Alishan Jafri 
Ghaziabad: On Friday (August 9), a mob of Hindu Raksha Dal (HRD) vigilantes, led by their leader Bhupender Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary, attacked shanties in Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar area near the Guldhar railway station, claiming that the residents, who were Muslims, were illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas involved in criminal activities.
In two videos of the attack, first circulated on the group’s own social media accounts, the vigilantes can be seen vandalising tents, setting belongings of the residents ablaze, and assaulting Muslims with lathis while constantly hurling religious slurs. This is the second such attack by the group this week.
The vandals did not just burn the slum but the clothes and belongings of Muslims they picked out, after confirming their identity. These attacks have taken place even as social media has seen calls for retaliation for attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. Notable amongst them are BJP MLA Nitish Rane and BJP MP from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut.
Rane wrote on X, “If Hindus are targeted and killed in Bangladesh. Why should we allow even one Bangladeshi to breathe here. We will also target and kill.”
Comparing India with Israel, Ranaut wrote that India is covered with extremists. “…Pick your swords and keep them sharp, practice some combat form everyday. If not much give 10 mins to self defence every day…”
A day earlier, Daksh Chaudhary, another associate of HRD, attacked a slum in Delhi’s Shastri Nagar, claiming the residents were illegal Bangladeshis. Chaudhary has a history of hate speech and assault. He is one of the two persons who attacked Congress leader and candidate for Northeast Delhi in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls Kanhaiya Kumar during his campaign. Post elections, he was booked for abusing Ayodhya residents and calling them traitors after the BJP’s defeat in Ayodhya.
Pinky circulated a video on social media endorsing the attacks and warning the Delhi police not to take stringent action against the attackers and to book them only under easily bailable charges. He claimed these attacks were in response to anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh.
In another video released on August 7, he stated, “The way Hindus are being killed in Bangladesh, sisters and daughters are being raped, temples are being destroyed… the whole world is silent on this. No one is ready to say anything. If the atrocities do not stop, then the Bangladeshis living in India are on our radar. I know all such places. I will not leave them. I will fight till the end.”
While there have been multiple instances of mob attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh since August 5 when Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka, India’s right-wing social media space has been flooded with disinformation and hate speech targeting the Muslim minority in India. Chaudhary, among others, have used this opportunity to launch attacks on Indian Muslims. The Ghaziabad police have debunked Pinky’s false claims about Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in the said slum. The police has stated that the people assaulted are not foreigners but Indian citizens. The residents are from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. A case has been registered under relevant sections at the local police station.
Pinky Chaudhary first made headlines for vandalising the Aam Aadmi Party’s office in 2014, but he gained significant attention after he claimed responsibility for an armed attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University in January 2020. In a video reported by The Wire in April 2021, which later went viral, Chaudhary had said, “We will tear apart the Quran and finish those who read it.” He later lamented that all Indian Muslims should have been exterminated during Partition, threatening to not even spare children. In another viral video released on April 8 2021, Chaudhary placed a bounty of Rs 51 lakhs on Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan’s head.
In August 2021, he was briefly arrested in connection with the Jantar Mantar hate rally, where slogans like “Mulle Kaatenge jaayenge toh Ram Ram chillayenge” (when Muslims are killed, they will shout the name of Lord Ram) were raised. Speaking to a right-wing YouTube channel, he said, “We are in the process of awakening our youth. We will get mullahs out of graves and finish them from their roots. Wait for April 2; you will see we will create a situation where Muslims have to either convert to Hinduism or they will be sent to Pakistan.” Denying him bail, Additional Sessions Judge Anil Antil observed, “We are not a Taliban state, rule of law is sacrosanct in a multi-cultural society.”
Following the Haridwar Dharma Sansad where calls for genocide of Christians and Muslims were made in December 2021, Chaudhary publicly stated his desire to rid India of Christianity and Islam, describing Christianity as slow poison and Islam as fast poison. He made a public call to his supporters to behead Lok Sabha MP Assaduddin Owaisi weeks before there was an attempt on Owaisi’s life by right-wing shooters. In 2023, he was booked under the Goonda Act after a video of him misbehaving with the police went viral.