Rights Group urges Maharashtra CM, DGP to act against hatemongering events in state

Mumbai, February 25, 2023 (PPI-OT):Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), a group working for communal harmony, has called upon Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and state DGP (Director General of Police) Ranjish Sheth to take swift and pre-emptive action against the dangerous trend of hate-mongering in the state. “We, the people of India, are witnessing a dangerous trend of hate-mongering in the state of Maharashtra. Since December 2022, repeat offenders have been actively spreading offensive and provocative speeches that target minorities with acts of violence and discrimination. Sadly, there is only silence from the political and police leadership and this petition urges swift and pre-emptive action,” reads a letter written on Thursday.

The letter has also been presented as a petition by the CJP on its website asking people to sign it. The petition, which set a target of 500 signatures, was signed by 232 signatories till Friday evening. The CJP pointed out that a number of alarming gatherings have been allowed to take place across the state from December 14, 2022. The organising outfits range from the Hindu Jan Jagran Samiti, Hindu Janagran Morcha, to the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and not to forget the Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad. The Sudharsharn TV chief and a legislator belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Telangana have also held meetings.

“This organised attempt raises the question, why the sudden interest in the state. Is this not part of a design? Surely, this bodes ill for social harmony in the state,” it said. The CJP noted that the Lok Sabha elections are just 15 months away, and state assembly polls will be held three months after that, there is a need to act now. To ensure that issues that are placed before the people of Maharashtra relate to social justice, education, jobs and unemployment, inflation, poverty alleviation and the empowerment of girls and women. These are the values that the state of Maharashtra has always stood for. There should be zero tolerance for the forces that bank on demonization and stigmatization of sections of our own people and generate divisive sentiments through such hate speech among the state’s polity.

The Maharashtra-based group also called upon all Maharashtrian Indian citizens, MPs, MLAs and officials to demand from their elected representatives and In-Charge IPS and IAS officers that they abide by the Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution of India, which is enshrined in Schedule III of the Constitution. This schedule is rarely read but is endearingly candid and simple. Once elected, every elected representative is law bound to uphold the Principles and Values of the Indian Constitution. The same principle under the Third Schedule applies to IAS and IPS officers who don their powerful positions.

“As we look at the increasing number of such events being held, it is clear that some organised groups, politically connected, are involved in a systematic organisation of such events across many districts and carry out rallies and invite speakers known to have delivered hate speeches in the past. Many of the speakers are previous offenders, new wine in old bottles so to speak, delivering shrill homilies of the vision of ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (a notion that is itself fundamentally anti-Constitutional), distorting and manipulating history to further stigmatize, target, and incite violence against the Muslim community; Christians too have not been spared,” it asserted.

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