Hindu sadhu (saint) Bajrang Muni has called for Muslim genocide. In a video circulating on social media Bajrang said that Hindu Rashtra will not be a reality without massacre of Muslims.
"India used to be a Hindu nation. However, Hindus should follow the same method adopted by Muslims when they ruled India to make Hindu Rashtra a reality. Hindu Rashtra will not be possible until Muslims are massacred. Bajrang says in the video that there will be no Hindu Rashtra unless we wake up the Hindus and call them," Bajrang Muni said.
Bajrang is the head of Maharshi Sri Laxman Das Udaseen Ashram in Khairabad, 100km north of Lucknow. With the release of the new video, there is a widespread demand on social media to arrest Bajrang.
He was earlier arrested in a case where he publicly called for the kidnapping and rape of Muslim women. On April 2, 2022, in a speech to a crowd outside a mosque in Sitapur district, Bajrang called to kill Muslims and abduct and rape their women. Later he was released on bail.
According to Telegraph India, Bajrang Muni Das's comments mirror a yearlong trend of many heartland sadhus calling for a genocide of Muslims. The latest remark attributed to him came a day after a Madhya Pradesh seer patronized by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan appeared to suggest that next year's general election would lead to the establishment of a Hindu rashtra.
Several Muslim clerics have demanded punishment for Muni over his latest remarks but some Hindu sadhus sought to exonerate him.
"We used to hear that they (Hindu Rashtra proponents) would eliminate Muslims after they succeed in making India a Hindu rashtra. But what Muni is saying is new -- that the Muslims should be killed first before India can become a Hindu rashtra," Sufiyan Nizami, a Lucknow-based cleric was quoted by Telegraph India.
"Muni is a habitual offender who knows he has government support. His remarks are a slap in the face of democratic India and the rule of law."
Tellingly, Telegraph India also reported that a video had emerged of a "Yuva Vahini" event in Delhi where participants took an oath to "fight, die for and, if necessary, kill" for the establishment of a Hindu rashtra. The Delhi police, who report to the Centre, sought to close the case saying no hateful comments had been made about any religion. The UP Chief Minister Adiyanath, himself the mahant of a temple in Gorakhpur, had as a BJP parliamentarian held processions during UPA rule demanding India be declared a Hindu nation. He has been reticent on the subject since becoming chief minister.
Meanwhile, Hindutva leader, Praveen Togadia, has said that Indian Constitution needs to be revised keeping in mind the interests of only Hindus and Muslims ought to be excluded from all decision-making bodies. "When we take over, we'll rewrite India's Constitution to make sure that no Muslim is elected to a position of authority," Togadia, who is also president of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad said.
Speaking at a public gathering in Uttarakhand, Tagodia also stated that they had started a program called "Veer Hindu Vijetha Hindu," which included the distribution of trishuls (tridents) to over 20 million young Hindu men and women.
Discrimination and Violence Experienced by India's Religious Minorities
Not surprisingly, Clarion India, a civil advocacy group in January released a report about discrimination and violence against religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in India.
Through the year 2022, Clarion India recorded instances of hate crimes, hate speeches, discrimination, as well as assaults on the life and liberty of Indians belonging to the religious minorities. "Perpetrators were either "members of an unnamed mob belonging to the majority community", or, equally and often identified with organizations affiliated to supremacist Hindutva. Such incidents were reported from various parts of the country: a visible trend in all these incidents is that religious atrocities are often state sanctioned, and perpetuated amidst a prevalent culture of impunity," Clarion India report said adding:
A calculated silence from senior elected officials and those in government has influenced law enforcement to delay or deter the accountability and justice process: delayed filing of FIRs (criminal complaints that launch an investigation), a passivity in the face of intimidatory rape and genocide threats to actually allowing the quick release of perpetrators, and their felicitation, in the rare situations of arrest. To witness such brutal and demoralising incidents, committed against innocents, should shock the conscience of all Indians. In this piece that wraps up 2022, we review some of the most horrifying incidents of atrocities committed in 2022 against religious minorities- Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs.
