In December 2021, a dharma sansad (religious assembly) of Hindu ascetics was held at Haridwar in Uttarakhand, India, where hate speeches were delivered in which the speakers called for a genocide against Muslims in the name of protecting Hinduism. The government's apathy in the face of the hate event has been condemned by a wide cross section of Indian society, including retired military leaders, civil society activists, students, academics, and retired judges.
Event The Haridwar dharma sansad (religious assembly) was organised by Yati Narasighanand, the priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad and the chief of the Juna Akhara. The gathering was held over three days during 17–19 December 2021. The theme of the conference was Islamic Bharat mein Sanatan ka Bhavishya ("The Future of the Sanatan (Dharma) in Islamic India"). It was described as a "strange topic" by The Wire, because nobody other than this gathering believed that India was "Islamic". Almost all of the speakers were saffron-robed Hindu ascetics (called sadhu if they are male, and sadhvi if they are female). Many of them were also heads of akharas (physical training institutions which are usually run by members of ascetic orders). Since at least the seventh century, militant ascetics have been a fixture of Hindu civilisation. They were brought under control by the British in the 18–19th centuries. The Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its religious wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) started building links with the ascetic orders in the 1960s. In the 1980s a hundred members of the VHP got initiated into ascetic orders in Haridwar in the name of "protecting culture".
Speeches At the assembly, numerous speakers called for the killing of minorities and attacks against their religious spaces. Prabodhanand Giri, a former RSS pracharak who turned ascetic and runs an organisation called Hindu Raksha Sena in Haridwar, asked Hindus to emulate what was done in Myanmar, referring to the violence against Rohingya Muslims. He called it safai abhiyan ("cleanliness drive"), apparently implying ethnic cleansing. Prabodhanand Giri associates himself with the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, whose picture is featured on his Facebook page. Speaking to the NDTV News the following day, he said that he stood by what he said, and asserted that he was not afraid of the police. Sadhvi Annapurna, formerly Pooja Shakun Pandey, the head of the Niranjani Akhara and a general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha, openly called for the killing of Muslims. "If 100 of us are ready to kill two million of them, then we will win and make India a Hindu nation," she said, asking Hindus to be ready to kill and be willing to go to jail. Talking to NDTV News, she too said that she was not afraid of the police. Another speaker named Swami Anandswaroop, who heads the Sambhavi Dhaam, told people not to celebrate Christmas in Haridwar. He also called for the banning of Muslim vendors from Haridwar. He stated that the government would have to comply with the ruling of the Dharm Sansad because it was the "word of God." Otherwise, it would wage a war like the one which was waged in 1857, a reference to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British Indian government.
Oath-taking Around the same time as the Haridwar meeting, members of Hindu Yuva Vahini, a Hindutva youth militia which was founded by Yogi Adityanath, met in Delhi in order to take an oath. Raising their hands in a Nazi-style salute, the hundreds of members who were in attendance chanted, "We make a resolution until our last breath: We will make India a Hindu nation, and keep it a Hindu-only nation. We will fight and die if required, we will kill as well." The oath was administered by Suresh Chavhanke, the editor-in-chief of the right-wing news channel, Sudarshan News. He then tweeted a video of the oath to his half a million followers.
Raipur dharma sansad It later transpired that a similar event was conducted at Raipur during 25-26 December 2021, organised to discuss the creation of a Hindu Rashtra. One speaker, a self-styled godman called Kalicharan Maharaj, declared Mahatma Gandhi a "traitor who destroyed the nation" and praised Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, for which he was later arrested. Others urged participants to arm themselves if they desired to make India a Hindu Rashtra, claimed that tribals in the region were "being lured" into Christianity and that Muslims were "entrapping Hindu women" through what conspiracy theorists call "Love jihad".
Reactions
Domestic Video clips of the speeches which were made at the dharma sansad meeting went viral on social media. Admiral Arun Prakash, the former Chief of Naval Staff, described it as a clear threat to India's national security; former Army chief General Ved Prakash Malik agreed and urged urgent action. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale lodged a police complaint; Indian National Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed followed a similar course. Members of BJP and its supporters shared a clipped video of Muslim leader Asaduddin Owaisi to allege that he called for a genocide of Hindus, in an effort to divert attention from the Haridwar hate speeches. A group of 183 students and academics at the Indian Institutes of Management, Ahmedabad and Bangalore, wrote to the Prime Minister urging action. "Your silence, Honourable Prime Minister, emboldens the hate-filled voices and threatens the unity and integrity of our country," they wrote. More than 100 veterans, bureaucrats and other prominent citizens including five former chiefs of staff of the Armed Forces wrote an open letter to the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and others, seeking immediate action against those who made open calls for genocide of Indian Muslims in Haridwar and New Delhi. The letter also mentioned targeting of other minorities of India like Christians, Dalits and Sikhs. Senior Advocate Fali Nariman has criticised the ruling party for keeping silent and almost endorsing the hate speeches.
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