On Wednesday, the Hindutva leader Puneeth Kerehalli verbally attacked Karnataks’ Housing and Minority Welfare minister Zameer Ahmad Khan with derogatory slurs and threats.
According to reports Puneeth posted a video on his social media on November 1 which was full of hateful words.
Zameer’s associate minister BS Ashok mentioned in a registered complaint that the right-wing leader passed discriminatory comments and insulted the Muslim minister via Islamophobic propaganda theories which are often used to incite Hindu mobs and disrupt the atmosphere. The criticism also revealed “direct threats” after which the Chamrajpet police arrested the culprit.
Reports said that Puneeth Kerehalli, a JP Nagar local, was outraged over Khan for purportedly making racist comments against Union Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy during an election rally of the Channapatna assembly. Utilizing the incident to fuel up communal tensions, serial hate offender Puneeth turned the unrest into a ferocious communal matter to stir up violence.
For the past few days, Puneeth had persistently been active in targeting Zameer Khan under the veil of different excuses.
“Zameer Ahmad Khan! History would repeat itself if you step into the territory of Hindus! Do you remember the Bellauri incident? This is a warning!” Puneeth wrote in one of his posts.
Puneeth Kerehalli, who heads BJP’s social media handles for the state and leads a far right-wing organisation called “National Security Force”, later organized a meeting to chatter the same which was annulled in a rush by the administration due to embedded risks.
In response, BJP state president B. Y. Vijayendra Yeddyurappa managed another venue for an internal meet-up of the anti-Muslim organization.
Hate Theories Via Social Media
Puneeth Kerehalli had considerably been active on social media to demean minorities via different prevalent narratives. In one of his posts, he was spotted requesting Hindus to boycott Muslim vendors, spreading conspiracy theories of “Thuk Jihad”.
“Wake up Hindus! Hindus must purchase goods only from Hindu vendors,” he appealed in an annotation to target Muslims in order to cause financial damage.
“Why should anybody hawk ‘safed Topi’ during Hindu festivals?” He requested the mob on behalf of Sanatan Hindu Mela Vyapari Sangh.
He also blamed Muslim men for the religious conversion of Hindu women in the Shanti Nagar area of Bangalore.
Puneeth had also been traced to polluting historical facts to manufacture a Hindu nationalist history and spread misinformation to mislead the masses.
Around 12 Criminal Cases
In March 2023, the cow vigilante leader was held accountable as main culprit in the lynching and murder case of a cattle transporter Idres Pasha who was traveling to Tamil Nadu with his two brothers when Hindutva leaders attacked him. The bout ended up with the assassination of Pasha while his brothers ran away and somehow managed to escape.
Puneeth was also involved in lynching of another cattle transporter Aleemulla Baig.
Apart from that, Karehalli has an eerie record of more than 12 criminal cases against him which are identified as hate-crimes against the minorities.
