New Delhi: Amid widespread criticism that Hindu right-wing members faced over genocide calls against Muslims, Indian National Congress has called upon the Indian community in Australia and around the world to condemn the hateful move.
The three-day gathering, called Dharma Sansad, sparked outrage in India after videos of right-wing Hindu figures calling for the ethnic cleansing of 220 million Muslims in the country went viral on social media.
Quoting Shama Mohamed, the spokesperson for the Indian National Congress party, an Australia based news organization Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), said, “The Indian community all over the world should put pressure on the present dispensation and Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] to work in a certain way to get back our pluralistic society and stop judging people based on their religion, their caste, their creed.”
Referring to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, the report said his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has historically represented Hindu nationalist interests and governed India since 2014.
Munawar Faruqui has been relentlessly punished for alleged jokes which he didn't even crack, but there is no action against the 'Dharm Sansad' members who openly called for genocide against Muslims in Haridwar! Is India still a democracy!#HaridwarHateAssembly
— Dr. Shama Mohamed (@drshamamohd) December 23, 2021
Mohamed’s comments come days after Hindu right-wing figure Yati Narsinghanand claimed at the religious gathering that swords are insufficient in the “battle against Muslims” and better weapons are necessary to become victorious.
Tensions between Hindus, who make up more than 80 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population, and Muslims, who comprise about 14 per cent of the population, go back centuries.
The three-day conclave was held in Haridwar, an ancient city and a significant pilgrimage site in North India’s Uttarakhand state. “I was horrified,” the report quoted Mohamed as saying.
“Since 2014, we have been seeing this Muslim-bashing hatred but normally it would be the fringe.”
“Now, here was a conclave with religious leaders openly asking for the genocide of Muslims as well as they attacked former [INC leader and] prime minister Manhoham Singh and said that he should also be killed.”
“So it was very worrying that it is coming from a conclave where there are religious priests of Hindu religion,” the report quoted her further saying.
Indian police have launched an investigation into the event, which was attended by various Hindu right-wing members including people associated with Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and journalists.
The participants include Sadhvi Annapurna Maa, Dharamdas Maharaj, Anand Swaroop Maharaj, Swami Sagar Sindhuraj, Swami Prabodanand Giri, Swami Premanand Maharaj, BJP member, Ashwini Upadhyay, and the party’s Mahila Morcha member, Udita Tyagi, who called for a Hindu Raj and violence against Muslims.
Earlier on Monday, seventy-six lawyers of the Supreme Court of India wrote to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, requesting the High Courts and the Supreme court of India initiate a hearing on the issue under the legal principle of Suo Moto cognizance.
Prominent Muslim MP Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted that the comments in the video were a “clear case of incitement to genocide”.
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