VHP-Bajrang Dal Shaurya Yatras: Spreading hate and violence in multiple states Multiple incidents show hate speeches, stone pelting, brandishing of weapons, targeting of minorities and other violations of law at VHP Shaurya yatras across the country

04, Oct 2023 | CJP Team

On October 4, the Calcutta High Court allowed the pleas filed by representatives of the extremist Hindutva organisations, namely Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, to hold a “Shourya Jagran Yatra” in the state of West Bengal. The single judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta held that the outfits will be able to “enlighten the people of West Bengal about the sacrifices made by the freedom fighters.”

It is essential to note that the petition had been filed by the representatives of the fringe Hindutva outfits to challenge the State police’s refusal to allow them to conduct the said religious rally whilst a similar rally had been allowed by a coordinate bench in another writ petition. It had been submitted by the petitioners that the yatra would be peaceful, and without any weapons being wielded, and that only a modest gathering of people would assemble along a clearly demarcated and pre-planned route.

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It is crucial to highlight here that the Advocate General for the State had earlier submitted that the rally had to be halted due to “certain violations” which had occurred.

While allowing the religious processions to take place in the state of West Bengal, the bench also issued directions to the State authorities to keep tight vigil over the area to prevent any unforeseen incidents.

However, our analysis of Shaurya yatras in other parts of the country present a worrying picture. 

Instances of violations at the ‘Shaurya Jagran Yatras’ held to date

In the mid of September, media reports had emerged detailing the country-wide religious processions that Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal were planning to take out. With these ‘Shaurya Jagran Yatras’, the VHP has plans to cover five lakh villages across the country with the aim of connecting people with the consecration ceremony related to Lord Ram in Ayodhya, proposed to be held in January next year. As had been provided in the report of the reputed Hindi newspaper Prabhat Khabar, the clear agenda of behind organising these religious procession was to ‘organise the society to counter Christianity and Muslim jihadi mentality’.  

Multiple videos of the programmes and processions being held have been emerging on social media. These videos show anti-minority hate speeches being delivered, anti-Muslim slogans being raised, brandishing of weapons, vandalism and stone pelting, highlighting the violations that take place during the events organised. The hate speeches include such expressions of targeted and extreme hatred with a clear communal objective:

1.  Location: Sitamau, Madhya Pradesh

Date: September 9, 2023

A video of the event known as the Shaurya Sabha shows a far-right leader delivering a communal and instigating speech targeting Muslims. Extracts from the speech are as follows:

“We are taking full responsibility for the demolition of Babri Masjid. We are taking this responsibility openly.”

“The Muslims tried to enslave us, the Christians tried to enslave us, and even the Britishers tried too. Attempts are being made to enslave us every day.”

The speech has been translated into English. The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

2. Location: Anuppur, Madhya Pradesh

Date: Video surfaced on ‘X’ on September 13, 2023

At a Shaurya Jagran Yatra event, an unidentified far-right leader gave an inflammatory speech and presented a distorted version of history to target Muslims. 

Excerpts:

“Be it Christianity or Islam, they thought they could rule the country using a sword. But even then, our ancestors, holy saints and Viranganas (people who stay in forests) fought against them. This could only be found in India. Many challenges stand in front of us today. We hear slogans such as “Bharat tere tukde honge” coming from Delhi. These people who are raising these slogans, do they not remember that there is still an organisation working in India that has been protecting the country for 400 years? Do they not remember how, within 4 hours, we demolished what they called Babri Masjid?”

“These people who spread divisiveness amongst the Hindus, who divide us based on caste, languages, place of birth, I want to warn them. These people do not know who Lord Ram is, who Lord Krishna is, who Lord Sudama is or Lord Shankar is. They do not know the legend of Durgavaati who fought with Mughals.”

The speech has been translated into English. The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

3. Location: Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh

Date: Video surfaced on ‘X’ on September 15, 2023

At a Shaurya Jagran Yatra event, an unidentified far-right leader delivered a highly provocative and anti-minority speech. The speaker peddled many conspiracies and targeted the Muslim community specifically, portraying them as the enemies of this country. Extracts from the speech are as follows:

“Now Krishna Janmabhoomi and Kashi Vishwanath are very near. You must have heard, 50% of our work related to Kashi has already been achieved through the path of courts. We were right, on this land, our Lord Krishna was born. And now, the God will ensure that we meet our Lord Makkeshwar too.”

“We have to take back 3 thousand more temples now, the Shaurya Jagran has not been complete till now.”

“We will not let these enemies of our move forward; we will destroy them. We want victory over our enemies. We will not let these killers of humanity move forward and succeed ever.”

“They used to keep cows on all three floors of their houses in Khandwa just before Eid. Why? Because they have been taught to make animal sacrifices. They want to sacrifice our cow that our 33,000 Gods and Goddess are connected with.”

“Do you know what happened in Nuh? An annual religious procession of ours was moving when they sat on the roofs and pelted stones at us and shot at us. They took advantage of our unarmed sisters. What is this religion, who taught them these things, why is this happening? The opposition at the centre did not say anything, rather turned it all at Bajrangi Monu Manesar. But just know, that even if you throw thousand stones and bullets at us, we will not stop taking out these religious processions.”

“Only those who will talk about Hindus and for the advancement of India, only they will be able to rule this country. Those who challenge Sanatana Dharma, you all know what their situation is”

“Ram Mandir is now even in Dubai, who can stop India from making one. As you can see, though the medium of ISKCON, more non-Hindus are becoming Hindus, and people are chanting ‘Hare Rama and Hare Krishna’ all over the world.” 

The speech has been translated into English. The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

4. Location: Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh 

Date: Video uploaded on ‘X’ on September 16, 2023

The video shows clips from a Shaurya Jagran Rally. An unidentified Bajrang Dal’s senior leader can also be seen and heard indulging in fear-mongering by promoting the bogey of rising Muslim population and “love jihad”. 

Extracts:

 “These people (Muslims) trap our women through love Jihad and then kill them or make them suffer. Their main aim is to increase the Muslim population and decrease the Hindu population so that they can make India an Islamic state. But these people forgot that Bajrang Dal has taken the oath to protect India and ensure that all forms of Islamic Jihad are eradicated from here.”

“It is one of the main focuses of Bajrang Dal to make people aware about the bogey history that was taught to us. We were taught that Akbar and Babar were great, but then who were Maharana Pratap and Chhatrapati Shivaji? Were they not great? How can Akbar and Babar be great?”

The speech has been translated into English. The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

5. Location: Raipur, Chhattisgarh 

Date: Video uploaded on ‘X’ on September 17, 2023

At a Shaurya Jagran Yatra event, Bajrang Dal National Convener Neeraj Doneria can be seen and heard delivering a highly instigating and misleading hate speech against Muslims and their faith. The video showed a large group of audience hearing, responding and raising slogans to his anti-Muslim address. Extracts from the speech are as follows:

“They say that if we give them 24 hours, they will show the Hindus their position. I want to tell them that if even 24 mins are given to Bajrang Dal, we will show them who we are and what position they (Muslims) hold.”

“Time has come to blacken their faces. Only Bajrang Dal can put a lock on these Be-dharmis (belonging to other religions) mouths. Only Bajrang Dal has this much power, no one else.”

“There are only two major issues that are present in India right now- Islamic Jihad and conversions by Christians. If you look at it, love-Jihad, cow slaughter, terrorism, and land jihad by building illegal shrines and mosques, all of these things are a by-product of Islamic Jihad.”

“They are committing love jihad and forced religious conversions because they want to increase their population. They want to impose Sharia Law in our country. They want to make India an Islamic state by the year 2029.”

The speech has been translated into English. The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

6. Location: Bhojpur, Madhya Pradesh 

Date: Video uploaded on ‘X’ on September 19, 2023 

At a Shaurya Jagran Yatra event, an unidentified Hindu far-right leader can be seen addressing a crowd while raising calls for violence against Muslims and Christians and establishing India as a Hindu nation. Extracts from the speech are as follows:

“If you do not kill, you will be killed. We are the lineage of Maharana Pratap and Chhtrapati shivaji.” 

“Through the medium of Love-Jihad, they entice away our daughters and sisters, we need to stop this.”

The speech has been translated into English. The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

7. Location: Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh 

Date: Video uploaded on ‘X’ on September 19, 2023

A video showing a large mob of saffron donning men walking on a road with guns, sticks and saffron flags in their hands during a Shaurya Jagran Yatra organised by Bajrang Dal surfaced on social media. The mob can be heard raising slogans of ‘Jai Shree Ram’. 

The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

8. Location: Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh 

Date: Video uploaded on ‘X’ on September 30, 2023

A far-right leader can be heard delivering a divisive and communal speech at the Shaurya Jagran Yatra event. Extracts from the speech are as follows:

“Pakistan was made for them after the Partition, and for the ones (Muslims) still living in India, they made Ghazwa-E-Hind. We need to unite and become one, and then we will raise our voices and say ‘India is a Hindu Rashtra, that is what we want’”

The crowd can be heard raising the religiously motivated slogan of “Jai Shree Ram”

The speech has been translated into English. The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

9. Location: Selamba, Narmada, Gujarat 

Date: Video uploaded on ‘X’ on September 30, 2023

The video, allegedly of a ‘Shaurya Yatra’ shows a large group of people standing in the middle of the road, waving the saffron flags and pelting stones at properties owned by Muslims. Police, clearly visible, are not doing anything to prevent this  unruly behaviour . The music being played and danced to is offensive as well. 

The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

10. Location: Karnaprayag, Chamoli, Uttarakhand 

Date: Video uploaded on ‘X’ on September 30, 2023

At the Shaurya Jagran Yatra, multiple unidentified far-right leaders can be heard instigating their audience and giving open calls to arms and violence against minorities. Extracts from the speech are as follows:

“Those who treat women as a child bearing machine, we will subject them to economic boycott. They are making shrines in the name of their Gods and then conducting forced religious conversions. We will have to take up arms to get rid of them. We will have to do whatever possible within the ambit of law to ensure that our religion is protected from them.”

“We have to follow the steps shown to us in Purola and Uttarkashi. The whole of Uttarakhand is now ready to ensure that these illegal migrants are made to leave from our Devbhoomi.”

“The sisters, wives and daughters of those protecting our country are the ones that are being targeted for ‘Love Jihad’.”

“This country does not belong to Akbar, Babar, Aurangzeb or Aurangzeb’s father. This country belongs to Chhatrapati Shivaji, Guru Gobind Singh and Maharana Pratap.”

“India has been fighting against these Islamists for 1300 years and we will keep on fighting for this till this whole Islamic terrorism has left India. This is their end time. We will never let our DevBhoomi (land of the Gods) become DanavBhoomi (land of the demons). We will free our land from these monsters and demons.”

The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

11. Location: Renukoot, Uttar Pradesh 

Date: Video uploaded on October 3, 2023

At the Shaurya Sabha event, Hindu extremist leader delivers a hate filled speech targeting the Muslim minority of India and threatening a repeat of 2002 Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom. Extracts from the speech are as follows:

“These people say that Bajrang Dal is evil. I want to tell them that we have to be evil only because these people are evil. When these people will stop doing evil things, we will stop rectifying their evils.”

“If these people try to harm our daughters and sisters, hurt our cows and religion, and try to destroy our mother India, we will give them a suitable reply like the one we did in Gujarat 2002 after which they could not do anything to us.”

The video had been uploaded on Hindutva Watch on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). The link is as follows:

Preparing a ground for polarisation?

It is important to highlight here that the fringe Hindutva organisations that are involved in the organisation of these religious processions have been spreading their violent and divisive ideologies under the garb of working towards the protection of Hindu culture, traditions, and values. On a number of occasions, VHP and Bajrang Dal have been accused of inciting communal violence and engaging in acts of vigilantism. Many instances have been reported where the group has been allegedly involved in attacks on religious minorities, particularly Muslims, and has been accused of promoting hatred and intolerance towards non-Hindus. As can be seen from the incidents listed above that these two organisations are promoting  majoritarianism, communalism and divisive ideologies to target religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, which goes against the principles of secularism and religious freedom enshrined in India’s constitution. Additionally, VHP’s promotion of a Hindu nationalist ideology and its association with groups advocating for a homogenized Hindu identity undermine the country’s cherished principles of unity in diversity and secularism. The violations highlighted above not only attract penal implications under the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act, but also attract sections of the IPC penalising hate speech. 

A dangerous trend of hate-mongering is being witnessed in our country. It is essential that the required attention is given to the background of the organisations that are planning these events as well as the agenda behind organising these events. Till now, an unsafe environment for the religious minority communities have been a result of these events. It is also essential that steps are taken to prevent the fostering of hate speech and communal tensions that pose a threat to national security and communal harmony.

Image: Representation

Related:

Hate speeches by VHP, BJP leaders continue as India slated to host world leaders

VHP launches plans to conduct yatra 2,281 Yatras, cover “all Indian” villages

Wielding ‘Jai Shri Ram’, vigilante violence against Muslims continues with impunity

The Right wing and their agenda to arm the youth

Right wing groups train young boys and girls in using firearms

Plea against VHP rallies in Delhi-NCR on Aug 2 had stated “rallies likely to fan communal fires, incite people”

Supreme Court: Authorities must ensure that no violence or hate speeches takes place during VHP rally in Delhi-NCR

 

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