Haridwar Hate Speech Case: Now, Hindu Mahasabha Leader & 1 Other Booked

Calls to kill minorities and attack their religious spaces were made by several speakers at a conclave in Haridwar.

Two more persons have been booked in the Haridwar Dharam Sansad hate speech case, the police said on Saturday, 25 December.

The names of Annapurna Maa alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, who is the ‘Mahamandleshwar’ of the Niranjini Akhada and general secretary of Hindu Mahasabha, and Bihar resident Dharamdas Maharaj have been added to the FIR, reported news agency ANI.

A three-day hate speech conclave was organised by the controversial Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand from 17 to 19 December in Uttarakhand's pilgrimage city of Haridwar, where multiple calls to kill minorities and attack their religious spaces were made.

The Uttarakhand Police on Thursday had registered a case against Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi and others under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (punishment promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc) at the Haridwar police station.

No arrests have been made yet.

Ashok Kumar, Uttarakhand Director General of Police told The Hindu that the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to the Haridwar case were being legally examined, and that the anti-terror law may be invoked depending on the facts of the case.

Annapurna Maa, Dharamdas Had Incited Violence: What Did They Say in Haridwar?

Annapurna Maa, Mahamandleshwar of Niranjini Akhada and General secretary of Hindu Mahasabha, had said during the Dharam Sansad at Haridwar:

“If you want to finish them off, then kill them... We need 100 soldiers who can kill 20 lakh of them to win this.”

Addressing the attendees, Dharamdas Maharaj had said:

"If I was present in the parliament when PM Manmohan Singh said that minorities have first right over national resources, I would've followed Nathuram Godse, I'd have shot him six times in the chest with a revolver."

Meanwhile, another religious leader's incendiary comments at another Dharam Sansad, this time in Chhattisgarh, echo those of Dharamdas Maharaj's.

“They (minorities) seized power through politics here. And the great **** Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi led us to this ruin. Salutations to Godse ji that he killed that ****,” religious leader 'Sant' Kailcharan could be heard saying in purported videos of the event, which was held on Saturday, 25 December.