in the hate speech case, but Tyagi is still in jail