The speeches pose a grave threat to the unity and integrity of our country and also endanger the lives of Muslim citizens

The Supreme Court has taken up a PIL seeking probe against the hate speeches targeting Muslim community delivered on December 17-19 last year at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad and in Delhi by an organisation called Hindu Yuva Vahini.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will hear the plea filed by Qurban Ali and former Patna High Court judge Anjana Prakash, seeking directions for an independent, impartial and credible probe into the matter by an SIT.

The plea, filed through advocate Sumita Hazarika, said: “Hate speeches consisted of open calls for genocide of Muslims in order to achieve ethnic cleansing. It is pertinent to note that the said speeches are not mere hate speeches but amount to an open call for murder of an entire community. The said speeches thus, pose a grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endanger the lives of millions of Muslim citizens.”

All right-thinking Indians condemned the hate speeches of seers especially the vitreous words uttered against Muslims. Prominent members of India’s defence community have joined a growing chorus of people across the country in demanding legal action against organisers of a Hindu religious event after several speakers there reportedly issued calls for killing Muslims.

Admiral Arun Prakash, former chief of Indian Navy, and General Ved Prakash Malik, former Chief of Army Staff, took to Twitter to slam and condemnthe event. They criticised it for creating fissures in the country and weakening “national security” at a time when the South Asian country is involved in tense situations on both its eastern frontier with China as well as its western border with Pakistan.

Such hate speeches are dangerous for the country when India and China have been involved in a military standoff at the eastern Ladakh border for nearly one-and-a-half years. The standoff remains unresolved in spite of 13 rounds of military commander-level talks and several rounds of various level discussions foreign ministers. The 14th round of military commander-level talk is being held any time soon to resolve the withdrawal of troops to its original positions of the Line of actual control (LAC).

The concerns from prominent individuals have surfaced as several videos of radical Hindu priest Yati Narsingh-anand Giri, who was one of the lead speakers and organisers of the event, appeared online in the wake of the Haridwar gathering.”Swords are not enough to kill the Muslims… They have stockpiled very advanced weapons… Our (Hindu) religion is not going to be saved just by picking up arms”, Giri said during a speech at the event.

Giri reiterated that only by having “the most advanced weapons in every Hindu household” and “by outnumbering Muslims in birth could the Hindu community be saved”.

In an interview given to Sudarshan TV, Giri, the head priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh, didnot even spare Muslim politicians in Bharatiya Janata Party.He remarked that leaders like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and former minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain “are more dangerous than even jihadis”.”India is moving towards becoming an Islamic state. This must be reversed and the nation should move towards becoming a Vedic-Sanathan (Hindu) nation”, Giri said in the interview. A five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttarakhand police will now probe the alleged hate speeches made by Hindu seers against Muslims at the ‘Dharma Sansad’ held in Haridwar last month. 

The move comes a day after the Muslim Seva Sangathan - an organisation working towards the betterment of the minority community in Dehradun - protested outside the Uttarakhand police headquarters, demanding the arrest of Hindu seers who had allegedly made controversial statements during the three-day event.Five seers have been booked so far in connection with the ‘Dharma Sansad’. “Investigation is going on and the probe team is examining whether charges made in the FIRs are arrestable or not. But these people are certainly accused and they will be charge-sheeted in court,” Uttarakhand Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Kumar said. However, no arrests have been made so far.

Meanwhile, Sadhvi Annapurna, one of the accused in the case, said “nothing wrong” was spoken at the Haridwar ‘Dharma Sansad’. Even the charges made against us are not as per law, added she, a former IIM professor.

It is surprising that the central government has not uttered a single word against the hate speeches, which may be due to huge vote bank of seers. Now that the case is taken up in the apex court the outcome will be awaited.

The writer is former Senior Professor, International Trade and Member, Vivekananda International Foundation. The views expressed are personal.)