By Alishan Jafri / The Wire
Pandey is a prominent leader of the Hindu Mahasabha and is often in the headlines for hate speech against Muslims. Just recently, she was in the news for comments on Modi after the prime minister announced his government’s decision to repeal the three farm laws in the wake of a year-long protest by the farmers in Delhi and other parts of India. Pandey had Modi’s portrait from the Aligarh office of the Hindu Mahasabha removed, saying, “Jiski baat ek nahi, uska baap ek nahi.”
In April 2020, a video showed Pandey making purportedly provocative comments against Tablighi Jamaat members. A criminal case was filed against her for promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds and issuing a statement conducive to public mischief. She was briefly arrested. In March 2021, after a minor Muslim boy was beaten up by Hindutva activist Shringi Yadav for entering a temple in Dasna, Pandey demanded that other temples put up boards prohibiting the entry of Muslims, like the one in Dasna.
In May 2019, Pandey distributed knives to minor girls on the birth anniversary of V.D. Savarkar. In January 2019, Pandey shot at an effigy of Mahatma Gandhi and raised slogans in support of Godse. She later set the effigy on fire. While the BJP dismissed its association with Pandey, she regularly interacts with leaders of the party like BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya and the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, as The Wire had revealed.
Despite her open call to murder Muslims on multiple occasions, the UP police is yet to arrest Pandey. She is still invited by mainstream media channels to amplify her speeches targetting the Muslim community.
This article first appeared on thewire.in