As Hindu extremists call for killing of Muslims, India’s leaders keep silent

Hundreds of right-wing Hindu activists and monks rose in unison at a conference this week to take an oath: They would turn India, constitutionally a secular republic, into a Hindu nation, even if doing so required dying and killing.

“If 100 of us are ready to kill 2 million of them, then we will win and make India a Hindu nation,” said Pooja Shakun Pandey, a leader of Hindu Mahasabha, a group that espouses militant Hindu nationalism, referring to the country’s Muslims. “Be ready to kill and go to jail.”

Even by the standards of the rising anti-Muslim fury in India, the three-day conference in the city of Haridwar produced the most blatant and alarming call for violence in recent years.

The crowded auditorium, where right-wing Hindu monks called for other Hindus to arm themselves and kill Muslims, included influential religious leaders with close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing party, and even some members of the party.

Read | Opposition demands strict action against Haridawar 'hate speeches'

Videos of the event have spread widely on social media in India this week. Yet Modi has maintained a characteristic silence that analysts say can be interpreted by his most extreme supporters as a tacit signal of protection.

Police have been slow to take action. Even opposition political groups have been restrained in their response, an indication of the degree to which right-wing Hindu nationalism has gripped the country since Modi came to office in 2014.

The inflammatory remarks come as some states governed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, are holding elections, including in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where the conference was held. Modi was busy campaigning this week in Uttar Pradesh for Yogi Adityanath, his hard-line protégé and the state’s chief minister, who has frequently fanned anti-Muslim hatred.

On Friday, four days after the conference ended, police in Uttarakhand announced that they had opened an investigation but that no arrests had been made. Officials said they have registered a case against organisers of the conference for promoting “enmity between different groups on grounds of religion,” which can mean a jail term of five years.

“We will do the investigation as per law, and such types of incidents will not be tolerated,” said Ashok Kumar, a top police officer in the state of Uttarakhand.

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