During the speech, Rane propagated the conspiracy theory of “land jihad.” The MLA also gave an ultimatum of 15 days to the authorities and also threatened that failure to comply would result in his group taking matters into their own hands, promising to enter buildings and forcibly removing people who he tags as Bangladeshi, and sending them ‘back to Bangladesh.’ Some of the excerpts from his speech are available below.
In a video available on social media, he can be seen talking about a generator, he says, “I will put you in the generator and burn you. If you want to maintain law and order situation under control, then you must stop all this illegal activity. It is the police’s responsibility. We have told you and come today. Otherwise, we will come tomorrow and get into the buildings and send all the Bangladeshis to Bangladesh. That’s why we have come to give a final warning. We are giving you a period of 15 days, we are giving this to them, a last chance to the BMC to MAHDA departments. You must sit together and discuss. If anything has wronged or threatens the Hindu Samaj, then whatever we do, we will take up the responsibility. We will not t tolerate. If you want to bully and threaten, we also know how to do it.”
“…You people understand that tomorrow if some big trouble, big riot happens, then whom to arrest, the police do not know. Where these Bangladeshi and Rohingya are coming from, nobody knows…We will let any Bangladeshis take our rightful land. Now under ‘land jihad’, if anyone tries to evict Hindus, then they must know we are all standing here like a wall for our Hindu people.”
This is from #Dongri, #Thane, #Maharashtra.
On February 27, #BJP legislator #NiteshRane openly threatens violence against the alleged migrants from Bangladesh and Rohingya refugees in front of the police.
He also peddled the conspiracy theory of “land jihad.” pic.twitter.com/Y4QFsrjI7V
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) February 28, 2024
In other news, two lawyers and five law students have written an appeal to the Chief Justice of India (CJI). The appeal was the outcome of concerns raised by the Mumbai advocates, law students, and residents of the Govandi Group. The appeal has urged for urgent legal action against Nitesh Rane for his alleged involvement in hate speech during various programs held in Maharashtra in the past few weeks. The appeal has asked for the court to take suo moto cognisance. The letter also reportedly argues that Rane has criticised the MHADA and BMC officials for facilitating ‘land jihad’ in a speech on February 10 by letting ‘Rohingya’ settle in Mankhurd and Govandi.
Following the outbreak of communal violence in Mumbai’s Mira Road in January, Nitesh Rane was allegedly spotted at the scene, making potentially inflammatory statements in the tense locality. Reports also revealed that at the tense duration, Rane posted a provocative message on social media platform X during the heightened tensions, wherein a section of his post included the phrase, “Chun chun ke marenge!!! Jai Shri Ram.”
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