Priyanka Gandhi slams Haridwar 'hate speech' conclave, demands strict action

Sharply reacting to the hate speeches made at a 'Dharma Sansad' held recently in Haridwar, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday demanded the strictest action against those who incite violence, saying such acts violate the Constitution and the law.

New Delhi:Sharply reacting to the hate speeches made at a 'Dharma Sansad' held recently in Haridwar, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday demanded the strictest action against those who incite violence, saying such acts violate the Constitution and the law.

Hitting out at the remarks made at the Haridwar conclave, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Strictest action should be taken against those who incite hatred and violence of this kind."

"It is despicable that they should get away with making an open call to murder our respected ex-PM and unleash violence against people of different communities," she tweeted.

Such acts violate our Constitution and the law of our land, the Congress general secretary added.

Several opposition leaders, including those from the Congress and the TMC, had on Thursday condemned what they said was a "hate speech conclave" held in Haridwar and called for strict action against those involved.

All-India Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Saket Gokhale has also demanded action against the organisers and the speakers of the 'Dharma Sansad' held in Haridwar, where "hate speeches" were allegedly made against Muslims.

He has lodged a complaint against it at the Jwalapur police station in Haridwar district.

Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said a case under 153A of IPC has been registered and police will investigate the matter.

"Such types of incidents will not be tolerated," the DGP said as per news agency ANI.

Between December 17 and 19, the event 'Dharam Sansad’ or 'Religious Parliament' was organised by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, head priest of a temple in Ghaziabad, who already has multiple cases lodged against him.

Yet Narsinghanand was allowed to organise the event and call for war against Muslims. He urged Hindus to take up weapons to prevent a Muslim from becoming prime minister in 2029.

"The war," he said, "will be won by those who have better weapons".

Shouting "Shashtramev jayate(Let weapons win)”, Narsinghanand asked the audience to pledge that "we will die for our dharma and, if need be, we will kill for it.”

BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay and BJP Mahila Morcha leader Udita Tyagi attended the controversial event.

Several videos of the event have gone viral on social media triggering a severe backlash from opposition leaders who wonder why any action has not been taken against those "openly calling for genocide".

In one of the videos, a Patna seer Dharamdas Maharaj was seen openly advocating the assassination of former PM Manmohan Singh in the parliament.

“I wish I was an MP there holding a revolver; I would have become Nathuram Godse and pumped all the six bullets into him inside Parliament," he said.