Hate speech is prosecutable when it has the potential of provoking violence, a crime. So, when three such cases of venomous hate speech by far-right leaders including BJP legislators (January 2024) result in three separate incidents of vandalism and defacement of Mosques since February should this not be seen as a case of collective conspiracy? Though geographically apart, the normalisation of targeted speech and violence in the country makes a case for such causality.
Every other day we report hate speeches targeting Muslims, Christians, Mosques and Churches made by named perpetrators — leaders and mobs —that incite violence and hatred.
In recent weeks, since January 2024, speakers have provoked their audiences to desecrate Muslim religious places. At least three such hate speeches have been delivered by Bharatiya Janata Party legislators and far-right leaders wherein calls have been made to attack and destroy Muslim places of worship.
Within a month they achieved their desired result.
March 2024 (Provocation & Crime): In the month of March, a video showing the slogan of Jai Shri Ram being displayed at a Mosque through laser lighting went viral. The video, posted by Hate Detectors on ‘X’, showed Jai Shree Ram being displayed over Surat’s Jama Masjid during a Hindu wedding. The incident took place in Gujarat.
The video can be viewed here:
In #Gujarat‘s #Surat, #JaiShriRam slogan displayed during #Hindu wedding lighting at Surat’s Jama Masjid. pic.twitter.com/KFl2espc7S
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) March 4, 2024
March (Provocation): In March, Hindutva Watch reported a contentious speech delivered by BJP legislator Balmukund Archarya in Jaipur, Rajasthan. In his speech, Archarya can be heard raising a call for turning historical monument of Qutb Minar into a temple. He also mentioned the mosques of Kashi and Mathura, declaring that the Shahi Idgah Mosque and the Gyanvapi Mosque will suffer the same fate as the Babri Mosque.
The speech:
“Just like Ram has been brought back in Ayodhya and his idol has been established there, we have to follow the suit in Kashi and Mathura as well. We will, one day, visit our God in Qutb Minar as well. We will pray to red Hanuman in Red Fort. I have gotten another news that there used to be an ancient temple in Madhya Pradesh, and our God will be established there once again.”
The video is attached:
Details of more such speeches made are at the bottom of the copy.
February (Crime): In the month of February, the Observer Post had reported that on February 17, a Hindu monk by the name of Maharaj Hiranmoy Goswami led prayers inside the Adina Mosque in Malda with the support of a few young guys. The aforementioned action had sparked a heated dispute, necessitating the police’s intervention.
According to the article, local sources had stated that on Saturday afternoon, people from outside the state, aided by a few Hindu teenagers in the area, and started conducting religious ceremonies, such as puja, inside the mosque grounds. The local Muslim community became enraged by this conduct, which led to instability in the neighbourhood. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which was in charge of the Mosque, had then submitted a complaint upon which an FIR was then filed.
Another separate incident had taken place in February where during Saraswati idol immersion, miscreants had pelted stones at a mosque while passing through the area. The said incident had taken place in Bahera, Darbhanga of Bihar on February 16. As per a report in Maktoob Media, on the night of 16 February at around 7 pm, a procession for the immersion of goddess Saraswati was taken out in Badi Bazar of Baheda town on Basant Panchmi. News of “communal clashes” had emerged from the area.
“Under the Bahera police station area, a clash broke out between two communities during idol immersion. The officials reached the spot and brought the situation under control,” Darbhanga district magistrate Rajeev Raushan told media.
In one of the videos of the procession from Bahera, accessed by Maktoob, a mob can be seen and heard shouting the alleged slogans and vandalising the properties near the mosque. The video further substantiated that the procession moved towards Badi Bazar mosque, the Jama Masjid of the town, the Hindu mob allegedly raised slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and Hindu religious songs were being played loud on DJ. The parked vehicles near the mosque were torched and broken by the mob. They pelted stones and bricks at the nearby houses. It is essential to report that the Bahera Police had booked more than 400 identified and unidentified individuals, both Hindus and Muslims, for allegedly inciting communal violence and attacking police personnel.
Other instances of incendiary speech in February and before:
February (Provocation): In the month of February, Rashtriya Karni Sena President Suraj Pal Ammu delivered an instigating speech in Aligarh, which he has referred to Harigarh in his speech. The leader of this far-right extremist organisation asked for his audience to be ready to demolish the Gyanvapi mosque in Kashi to reclaim it. He repeatedly encouraged violence. The video of the same had been published by the handle of Hate Detectors on ‘X’ in February.
The speech:
“Are you all ready to commit a scandal in Mathura? The new government here is of SP (Samajwadi Party), are you ready to have cases filed against you? How many of you are ready for that?”
“Who all are happy with the beginning of worship (by Hindus) at Kashi? This could have happened when Manmohan Singh’s government was there, right? But this miracle could only take place during the tenure of the real son of Gujarat and India, Narendra Modi. This is his blessing.”
“Our country feels proud when the CM of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath walks and talks, feels like the son of a lion is there.”
Slogans of Jai Shri Ram are raised by the audience.
“I think Ayodhya and Kashi are equidistant from here. One day, if I declare it to the Karni Sena that the structure that is standing in Gyanvapi needs to be demolished, will you be ready for that?”
“Gyanvapi khallaas karne ko tayar ho kya? (Are you all ready to destroy the Gyanvapi structure?)”
The audience answers with a loud “yes”.
The video can be viewed here:
Rashtriya Karni Sena President #SurajPalAmmu giving a #HateSpeech calling for #Karsevaks at the mosques of #Kashi and #Mathura in #UttarPradesh‘s #Aligarh. pic.twitter.com/anpaoXLHrP
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) February 14, 2024
January (Provocation): In the month of January, repeated hate offender, BJP MLA T. Raja Singh, had delivered a hate speech in Saswad, Pune in Maharashtra on January 31. The speech had been reported by Hindutva Watch. While the speaker targeted the Muslim community on many issues, such as Love Jihad and cow slaughter, we have extracted the part where he had raised calls for demolition of Muslim religious places.
Extracted speech:
“Hey (Asaduddin) Owaisi, you are crying so much over one Babur structure, we are not done with Kashi and Mathura till now. We are also not done with the Punyeshwar Temple in Pune. Every temple of ours that was destroyed by the jihadis and another structure was built upon it will not be left, I will promise you that.”
“Till now, we are only asking you about three temples, but we have not forgotten those fifty thousand temples that you destroyed to build illegal structures over. Once India becomes a Hindu nation, we will take accountability of every temple destroyed. Every jihadi will get what they deserve.”
Hate speech is not Free Speech as we at Citizens for Justice and Peace have frequently argued. It is the specific element and ingredient of call or provocation to violence that distinguishes the two. Simple slur or abuse do not qualify but when made by groups, individuals in positions of social, economic and political power against a section that is discriminated and marginalised –threatening that sections fundamental and constitutional rights to equality and dignity –speech gets criminalised and qualifies as hate speech.
In the instances reported here, speeches that calls for demolition (or defilement) of Muslim places of worship are only three such reported instances that have been covered by the team of SabrangIndia. Though there may not be a direct geographical or causal link between these words and the violent acts listed above, arguably the permissible climate of hatred they propagate has the power to enable these crimes and acts of violence.
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