A senior Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader has been booked by J&K Police for hate speech after he was caught on camera using racist slurs to call for violence against Kashmiri Muslims.
Vikram Randhawa, a former BJP lawmaker from Jammu region who was recently appointed as state secretary of the party, was seen on camera calling for skinning Kashmir Muslims who cheered for Pakistan in their recent T20 World Cup match against Team India.
The video was first posted on Twitter by Peoples Democratic Party leader Naeem Akhtar.
Akhtar’s post on Randhawa was quote-tweeted by his party president Mehbooba Mufti who highlighted the fact that no action was taken against Randhawa’s open call to violence, but J&K students are charged with sedition for cheering Pakistan.
Sources said the remarks were made by Randhawa during a public meeting in Jammu last week, days after celebrations were reported in parts of Kashmir over Pakistan’s cricket victory.
In the undated video, Randhawa, who is based in Jammu, the Hindu belt of the Muslim majority state, was seen inciting his supporters to use violence against “Kashmiri Muslims” who celebrated India’s defeat by arch rival Pakistan.
“Those who are involved in these activities should be treated in a way that their coming generations too remember the result of raising anti-India slogans or pro-Pakistan slogans on Indian soil. Not only them, their parents should also realise what kind of ungrateful children they have given birth to,” he says.
“I think the agencies are doing a good job. They are not taking it (celebrations in Kashmir over India’s defeat) casually. Since the beginning, we have been demanding that not just their (academic) degrees be cancelled, their citizenship too must be revoked. They should be beaten up and skinned alive,” Randhawa is heard saying in the video.
Referring to Pakistan’s second consecutive victory – over New Zealand – in the T20 World Cup, Randhawa says in the video: “Kahan margaye they kal ye Kashmiri katmullay. Kyun Pakistan ka jashan nahin manaya? (‘Have all of these Kashmiri Muslims died now. Why aren’t they celebrating?’).”
Then, he he is heard saying:
“Ye mobile pay phone karke talaaq dete thay. To baya, namaz bhi WhatsApp pay pad liya karo na, sadkun pay kyun tede ho jate ho.” (‘They used to divorce their women over phone, so why aren’t they offering prayers on WhatsApp also. Why are they occupying roads?’)
The inflammatory remarks by the ruling party leader circulated widely on social media, prompting a massive uproar with political leaders in Kashmir as well as ordinary people ̈demanding his immediate arrest.
“So good to see this man making friends with Kashmiri people! He should be made an example out of and the law should deal with him firmly to dissuade others from being as abusive as this man has been,” former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Twitter.
BJP To Take Action
Meanwhile, according to reports, the BJP’s disciplinary committee has issued show-cause notice against Randhawa for making “disrespectful remarks” against the Kashmiri Muslims.
“A video has gone viral in social media in which you are seen making absolutely reckless and hatred promoting remarks against a particular community. This is unacceptable to the party and has brought disrepute and embarrassment to the party,” news agency PTI reported, quoting the notice.
Randhawa has been asked to explain his remarks within the next 48 hours with the J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina, who heads the disciplinary committee, warning of “strict action if an apology did not come soon”. Raina, according to the notice, has disowned Randhawa’s statement, saying that it had “nothing to do” with the saffron party.
Although non-bailable sections of IPC have been invoked against Randhawa, he has not been arrested by the police so far. Repeated calls and text messages to Randhawa did not elicit any response.
The police have booked Randhawa for “hurting religious sentiments” and “promoting enmity between religious groups” and filed an FIR (number 357/2021) under sections 295-A and 505 (2) of India Penal Code against him at Bahu police station in Jammu.