On Saturday, January 22, a case was registered against some people in Korba district in Chhattisgarh after a video showing them taking a pledge for ‘Hindu Rashtra’ emerged. In the video, one person identified as Pramod Agrawal among others were seen taking a pledge to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, which went viral on social media on Saturday. According to Police Superintendent Bhojram Patel, a case has been registered against the people owing the language used by them could disturb communal harmony.

In the video that emerged, a group of people were seen taking an oath to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. They had said, “We as staunch Hindus, the residents of Bakimongra, from Korba, Chhattisgarh swear before the fire and resolve that we will develop India into a staunch Hindu nation.” It later added, “Being together, we will help our Hindu brothers on every economic, religious and social front. In our establishments, businesses and homes, we will employ only Hindu brethren. In this way, we will empower our Hindutva.” In the 1 minute 58 second video that emerged where the people were seen taking an oath to abide by the following. In the end, chants of “Jai Shree Ram“, “Jai (Hail) Hindu Suraksha Sena“, “Ram Raj ki Karo tayari, A rahe hai Bhagwadhari” (The people in Saffron are coming to make way for ‘Ram Rajya’) can be seen given.

After the video emerged, several calls calling the incident a case of ‘hate speech’ were raised by Muslim social media users on Twitter. What appears predominantly according to the video, is a bunch of people as members of the ‘Hindu Suraksha Sena’ pledging to strive for ‘Hindu Rashtra’ without a direct threat to anyone. However, a case has been registered against the people by Kotwali police station under IPC section 153A for “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony”. According to SHO Ramendra Singh, an FIR was registered on the complaint of local resident Sitamani Kunwar but no arrest has been made as of now.

Earlier this month, another video had emerged from Sarguja district in Chhattisgarh, where Hindu locals were seen pledging to boycott Muslims. In the video dated January 5, a man was seen leading almost 200 people in an oath banning Muslim sellers, boycotting any commercial transactions with members of the Muslim community and prohibiting the sale or lease of any land to a Muslim.

References:

opindia.com - OpIndia Staff