A former student activist, who was arrested last year following anti-CAA protests, has warned of “brewing genocide” after inflammatory anti-Muslim slogans were raised yesterday at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
Sharjeel Usmani, a former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student leader, made the remarks a day after “kill Muslims” slogans were raised at a demonstration organised by former BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay at Jantar Mantar which had demanded implementation of a Uniform Civil Code.
“War crys to kill Muslims are being shouted by radicalised mobs in India’s capital. Not a single parliamentarian is ready to talk about it. Muslims in India are living amidst a brewing genocide,” Usmani tweeted.
Videos of the event were widely shared on social media in which individuals can purportedly be heard making inflammatory remarks against Muslims, sparking outrage among Indian Muslims and activists on Twitter.
Purported videos of the event showed some individuals calling for the killing of Muslims, and raising ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans.
The slogan “Hindustan Mein Rehna Hoga Toh ‘Jai Shree Ram’ Kehna Hoga (If you want to live in Hindustan, you must say ‘Jai Shree Ram’),” could be heard in one of the videos, purportedly of the event. In another similar video, people can be heard saying, “When Muslims will be slaughtered, they will shout ‘Jai Shree Ram’.”
The Delhi Police on Monday registered an FIR against unknown persons and said the investigation was in progress. “We are verifying all the video clips,” The Indian Express quoted New Delhi DCP as saying.
According to the police, the organisers of the event didn’t have permission to carry out the rally, The Print reported.
Upadhyay, however, denied involvement in the anti-Muslim sloganeering at the event. “The rally was from 10am to 12pm, whereas the sloganeering happened around 5pm. Our rally was outside the Park hotel (in central Delhi) but the slogans were given near Parliament house Police Station. I do not know who they were,” he told Bar & Bench.
