BJP and RSS leader Rajeshwar Singh,has, in an example of intimidation and hate speech said that “Muslims and Christians will be wiped out of India by December 31, 2021.” He further said that ‘we’ have decided that Islam and Christianity will be finished in India by 2021. He asserted, “this is the pledge taken by my colleagues.This is our pledge.”
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This is a member of India’s ruling party openly boasting of his government’s intent to “ethnically cleanse 200 million” Muslims and 28 million Christians. Singh is a resident of western Uttar Pradesh and known for inciteful and inflammatory statements, be it on “love jehad” or the Aligarh Muslim University.No action has been taken against Rajeshwar Singh for his latest provocations.Clearly Indian law or the Constitution have no meaning for those of this ideological ilk.
In August 2018, media reported that the RSS sent the man leading the much controversial “Ghar Wapsi” campaign on an “indefinite sick leave”, four years after the BJP won first full majority government at the centre.Rajeshwar Singh is an RSS pracharak heading the Dharam Jagaran Samiti and leading the highly controversial movement of re-converting Muslims and Christians back to the Hindu fold, was earlier “relieved” of his responsibilities as the Sangh felt the campaign in Agra had invited undue publicity “undermining the larger goal of Ghar Wapsi”.
Over the past few years, UP’s Dharm Jagran Samiti’s head Rajeshwar Singh has periodically defiantly made similar assertions: “Our target is to make India a Hindu Rashtra by 2021. The Muslims and Christians don’t have any right to stay here. So they would either be converted to Hinduism or forced to run away from here”
India under Modi 1.0 and Modi 2.0 has seen the widespread legitimisation of such provocative claims:
- A chorus of such speeches with the Hindu Mahasabha, announcing the launch of its “Islam-free India” campaign;
- Sadhvi Deva Thakur gives a call to declare emergency and sterilise Muslims and Christians to control their population;
- Sadhvi Sarawati gives the call to hang the ‘beef eaters’ and attack all secular people;
150 Hindu outfits openly hold a 4 day convention in Goa calling for turning India into a Hindu Rashtra by 2023.