Haridwar Hate speech row: 2 more Hindu leaders booked including Yati Narasinghanand

Amid the furore over the hate speech spewed at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar on Saturday named controversial Hindu leaders Sagar Sindhu Maharaj & Yati Narsinghanand Giri in the FIR. Apart from these two, Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Tyagi, Dharm Das and Annapurna have been named in the FIR. A Dharam Sansad was held in Haridwar last week where communal remarks were made against the Muslim community, ex-PM Manmohan Singh, Mahatma Gandhi.

Haridwar hate speech: FIR names Yati Narasinghanand 

Haridwar Dharam Sansad

As per reports, a second 'Dharam Sansad' was organised by controversial monk Yati Narasinghanand in Haridwar, where many hardline monks called for 'genocide against Muslims', among a few other call to action in the event. Other leaders like Annapurna Maa - General secretary of Hindu Mahasabha, claimed that she will use 'weapons' to defend Hindu Sanatan Dharm from those threatening it. Most leaders also vowed to emulate Nathuram Godse and kill anyone who hurt religious sentiments.

Videos, now viral on Twitter, from the event show Bihar's Dharamdas Maharaj threatening to kill ex-PM Manmohan Singh for saying 'minorities have first right over national resources'. Emulating the Mahatma's assassin, he said that he would 'not have hesitated to shoot at him (Singh) six times in the chest', had he been an MP. Narasinghanand, who has habitually spewed communal statements, coined the term, "Shastrameva jayate', on the lines of India's motto - 'Satyameva Jayate'. An FIR has been filed by Uttarakhand police against Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Tyagi and others under Section 153A.

Shocked at the communal speech, top Congress leaders - Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid and others slammed it. The Wayanad MP, who has been promoting the 'Hindu Vs Hindutva' debate said  'Hindutva always spread hatred and violence and  Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian pay the price'. Similar to Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra termed the open call to 'murder' ex-PM Manmohan Singh as despicable, demanding strict action against the organisers. Congress spokesperson Dr Shama Mohammad noted that while an FIR was filed on the event, no arrest had been made yet.

Moreover,  76 Supreme Court lawyers wrote to CJI NV Ramana urging the apex court to take suo-moto cognizance of the speech calling for genocide of Muslims. The letter condemned the vitriol, calling it an 'open call for the murder of an entire community'. The letter also names nine Hindu leaders who had given inflammatory speeches - Yati Naringhanand Giri, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Dharamdas Maharaj, Premanand Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapoorna, Swami Anand Swaroop, Ashwani Upadhyay, Suresh Chavhanke, Swami Prabhodanand Giri.