New Delhi: Over 65 organisations and 190 civil society activists from 22 states have written an open letter to the President of India, calling for the cancellation of a “Dharam Sansad” scheduled for December 19 in Uttar Pradesh and organised by Hindutva figures including as Yati Narsinghanand, who is accused of delivering hate speeches.
Referring to Hindutva figures such as Yati Narsighanand, Rakesh Tomar, Darshan Bharati and others, the signatories said that no action is being taken against these individuals despite them having engaged in multiple hate speech offences and incitement to violence, as well as being in direct violation of bail conditions imposed on them for prior offences.
“We wish to draw to your attention the fact that a group of people already charged with multiple crimes, and whose prior activities have drawn national and international condemnation as well as resulting in violence, is planning to hold a public gathering in western Uttar Pradesh from December 19th in which both national and international elements involved in violence and hate crimes are being invited,” the civil society members have written in the open letter to the President.
The signatories of the letter belong to different organisations including representatives of PUCL, AFDR, AICCTU (Karnataka), AIPWA, AISF, All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (Delhi), Ambedkar Students Forum- ASF (Wardha, Maharashtra), Anti-Jindal & Anti-POSCO movement (Bhubaneswar, Odisha), APCR (Tamilnadu), Bebak (Muzaffarnagar), Bebak Collective, Bharat Bachao (Hyderabad), Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, CDA, Centre for Social Research and Empowerment (Nagpur) and others.
‘Out on bail, Yati Narsinghanand is key organiser’
“On September 10th, Yati Ramswaroopanand, a follower of the hate crime accused Yati Narsinghanand, delivered a hate speech at the Dehradun Press Club, announcing plans for an upcoming so-called “Dharm Sansad” in December. He used vile and hateful language, described our Muslim fellow citizens as “not human”, and called for them to be deprived of their rights. While a suo motu FIR was registered, no further actions were taken,” says the open letter.
“Yati Narsinghanand continues to make open hate speeches, including on September 29 in Ghaziabad, which was followed by violence. These actions were in direct violation of his bail conditions. But the Uttarakhand police have not sought cancellation of his bail, so he continues to roam free. He is the “key organiser” of this new programme,” says the letter.
Between December 17 and 19, 2021, a large collection of major religious leaders, right-wing activists, hardline fundamentalist militants and Hindutva organisations came together at Haridwar for an event called the ‘Dharma Sansad’ or ‘Religious Parliament’.
Over the course of three days, this event witnessed an extraordinary quantity of hate speech, mobilisations to violence and anti-Muslim sentiment. The event was also attended by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who has previously been arrested for an event he helped organise where slogans were raised calling for violence against Muslims, and BJP Mahila Morcha leader Udita Tyagi, giving the event a level of political encouragement from the ruling party.
“Hence we request that the Central government immediately act to prevent this programme from taking place and prevent foreigners from entering the country for this programme, direct the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to immediately move court to cancel the bail granted to Yati Narsinghanand and other accused who are in flagrant violation of their bail conditions,” says the open letter.
“Direct these state governments to comply with the law and with the orders of the Supreme Court to act against hate crimes and to protect minorities from motivated attacks. Compensate all those, including and especially minorities, who have suffered violent attacks in the wake of such hate speeches by these individuals and others,” it adds.
