"Tum sab maroge… apne baccho ko bhi...(All of you will die, your children too...')", hate speech maker Narsinghanand, is heard telling policemen who are gently coaxing him to get out of the vehicle. The police had just made their first arrest in the Haridwar hate speeches case, taking into custody accused Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi a.k.a Wasim Rizvi, who had been the first one to be named in the FIR.

Narsinghanand is Tyagi-Rizvi’s guru and is a co accused, besides being named in previous FIRs as well. He is yet to be arrested even as Rizvi’s arrest is being seen as just a formality. Even the policeman is heard saying that the arrest is according to legal protocol, when he respectfully requests Narsinghanand to alight from the car. Narsinghanand on his part says he too is a part of the FIR, perhaps in a bid to insist that he too be arrested in the hate speech case so he can then claim to have been subjected to state action. He has been one of the main organisers of the hate event calling for violence against Muslims at a "Dharma Sansad" in Haridwar.

यति नरसिंहानंद क्या देश के संविधान व कानून से बड़ा है? #ArrestYatiNarasinghanand pic.twitter.com/OTxwNd3tKG

— Hansraj Meena (@HansrajMeena) January 13, 2022

Now, after the Supreme Court issued a notice, that is returnable in 10 days, the Uttarakhand Police made the first arrest in the case. According to news reports, the  Uttarakhand Police have issued notices to Yati Narsinghanand and another accused Sadhvi Annapurna, asking them to appear before them. Tyagi was arrested in Roorkee, Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police Yogendra Rawat told the media, however there is no information on what efforts are being made to arrest Narsinghanand, Annapurnna the others who have been named in the FIRs accusing them of anti-Muslim hate speeches that called for genocide. All night social media has been abuzz with calls for the Arrest of Narasinghanand and other hate speech makers who continue to roam free a month after the hate conclave.

Is this why no state police dares to arrest this hatemonger Yati Narasinghanand? #ArrestYatiNarasinghanandpic.twitter.com/tF10laR2vX pic.twitter.com/Im6rhTMYra

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 13, 2022

The man who is instigating people for massacre should be behind the bars very soon. Enough is enough. It's already too late. Be human. Arrest the bigot. #ArrestYatiNarasinghanand pic.twitter.com/0kYxhyHacW

— Mission Ambedkar (@MissionAmbedkar) January 13, 2022

Will Tyagi-Rizvi be made a scapegoat?

When Tyagi was being arrested, Narsinghanand told the officers he too was involved, "I am with him in all the three cases. Did he do it alone? The officers try to gently convince the Hindutva hate speech maker that "Tyagi is understanding the situation", Narsinghanand replies, "But I am not. He became a Hindu counting on our support."

Wasim Rizvi, the former chairman of Uttar Pradesh’s Shia Waqf Board ‘quit’ Islam, and converted to Hinduism in December 2021. He was renamed as Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi at the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, and was blessed by Yati Narsinghanand, its chief priest. His last act as Wasim Rizvi, was a deeply communal and Islamophobic diatribe, published as a book titled “Muhammad,” purportedly on the life of the Prophet Mohammed, one of the most revered figures in Islam. At the book launch ceremony, Rizvi was seen in the company of fellow hate offender Narsinghanand. 

The Haridwar ‘Dharma Sansad’ hate conclave was his first major Hindutva event as Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi. His moment in the spotlight there came when Ashwini Upadhyay of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled a “Hindutva” edition of the Constitution saying, “I got a "Bhagwa Samvidhan (Saffron Constitution) in Hindi and want "Gurudev" Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati [to launch it] to come in the front, this is his fight. Come here Wasim Ji… Tyagi ji you also, take photos everyone.” 

As global outrage spread over the event Wasim Rizvi a.k.a Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi was then named in the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Uttarakhand Police under Section 153A IPC, (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), registered in Kotwali Haridwar.

‘Revenge meet’ to be held across India?

According to a report in Times of India, “a group of seers” has announced that they are “organising 'pratikar yagya' (revenge ceremony) on January 16 to protest police action in the Dharam Sansad hate speech case.” They have reportedly given a call for the revenge ritual to be held nationwide. Swami Prabodhananda, president of the 21-member ‘core committee’ constituted to hold the yagya, told the media that "the (January 16) ceremony will now be organised throughout the country. Seers and other members of the Hindu community will take part in the yagyas in a show of solidarity with the movement launched against jihad." Narsinghanand reportedly said that all those named in the Dharam Sansad hate speech case will also attend the ‘pratikar yagya’ which will be held at Bairagi camp in Haridwar.

It is important to note that the  Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced Assembly Elections Uttarakhand to be held  in a single phase on February 14.

Related:

Almost a month but no arrests, CJP urges DGP to act soon in ‘Dharam Sansad’ case

Why did UP’s Deputy CM defend Haridwar hate speech?

SC issues notice in plea urging criminal prosecution in Dharam Sansad case

Citizens reclaim Varanasi ghats: VHP, Bajrang Dal’s communal posters fail