New Delhi: At a demonstration at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on February 5, supporters of Sudarshan TV head and Hindutva activist Suresh Chavhanke said that the Supreme Court’s critical observations on his 2021 public exhortation to “die for and kill” to make India a “Hindu nation” was “unnecessary legal harassment”. They also accused the top court of favouring Muslims.
Chavhanke’s hate speech at an event organised by the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a Hindutva group formed by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath in 2002, had been criticised by the Supreme Court in April last year. The court had also pulled up Delhi Police for its affidavit which had initially concluded that “no hate speech was made at the event.”
Police also initially said that the gathering was made of people motivated to “save the ethics of their community.”
मेरे साथ हिंदू राष्ट्र की शपथ लेते हुए हिंदू युवा वाहिनी के शेर और शेरनियां #HinduRashtra @myogiadityanath pic.twitter.com/AVt1QqHb1x
— Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) December 19, 2021
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Administering an ‘oath’ to the audience at the event, Chavhanke had said:
“If needed, we will kill and get killed for it. But we will declare the country a Hindu nation at any cost. May our ancestors and deities give us the power to achieve our goal.”
On Sunday, February 5, Chavhanke’s supporters – many of them Hindutva leaders themselves – claimed at Jantar Mantar that there was nothing wrong in the above-mentioned oath. Many speakers also accused the Supreme Court of “Muslim appeasement” and “of being hard on Hindus but liberal with other religions ”
Retired IPS officer Anand Kumar, one of the speakers and the president of the Rashtra Nirman Party, said, “It’s strange that the Supreme Court is asking the police why they’re not taking action or arresting someone, when the police have already stated that there’s no offence found against Chavhanke after an investigation.”
He also expressed the belief that the Supreme Court is biased in favour of Islam and said it “engages in Muslim appeasement”.
Hindutva leaders like Ragini Tiwari, Suraj Pal Ammu, Aastha Maa, and Annapurna Bharti were part of the event. Chavhanke himself was not present.
There were approximately 300-400 people in the audience, a third of them were school students.
“Our guru ji (teacher) has brought us here. I do not know the reason for our visit,” said a student of Class 8 who had come from Palwal in Haryana, said.
Following the reprimand by the Supreme Court, the Delhi police had filed fresh cases against Suresh Chavhanke on May 4, 2022, under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, birth, etc.), 295A (deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 298 (uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent, to wound the religious feelings of any person) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
On January 10, 2023 Supreme Court had once again pulled up the Delhi Police, noting that there has been “no arrest”, “no chargesheet” and “no palpable progress” even eight months after the FIR was lodged last year.
Also read: Suresh Chavhanke Administers Oath to Make India ‘Hindu Rashtra’, BJP MLA Present
Before the Jantar Mantar event, Chavhanke had tweeted a poster on Twitter which said, “How is taking oath of Hindu nation a crime?”. After the event, he has tweeted visuals of it, including of the children attending.
Suraj Pal Ammu of Karni Sena, who has a history of making hate speeches, also spoke in support of Chavhanke.
He said, “There is a lobby working against Chavhanke, but I want to tell them that he is not a carrot or radish that can be easily uprooted and consumed. If someone tries to stop him, we will keep supporting him. Chavhanke is getting support from all over India to make India into a Hindu nation, and he will continue to receive support. We’re not demanding anything; we’re only asking to remove the country’s traitors, those who eat in India but sing praises of Pakistan.”
Amritanand of Dasna Devi Temple said that the Chavhanke-led Sudarshan News is the “only channel which is saving our mothers and sisters.”
“It works to prevent the throats of our brothers from being slit. It exposes many types of ‘jihads’ including ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad’,” Amritanand added.
‘Love jihad’ is an imagined conspiracy popularised by Hindutva organisations, to claim that Muslim men are using marriage to convert Hindu women. The government has on occasion said it has no data on such alleged occurrences.
‘Land jihad‘ is a similar Hindutva allegation which purports to claim that Muslims occupying land are doing so illegally.
Another speaker at the event said, “This government is of Hindus, not of Muslims.” He used pejorative terms to denote Muslims.
“What sin has our Suresh Chavhanke ji done by demanding a Hindu nation? Would we demand a Hindu nation in Pakistan? Can we not demand a Hindu nation in Hindustan? Brothers, I would like to tell you that Sudarshan News is only channel who raises voice of Hindus. Foreign forces, no matter how much you drink your mother’s milk, our Sudarshan channel will not stop,” he said.
As the Supreme Court and Union government have tussled over the appointment of judges – with the latter demanding more participation in the Collegium which selects judges for appointment and the latter decrying the delays made by the government in clearing its recommendations – social media spaces occupied by Hindutva activists and leaders have also risen to attack the judiciary.
