Islamophobic slogans calling for killing of Muslims were shouted at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, barely 2 kilometres from the parliament. Hundreds of people were gathered on Sunday, in an event organised by supreme court lawyer and former Bhartiya Janata Party spokesperson of Delhi unit, Ashwini Upadhyay.
On Sunday evening, Upadhyay had organised the march at Jantar Mantar as part of his “Bharat jodo [Unite India] movement.” In the protests, the organisers demanded to put an end to “colonial-era laws” by setting up a uniform civil code in the country, Indian Express reported.
The videos of this event have been doing rounds on social media, and many users have expressed concern and demanded action from the Delhi Police against the extremists.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police on Monday, have registered an FIR against unknown person under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), for allegedly raising “inflammatory, anti-Muslim slogans” during a march “against Colonial-era laws” in the country.
In the videos Hinduvta extremists are shouting slogans, threatening to harm Muslims. During the event, they were seen chanting, “Jab mulle kaate jayenge, Ram-Ram chillayenge [Muslims will chant Ram-Ram when they will be slaughtered].”
The police said that the organisers had no permission for rally and the participants flouted Covid-19 guidelines as they neither wore masks nor maintained physical distancing norms. A journalist from National Dastak, Pritam Anmol, present at Jantar Mantar was also assaulted and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
Upadhyay, on Monday morning, sent a text message to the Delhi Police, quoting that some people tried to malign his event, and he had left the venue when the event ended at 12.15 pm.
Tying to disassociate himself from the sloganeering, he filed a complaint with the police and has demanded criminal defamation cases registered against people who have shared the video using his name.
“A case has been registered under relevant sections of law. The investigation is in progress,” said Deepak Yadav, DCP (New Delhi district).
The protest was against the existing colonial laws used to suppress Indians by the British, and demand for a Uniform Civil Code because there should be one rule in one country, media in-charge of Bharat Jodo Movement, Shipra Srivastava said.
She claimed, there was no such (inflammatory) slogan in her knowledge, “There were 5,000 people and if five-six people in some corner would be shouting such slogans, then we would disassociate ourselves from them.”
A senior police officer from the Intelligence Wing said Delhi Police’s Special Branch had informed the New Delhi district police about the event and that people were likely to turn up in large numbers.
In the past week, it was the second incident where communal slogans were shouted against Muslims, India’s largest minority group in the national capital.
