India: Hindu extremist leaders openly call for Muslim genocide

NEW DELHI: Hindutva leaders have called to initiate preparations for Muslim genocide in the Dharma Sansad event organised in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar city.

A new wave of hate speech has hit India after the Hindutva leaders including those having connections with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave open calls for ethnic cleansing and genocide against Muslims.

According to the Indian media reports, the calls for ethnic cleansing and genocide were alarming given Prabodhananda’s close connections with the ruling BJP.

Prabodhanand shared photographs of himself with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on two occasions including the first ‘photo op’ took place in January 2018, and the second a little over a year ago in August 2020 – and it continues to be the header image on his Facebook page today, The Wire reported.

Moreover, Prabodhanand was also seen in a picture with a former BJP leader from Haridwar Naresh Sharma on September 14, 2020.  Naresh Sharma later joined the Aam Aadmi Party a year later.

His other pictures showed him with the higher education minister of Uttarakhand and BJP member Shri Dhan Singh Rawat on August 12, 2021. Prabodhanand was also pictured with former Uttarakhand CM and BJP member Tirath Singh Rawat while giving him a sword in June 2021.

Annapurna aka Pooja Shakun Pandey

The general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha, Annapurna aka Pooja Shakun Pandey, also called for arms and incitement to genocide besides asking people for the mass murder of Muslims in Haridwar’s Dharam Sansad.

She was quoted saying, “Nothing is possible without weapons. If you want to eliminate their population then kill them. Be ready to kill and be ready to go to jail.”

“Even if 100 of us are ready to kill 20 lakhs of them (Muslims), then we will be victorious, and go to jail… Like [Nathuram] Godse, I am ready to be maligned, but I will pick up arms to defend my Hindutva from every demon who is a threat to my religion,” she said.

Pooja Shakun Pandey is a prominent leader of the Hindu Mahasabha and is often in headlines for hate speech against Muslims.

A criminal case had been filed against her in April 2020 for promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds and issuing a statement conducive to public mischief after a video in which she purportedly made provocative comments against Tablighi Jamaat members went viral. She had also been briefly arrested in the case.

Pandey had also defended the Hindutva activist’s assault on a thirsty minor Muslim boy who entered a temple in Dasna to drink water.

It was learnt that Pooja Shakun Pandey is in regular contact with political leaders including BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya and the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

Swami Anandswaroop

Swami Anandswaroop, who is also known for her hate speeches, also gave calls for genocide of Muslims, saying that there is no Muslim buyer here in Haridwar, so throw him out.

Earlier this year, he had demanded non-Hindus should be banned from entering Uttarakhand and BJP MLA Ajendra Ajay showed support to Anandswaroop call.