New Delhi: Religious leader Yati Narsinghanand who was arrested for making a provocative speech against Muslims at a Dharam Sansad in Haridwar in December 2021 again delivered provocative speech at a Hindu Mahapanchayat in Delhi on Sunday.
The Hindu Mahapanchayat was held at North Delhi’s Burari grounds. At least five journalists were allegedly assaulted in the process of covering the event.
The priest said that 50 per cent of Hindus would be converted, 40 per cent killed and ten per cent exiled if a Muslim was to become the prime minister of India.
An FIR has been filed against him following his controversial speech under sections 153A [Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language…] and 188 of the Indian Penal Code was filed by the Delhi Police.
A video of Yati Narsinghanand has emerged on social media in which he can be heard saying:
Only in 2029 or in 2034 or in 2039, a Muslim will become the prime minister. Once a Muslim becomes the prime minister, 50 per cent Hindus will convert, 40 per cent will be killed and the remaining 10 per cent will either live in refugee camps or in other countries in the next 20 years.
Besides Narsinghanand, Preet Singh and Pinky Chaudhary, the organisers of the event, have previously been arrested for hate speech for an event organised in August 2021 at Jantar Mantar, where slogans calling for violence against Muslims were raised.
Using, The Kashmir Files as a communal tool Narsinghanand said, “For those who don’t want Hindus and Muslims to fight, did you watch The Kashmir Files…they [Muslims] should leave their women and properties behind and drown in the Indian Ocean. You [Muslims] have only this path left.”
According to the Wire, Sunday’s event, organised by a group previously under legal fire for hate speech, was organised to advocate for issues including “ghuspet niyantran” (intruder control), “dharmantran niyantran” (religious conversion control) and “devsthan mandir mukti” (freedom of Hindu temples). All of these operate as dogwhistles against Muslims.
By participating in the event, Narsinghanand has violated his bail condition of not attending an event with the aim of creating discord among different communities. No action has been taken again Narsinghanand thus far for violating his bail condition.
Narsinghanand has been linked with the BJP machinery in the past. He said on the record that Yogi Adityanath had intervened when he was to be booked under the Goonda Act, and ‘saved him’.
