During a ‘Trishul Diksha’ event in Rajasthan, a publicist for the RSS and a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Ishwar Lal delivered a hate speech, calling for destruction of 30,000 mosques.
The video of RSS Pracharak Ishwar Lal’s hate speech was shared by the Twitter handle Hindutva Watch, which tracks hate crimes in India.
“Across the country, we have built Ram temple but Krishna birthplace and Kashi Vishwanath temple are yet to be liberated. Thirty thousand temples were destroyed to build mosques. We will have to liberate these 30,000 temples,” said Lal.
It is yet to be seen whether Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s government in the state would book Lal for his vitriolic remarks, particularly given the Supreme Court’s clear stance against hate speech in the wake of upcoming Assembly polls.
On April 28, the apex court referred to hate speech as a serious offense that could harm the country’s secular fabric. The court expanded the scope of its 2022 order and instructed all states and Union Territories to register hate speech cases, even if no complaint had been filed
Anti-Muslim rhetoric, hate speeches, and communal clashes have been on the rise in Rajasthan ahead of the assembly elections, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tries to remove the Congress government from power. Lal’s speech was posted on his YouTube channel, ‘Ishwar Pracharak,’ under the title “Bajrang Dal ka Parichay.”
This was not the first time that Lal had talked about converting 30,000 mosques into temples. Earlier this year, he made similar comments at a Trishul Deeksha event organized by the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal.
In January, Lal had said, “We have made the Ram Temple, and now we have to convert thirty thousand more mosques into the temples,” while distributing tridents (Trishuls) to Hindus.
In another speech, Lal urged people to watch the controversial film “The Kerala Story,” claiming that it showed the real story of how Muslims had trapped dozens of Hindus from his area similarly.
He also called for the enforcement of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), claiming that Muslims marry four women and have 25 children, while Hindus only marry one woman and have two children.
Lal further alleged that Pakistan was formed after the partition, and Muslims now had 57 countries, whereas Hindus had none. He claimed that as long as Hindus were the majority, India would remain a secular country; if Hindus became a minority, India would become an Islamic country.
He has promised to introduce a population control law and urged people to unify India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh into “Akhand Bharat.”
In an earlier speech in Lohawat, Lal had called for India to be declared a “Hindu Rashtra” and for a boycott of halal products. His YouTube channel has over 35,000 subscribers, and he regularly posts hate speeches against Muslims on it.
