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Hate speech during election rallies by BJP leaders mar Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh

CJP Team

The state of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have been marred with anti-Muslim hate speeches being delivered by members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the past week. As legislative assembly elections in both the states are fast approaching, to be held on November 25 in Rajasthan and November 17 in Chhattisgarh, election rallies are being organised. Notably, both of these states are currently governed by the Indian National Congress (INC) party.

As documented below, various leaders of the BJP could be seen and heard delivering speeches before the election took place. In all the speeches, the party members targeted the minority Muslim community and spread their divisive policies. A common thread of anti-Muslim themes and conspiracies associated to forced religious conversions, Love Jihad, demolition of Hindu religious structures and illegal migration of Rohnigyas could be found in all the speeches being reported.

It is essential to highlight here that Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has been applicable in both the poll- bound states. Both the MCC as well as the Representation of People Act, 1951 (RPA) prohibits such conduct and activity that may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.

CJP is dedicated to finding and bringing to light instances of Hate Speech, so that the bigots propagating these venomous ideas can be unmasked and brought to justice. To learn more about our campaign against hate speech, please become a member. To support our initiatives, please donate now!

Under General Conduct guidelines provided under the MCC, clause 3 provides that “There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as a forum for election propaganda.”

The RPA specifies under “Corrupt Practices that “promotion of, or attempt to promote, feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of India on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language, by a candidate or his agent or any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent for the furtherance of the prospects of the election of that candidate or for prejudicially affecting the election of any candidate. (Section 123 A)

Thus, the below provided speeches delivered by various BJP members stand in violation of the election guidelines and law prevailing in India. All the speeches reported had been uploaded on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) by the account of HindutvaWatch. The speeches are as follows:

Hate speeches in Rajasthan:

  1. Location: Kekri, Ajmer

Date: November 16

BJP leader Shatrughan Gautam delivers a communal speech while raking up the issue of exodus of Kashmiri pandits to instigate and polarize voters. He also advocates for violence.

The speech:

“Every eye that is raised against Sanatan will be destroyed, every hand that is raised against Sanatan will be cut. This is the land of Hindu saints.”

“Open your ears and listen Congress party, we will take the revenge for those Kashmiri Tikoo that you had raped and tortured in Srinagar.”

The video can be viewed here:

  1. Location: Pipalda

Date: November 16

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath delivered a communal speech at an election rally while boasting his involvement in the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992. He also raises contentious and violent slogans.

The speech:

“How can one play with our religious sentiments? They desecrated and destroyed our temples during the Mughal era and constructed such large symbols of slavery upon it. Ayodhya is a living proof of this. Around 500 years ago, Babar had demolished Lord Ram’s temple and constructed this controversial structure. When we used to protest, the Congress government would torture us. When we used to raise the slogan of ‘Ram Lalla aenge, mandir vahi banaenge (Lord Ram will come, we will construct our temple there itself)’, the Congress members would laugh at us and make fun of us. And then, we had changed our slogan to ‘Ram Lalla aenge, pehle dhancha hataenge (Lord Ram we will first come and destroy the structure)’.

The video can be viewed here:

  1. Location: Jaipur

Date: November 14

BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi makes problematic statements related to Hijab, giving it a communal biased colour, to mislead the audience.

The speech:

“I want to remind you all that some time ago, CM Ashok Gehlot had promised to make Jaipur Ghunghath (veil) free. But these people have no problems with Hijab. These people condemn veils but support hijabs. I want to ask him directly today that you wanted to make Jaipur veil free, what is your stand on Hijab?”

“During the Madhya Pradesh election rally, one of the leaders of the Congress spoke on the issue of Hamas-Israel conflict. They spoke about the Palestinian cause and the people dying in Palestine.”

“In Jaipur, it becomes more essential to remember that this was the city where state Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in 2013 had said that the RSS members organise terrorist camps. He had withdrawn this statement when late Sushma Swaraj had called him out.”

The video can be viewed here:

  1. Location: Tonk

Date: November 14

BJP leader and Member of Parliament Ramesh Bidhuri claims Lahore is interested in the outcome of Rajasthan and especially Tonk’s election results. He also accuses certain people in Tonk of providing shelter to members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).

The speech:

“I will tell everyone that not only this country, even Lahore is keeping a watch on the elections taking place in Rajasthan, especially the elections of Tonk.”

“Who provides shelter to the members of PFI? Who feeds food to those members of the PFI that are caught? It’s the people sitting in Tonk. That is why even Lahore is interested in these elections. On November 25, we will see if sweets are going to be distributed in this country or in Lahore. We will see whether those pimps who are sheltering the PFI will get sweets or not. Terrorists like that of Hamas are sitting here waiting for us.”

“If somebody dies in an accident, they give them a compensation of 50 lakhs while Kanhaiya was only given a petty sum of 5 lakhs.”

“Not only are the citizens of our country, but our enemies from outside the country waiting for these elections.”

The video can be viewed here:

Hate speech in Chhattisgarh:

  1. Location:  Saja, Bemetara

Date: November 15

Union Home Minister Amit Shah promotes baseless Hindutva’s conspiracy theory of “love jihad” during an election rally to spread anti-Muslim sentiments.

The speech:

“Bemetara became the centre of Love Jihad. Daughters from Sahu culture, Gond culture and the Lodi culture are being targeted by these men while the state government is sleeping like ‘Kumbhkaran’”

“If you bring in the BJP government in these elections, no one will dare to commit a crime like ‘Love-Jihad’ here I promise you that”

The video can be viewed here:

  1. Location: Bhatapara

Date: November 15

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma indulges in anti-Muslim dog whistling, refers to the Muslim community by the names of Mughal rulers and accuses the Congress party of Muslim appeasement. He also uses the bogey of forced religious conversions and the issue of illegal Rohingya refugees to target the Muslim community.

The speech:

“The Congress Party complained to the ECI for some remarks that I made against Akbar. I ask them, why didn’t you complain against the remarks that I made against Rahul Gandhi or Bhupesh Baghel? Why only Akbar? What special relationship do you have with Akbar?”

“If you notice, only when Akbars, Baburs and Aurangzebs gets upset does the Congress Party start crying.”

“You must have heard of ‘Sar-Tan Juda’. This is a saying that is used in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, if you say something against a particular community, you are beaded from your neck. In Rajasthan, there used to be a tailor named Kanhaiya Lal who had re-shared a post made against a particular community. After 7 days, he was beheaded from his neck. I was surprised when I heard this happened in India because we are not Pakistan or Afghanistan. The congress party did nothing in Rajasthan. Had this happened in Assam, UP or Haryana, we would have also taken revenge from them in the same way.”

In Chhattisgarh, there are forced religious conversions taking place openly. Rohingya illegal migrations are also taking place.”

The video can be viewed here:

  1. Location: Janjgir-Champa

Date: November 15

Union Home Minister Amit Shah indulges in hate-mongering against Rohingya refugees during an election rally.

The speech:

“PM Narendra Modi is the one who has efficiently curbed the menace of illegal migration of Rohingya refugees. He has made our country safer.”

“When I stood in the Parliament with the bill [on abrogation of Article 370], Rahul [Gandhi] asked me not to remove it. I asked him why, to which he said that there will be rivers of blood flowing after this. I want him to know that under our governance, no one could even throw a stone.”

The video can be viewed here:

  1. Location:  Mainpur, Bindranawagarh

Date: November 14

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma delivers communal speech to polarise voters and other the Muslim community.

The speech:

“We have to build a new India of Ram and Kautliya and not of Babar and Aurangzeb,” he told the crowd.

“We have to create a new India now. This new India will not have the rule of Babur and Aurangzebs, they will only have Lord Ram and Kaushalya.”

“When my government came to power, 700 government Madrasas were working at that time. When the issue of providing salaries to the Madrassas reached me, I asked my subordinate if the students are becoming doctors and engineers. I was told they are becoming M***as. I asked whether the government is responsible for breeding M***as. I closed down that Madrasa. Today, no Madrasa are operating in Assam.”

“After PM Narendra Modi got elected, the mosque of Babar was removed and now a Ram temple will be built at that place.”

The video can be viewed here:

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