In a brazen display of bigotry and intolerance, General Secretary of the Hindu Janjagran Manch Kamal Gautam recently delivered a hate speech targeting the Muslim community in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur.
Gautam, who also holds a position as a teacher in a government school, boasted about his alleged involvement in the removal of a mosque in Bilaspur and called for a boycott of Muslims, accompanied by veiled threats of violence.
‘I would like to tell you all that we should not give in to these ‘jihadi’ ideology bearers from outside and let them stay here just for the sake of some small rent payments. We are ready to give them our house or shops, while they work to target our young daughters.’
During his speech, Gautam claimed responsibility for the removal of a mosque in Bilaspur and proposed economic boycott of Muslims has further increased the sense of insecurity for Muslims in the state.
“For every one Hindu girl, 8-12 lakhs rupees are given to mosques and madrasas.”
Seemingly revealing an intention to incite violence, he also included in his speech – “‘If these jihadis come from outside to our land without panjikaran (registration) or pratyapan, it will be us, not some DC or SP, who will decide who gets to enter my (our) lane, our area, our district.”
Location: Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh
Hindu Janjagran Manch leader Kamal Gautam delivers hate speech against Muslims. Claims he got a mosque removed in Bilaspur a few days back, pitched for an economic boycott of Muslims & threatened violence.
Gautam is also a teacher in a govt… pic.twitter.com/mVdOEsxS63
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) July 9, 2023
The most alarming aspect of this entire episode is Gautam’s dual role as a teacher in a government school. The revelation of his affiliation with an extremist organisation and his public espousal of hatred raises serious concerns about his influence over impressionable young minds.
“…and they are working to target our young girls of ages 10, 12 by using ‘love jihad’.” Gautam also brought forth the bogey of ‘Love-Jihad’. Love jihad is a propaganda device used to argue that Hindu women are being targeted by Muslim men and are consequently forced or coerced into converting to Islam under the guise of love.
Gautam has been flagged several times for giving incendiary hate speeches. In 2022, his Facebook profile was removed after AltNews wrote to the social networking site.
According to a Dainik Jagran, he was suspended from his post after he was involved in protests regarding the murder of Manohar. The incident was one in which following the death of a boy named Manohar there was violence and arson after a call was given by some Hindu groups as the murder took on a communal turn.
Related:
Three separate benches of the Indian Supreme Court interrogate hate speech