26 civil society members write to President and Prime Minister on Haridwar hate assembly

More than 26 civil society members have written to the President of India and the Prime Minister of India regarding religious events held in Haridwar and Delhi.

"We are seriously perturbed by the content of speeches made during a 3 day religious conclave called a Dharma Sansad, of Hindu Sadhus and other leaders held at Haridwar between 17-19 December 2021. There were repeated calls for establishing a Hindu Rashtra and, if required, picking up weapons and killing of India’s Muslims in the name of protecting Hinduism," read the letter.

"We therefore call upon the Government, Parliament and the Supreme Court, to act with urgency to protect the integrity and security of our country. The Constitution provides for the free practice of religion across faiths. We strongly deplore such polarisation in the name of religion.

"We urge you Mr President and Mr Prime Minister to take immediate steps to curb such attempts and urge you to condemn such incitement to violence in no uncertain terms," the letter said.

Following outrage and condemnation on social media over the open calls for genocide and use of weapons against Muslims, a police case was filed four days after the Haridwar event, in which only one person was named. Two more names were later added - Dharm Das and one Sadhvi Annapurna.

In one of the videos, 'Sadhvi Annapurna' – formerly called Pooja Shakun Pandey -- is heard saying, "If you want to finish them off, then kill them... We need 100 soldiers who can kill 20 lakh of them to win this".

Here is the complete text of the letter:

To

Shri Ramnath Kovind President of India

Shri Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India

Copy to

Chief Justice of India

Speaker of the Rajya Sabha

Speaker of the Lok Sabha

Shri Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs

Presidents Bhartiya Janta Party, Congress Party, AITC, BSP, Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), CPI, AAP,

DMK, AIDMK, Akali Dal, YSR Congress, Telgu Desam Party and others with representation in

Parliament and State Assemblies.

NSA – National Security Advisor

CDS – Chief of the Defence Staff

Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Airforce

OPEN STATEMENT ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE

Dear Mr President, and Mr Prime Minister,

We, the undersigned are writing to you about recent events in Haridwar and Delhi, openly calling for a genocide of Indian Muslims, and additionally, targeting other minorities – Christians, Dalits and Sikhs.

We are deeply perturbed by the content of speeches made during a 3 day religious conclave called a Dharma Sansad, of Hindu Sadhus and other leaders held at Haridwar between 17-19 December 2021. There were repeated calls for establishing a Hindu Rashtra and, if required, picking up weapons and killing of India’s Muslims in the name of protecting Hinduism.

At about the same time, a large number of persons gathered in Delhi and publicly took an oath resolving to make India a Hindu nation, by fighting and killing if necessary.

Regardless of which persons or parties initiated calls for such genocide, Government of India and the Judiciary at the highest level, need to take urgent action. We cannot allow such incitement to violence together with public expressions of hate – which not only constitute serious breaches of internal security, but which could also tear apart the social fabric of our nation. One speaker made a call to the army and police to pick up weapons and participate in the cleanliness drive (safai abhiyan). This amounts to asking the army to participate in genocide of our own citizens and is condemnable and unacceptable.

India’s Armed Forces, the Army, Navy & Air Force, together with CAPFs and Police, are responsible for National Security - external and internal, respectively. All of the above have sworn to uphold India’s Constitution and our secular values, and it is critical that these forces remain committed to the security of all citizens.

In view of the current situation on our borders, any breach of peace and harmony within the Nation will embolden inimical external forces. The unity and cohesiveness of our men and women in uniform, including the CAPFs and Police Forces, will be seriously affected by allowing such blatant calls for violence against one or the other community in our diverse and plural society.

We therefore call upon the Government, Parliament and the Supreme Court, to act with urgency to protect the integrity, peace. amity and security within our country. The Constitution provides for the free practice of religion across faiths. We strongly deplore such polarisation in the name of religion. We urge you Mr President and Mr Prime Minister to take immediate steps to curb such attempts and urge you to condemn such incitement to violence in no uncertain terms.

We also take this opportunity to urge leaders of all political parties to condemn these calls for what is tantamount to genocide of Muslims. They must restrain their own cadres and thereby set examples of their commitment to Secularism, Fraternity and Justice for all.

It is in the National Interest that all parties should refrain from using religion in politics and pledge to uphold our Constitution and the wellbeing of our people – thus ensuring both National and Human Security for all.

Signatories:

1. Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM.

2. Anuradha Bhasin Executive Editor, Kashmir Times

3. Ali Ahmed, Strategic affairs commentator

4. Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Secretary, Global Media Education Council, Former Pro VC, Adamas University and former Dean of Symbiosis and Amity universities.

5. Rimmi Vaghela

Research Scholar, Ahmedabad

6. Amit Kumar

Independent Researcher

Delhi Solidarity Group

7. Swarna Rajagopalan

Researcher and Peace Educator, Chennai

8. Subhash Gatade

Writer and Activist

New Socialist Initiative

9. Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury

Secretary, Global Media Education Council

Former Pro VC, Adamas & former Dean, Symbiosis & Amity

10. Geeta Seshu

Co-editor, Free Speech Collective

11. Sanjay Barbora, Guwahati

12. C. Rammanohar Reddy

Editor, ‘The India Forum’

13. Ram Puniyani

National Solidarity Forum

14. Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, founder Anhad

15. D. N. Rath

Secretary, Movement for Secular Democracy, Ahmedabad

16. Sachin Godambe, Advocate

17. Ajaz Ashraf, Freelance Journalist

18. Asha Achy Joseph

Academic and Film maker

19. Navaid Hamid

President, All India Muslim Majlis e Mushawarat

20. Anand K Sahay, Columnist

21. Atul Gurtu

(Retd) Professor, TIFR, Mumbai

22. C. Rammanohar Reddy

Editor

'The India Forum'

23. Anand Vardhan

Managing Editor

ThePublic.india

24. Apar Gupta, Advocate

Executive Director, Internet Freedom Foundation

25. Javed Anand, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy

26. Teesta Setalvad, Citizens for Justice and Peace

27. Ghazala Wahab

Executive Editor, FORCE magazine and author of Born A Muslim: Some Truths About Islam in India

28. Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker

29. Ravi Hemadri

Activist

New Delhi

30. Namita Bhandare, Journalist and writer

31. Sheba George, Gujarat

32. Badri Raina, Teacher, Columnist, Writer

33. Meenakshi Joshi,

Convenor, Gujarat State, All India Mahila Sanskrit Sangathan