On October 25, Amit Chaudhary, the leader of the BJP’s youth wing, made a statement alleging that Prime Minister Modi was responsible for the Godhra massacre for the sake of Hindus. He also threatened to unleash genocidal violence against Muslims, whom he referred to as “jihadis” and “monsters”.
Chaudhary was addressing a gathering of the Hanuman Sena, a fringe Hindu group that claims to work on “radicalism” and “ground-level” action. He said that every Hindu should become a fanatic to deal with Muslims, and that the Hanuman Sena would take the lives of 10 Muslims for every Hindu.
“Hindus have shown their power. In 2014, they voted for PM Modi and made him the country’s head. This is such a PM, who did the Godhra Carnage for Hindus,” Chaudhary said.
He was referring to the 2002 Gujarat riots, which followed the burning of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims and activists in Godhra, killing 59 people. The riots resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, and were widely condemned as a pogrom by human rights groups and scholars.
Modi, who was the then chief minister of Gujarat, was accused of complicity in the violence by several activists and survivors. However, he was cleared of any wrongdoing by a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2012. Later on, the SIT’s findings were challenged by some petitioners who alleged that it had suppressed the evidence.
Chaudhary also urged the “Hindu brothers” to arm themselves with weapons and worship those weapons on Dussehra (a Hindu festival). He further said that every Hindu family should have a defence budget to buy weapons in order to protect their religion and their country.
“Yes, Hindu has awakened but is not yet “kattar” (radicalized),” said Chaudahry. He exhorted his Hindu brothers to not tolerate any insult to their religion or country, and kill at least 10 Muslims for each Hindu.
He further accused Muslims of being disloyal to India and dividing it into separate nations like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
“I want to inform my Hindu brothers that these extremists (Muslims) have made more than 57 countries in this whole world and have divided India to create Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Even Indonesia and Sri Lanka were also part of India once,” said Chaudhary.
He blamed Muslims for not chanting patriotic slogans, or respecting Mother India. “Time has come that we fight these man-eating demons, who call our mother India a ‘witch’ (dayan),” he said.
Chaudhary also mocked Hindus who wasted money on costly iPhones instead of swords and compared them unfavourably with Muslims who possessed weapons to slaughter goats in their homes.
Hailing Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad, he advised “Hindu brothers” to not bother with licenses.” Whenever a Hindu brother asks me how they can get a license to keep weapons … I ask, did Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad have a license …? They were revolutionaries who fought for the country’s freedom. Whoever has the fear of radicalism in mind … He makes weapons at home,”Chaudhry remarked.
