Lyricist Javed Akhtar tweeted that he is ‘appalled’ by Bollywood’s silence on the Haridwar hate speech at a ‘Dharam Sansad’ and ‘Bulli Bai’, an app where the pictures of hundreds of Muslim women were misused.
Javed Akhtar wrote, “There is an online auction of hundred women There are so called Dharm Sansads , advising the army the police n the people to go for the genocide of almost 200 MLN Indians .I am appalled with every one ‘s silence including my own n particularly of The PM . Is this Sub ka saath ?”
Earlier, veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah had also reacted to the hate speeches delivered at Haridwar and said, “The first reaction was anger. What is happening here is a concerted attempt to make Muslims feel insecure.”
When asked about the Prime Minister’s silence on the matter, Naseeruddin Shah told The Wire, “He genuinely doesn't care. At least you can't accuse him of being a hypocrite, that he is expressing remorse for something he doesn't care about. He half-heartedly apologised to the farmers, but it was an insincere apology. And there's not a word of chastisement for these people (who threatened genocide). In fact, he follows them on Twitter.”
Hate Speech at ‘Dharam Sansad’s
A three-day conclave was organised in Haridwar from 17-19 December by the controversial Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand. During the event, several Hindutva leaders delivered hate speeches against minorities including multiple calls to incite violence against them. Around the same time, a video from Delhi showed Hindu right-wing groups taking an oath to ‘fight, die for, and if need be, kill’ to make India a ‘Hindu rashtra.’
On 23 December, the Uttarakhand police had registered a FIR in the Haridwar hate speech case against Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi and others under the IPC section 153A. Yati Narasimhanand, and Sindhu Sagar were subsequently added to the FIR.
‘Sulli Deals' 2.0: One Person Arrested in ‘Bulli Bai’ Case
Unidentified people misused pictures of Muslim women on an app named ‘Bulli Bai’ hosted on GitHub. This comes mere months after the ‘Sulli Deals’ controversy. A Delhi-based journalist, whose photo was also misused on the app, filed a complaint with the Delhi Police and an FIR was registered by the Cyber Police (South East Delhi).
(While 'Sulli' or 'Sulla' is a derogatory term used for Muslims, 'Bulli' is most likely a spin on the term.)
While no concrete action was taken in the ‘Sulli Deals’ case despite two FIRs, sources told The Quint that the Mumbai police have detained a 21-year-old man from Bengaluru in the ‘Bulli Bai’ case and he will be produced before a court on 4 January.
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