By News Desk
In yet another instance of hate speech in the country, former Miss India Ishika Taneja sparked a huge controversy after delivering a deeply inflammatory and provocative speech that explicitly targeted the Indian Muslim community.
Taneja peddled the hate-filled narrative while speaking at a religious gathering attended by several prominent Hindu religious priests during the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj. She delivered derogatory descriptions that perpetuated untrue stereotypes about Indian Muslims.
In a video that has surfaced on social media platforms the former Miss India is heard referring to Muslims as “Babur ki aulad” (children of Mughal emperor founder Babur) and claiming that a “pinch of vermilion” could protect against social issues she associated with Muslims, including “halala, triple talaq and love jihad”.
“Yai Babur ki aulade kya jane Sindoor ki kimat kya hai, yai love jihad halala aur triple talaq jaise chezoun se bachata hai,” (Babar’s children don’t know the value of a pinch of vermilion. A pinch of vermilion saves us from halala, triple talaq, and love jihad”, she said.
“Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory that accuses Muslim men of intentionally and strategically alluring and entrapping non-Muslim women with the intent to “convert them” to Islam and marry them as part of an “Islamisation project”. Halala is a derogatory narrative against Muslims fabricated by right-wing Hindus to stigmatize Islamic practices.
This story was originally published in siasat.com. Read the full story here.