BJP minister, lawmakers join Karnataka rally for India’s conversion to Hindu nation
A minister in Karnataka state, which is ruled by the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Sunday led thousands of people with swords and saffron flags chanting “We will build a Hindu Rashtra,” and other anti-Muslim slogans.
The march was called on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to freedom from British colonial rule in 1947.
Besides Karnataka’s Minister for Kannada and Culture, Sunil Kumar, state lawmaker Raghupathi Bhat, too, joined the march. The march was organized by a Hindu militant group named Hindu Jagarana Vedika.
Udupi-based television reporter Shetty Karkala addressed the crowd saying “There should be a weapon in every Hindu household…they should worship weapons.” He called this “the aim of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike.”
The police said they had received no complaint about the hate speech at the rally.
Anti-Muslim Hindu activists call for ban on halal meat, promote “jhatka”
Also in Karnataka, Hindu extremists called for a boycott of halal meat during the Hindu festival of Navratri when many Hindus eat meat and symbolically offer it to their ancestors. Hindus should only buy meat from Hindu-owned shops, they have said.
A Hindu extremist named Mune Gowda announced a Hindu meeting would be called to launch a campaign for “jhatka cut,” which is the method of quick slaughter. He said door-to-door and social media campaigns could be conducted against halal.
Calling for boycott of hala meet is not new to Karnataka. Hindu extremists have in the past called for a ban against Muslim shops and businesses after Muslims protested against an order of the Karnataka high court upholding a government ban on the wearing of the hijab by Muslim students and teachers in some schools and colleges.
Police register new case against Muslims for links with PFI that was banned last week
Delhi police registered yet another case against members of the Popular Front of India (PFI), a Muslim group that was banned last week under the draconian and anti-democratic law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
This case, registered at Shaheen Bagh police station, comes a week after the Union government declared the PFI and multiple affiliated organizations as “unlawful associations” and arrested over 350 Muslims for alleged links with the group.
Last week, Delhi Police Chief Sanjay Arora called for three PFI offices to be sealed under the UAPA for allegedly carrying out “unlawful activities.”
The case claims that despite the closure of the PFI spaces, there is reliable information which suggests that leaders, leaders, and associates of the PFI “are secretly conspiring to disrupt public order with the ultimate objective of targeting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.”
