Sangh Parivar Steps Up The Heat After Kanhaiya Lal Killing In Udaipur

The cover image on the latest issue of the RSS-affiliated weekly Panchjanya has a pair of handcuffs, one of which has the photographs of Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, both accused of killing Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur. The other handcuff has photos of social activist Teesta Setalvad and journalist Mohammad Zubair, whose recent arrests have led to sharp reactions from various sides. The strap on the cover asks whether only the two accused are guilty of killing Lal or “the system that nourishes the Jehadis is equally” responsible?  

It is one of the several aggressive steps the Sangh Parivar has taken to attack its ideological opponents “left-liberals” and mobilize Hindus after the killings of Lal and Umesh Kolhe, who was killed in Amravati, Maharashtra. Both were killed by radical Islamists after they supported former BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s controversial statement on the Prophet. The National Investigation Agency is probing the cases. The cover story of Panchjanya also claims that extremists have killed as many as ten Hindus in Rajasthan in the last one year.  

The Sangh Parivar began its protests a day after Lal’s killing when Vishwa Hindu Parishad announced that it would burn effigies of “Islamic Terrorism” on June 29 and 30 “at all district centers of the country”. 

Though a large section of Muslims strongly condemned the Udaipur killing, the VHP wasn’t satisfied. “While some Muslims have condemned the Udaipur incident, not a single Maulvi said that we are issuing fatwa against them or that it was not an Islamic act, and the people who did it were not Muslims. It is clear that they are deceiving (us),” VHP’s Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain said. “The Hindu society is not scared of them. We will fight them,” said Jain.   

As the Parivar stepped up its protests, on July 8 the VHP released as many as 35 helpline numbers to provide support to people who were “threatened by Jehadi forces”. The helpline was spread across the country from Jammu and Kashmir to West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala. The VHP said that more numbers will be released soon to cover the entire country. “Hindus under threat or victimized by jihadist forces may approach our Bajrang Dal Helpline numbers,” a VHP sentence stated. “If anybody is threatened, they need not feel scared or confine themselves to home. Our people stand by you. We all will now fight these Jehadists,” said Alok Kumar, VHP’s International Working President.  

Samkalp Rally  

In continuation of these protests, the VJP organised a massive rally in the heart of national capital from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar on Saturday. According to the VHP, the Samkalp March was attended by over 1.5 lakh Hindus who raised loud slogans like “Hindu sher jaag gaya hai (Hindu tiger has awakned), Sharia se na jehad se, desh chalega samvidhan se (The country will be run by the constitution, not by Sharia or Jehad)”.   

Among the crowd were a large number of minor girls and boys who carried saffron flags and chanted vande matram. People demanded capital punishment for the killers of Lal and recited Hanuman Chalisa at Jantar Mantar.  In an apparent reference to Akhtari and Ghouse, Alok Kumar said: “People are now raising the slogan of ‘sar tan se juda’. Our heads and arms are ready.”   

Kumar also used the occasion to make a statement on the ongoing Gyanvapi controversy and asserted that “we all will get an opportunity to worship at Kashi and Mathura (temples) in our lifetime.”  

The statement clearly indicates that the VHP, which spearheaded the Ayodhya temple movement, has now focused on the other two temples of Uttar Pradesh and will not stop before the mosques in these two towns are removed.   

Amid this, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh held a three-day meet of its Prant Pracharks in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, which ended on Saturday. The meet was attended by topmost Sangh leaders including Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat and Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Sunil Ambekar. Expressing concern over the Udaipur incident, Ambekar said: “The eminent members of Muslim society must come forward and oppose such incidents. While some are opposing, but the entire society must think of ways to oppose it.” 

The RSS also pledged to organise one lakh daily shakhas by 2024, as against 56,824 at present.