By Veena Nair / Siasat
Amid unrest in the country following Nupur Sharma’s remarks on Prophet Muhammad, and the killings of two who allegedly stood in support of the now sacked BJP spokesperson, offensive remarks on the holy Quran were made, at a protest organised by a Hindutva unit affiliated to the Hindu Jagaran Vedike. The event was held in the Kolar district in Karnataka.
Addressing the public, the leader, Keshav Murthi, referred to the recent Udaipur murder where a tailor, Kanhaiyalal, was hacked to death by two Muslim men allegedly after the victim came out in support of Nupur Sharma on social media.
“Quran is a criminal book. It orders killing people by stoning and beheading. All of them who read the Quran have become terrorists,” alleged Murthi.
#Karnataka:"Quran is a criminal book,it orders to k*ll people by stoning& beheading who doesn't believe in it,those who follow quran won't they do what it says,All of them who read #Quran hve becme terr*ri*ts"
Sanghparivar leader at #Kolar during protest against #Udaipur incident pic.twitter.com/3pr3P2Au8H— Mohammed Irshad (@Shaad_Bajpe) July 1, 2022
There has been a slew of hate speeches in Karnataka after the Udaipur murder. Many of these speeches call for the killing of Muslims, demolition of the concept of minorities in the Constitution and implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Here are a few of them:
#HateSpeech across the #Karnataka against Muslims & Islam.
"Not only #Muslim orgs but the entire #Islam is hazardous to the whole world. All the Killings which happened earlier are made by Communal Islam & #Muslims. Islam is very very dangerous": #HJV leader #SriKrishnaUpadhyaya pic.twitter.com/jLkKVbG8gA
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) July 2, 2022
Udaipur murder:
On June 28, Kanhaiyalal, 40, who supported the suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammed, was hacked to death by two Muslim men. The murder was recorded and uploaded on the social media platform Facebook.
In a video clip, one of the purported assailants declared that they had beheaded the man and then threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying their knife will get him as well.
The murder garnered massive condemnation from both Hindu and Muslim communities.
In Hyderabad, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi also condemned the murder calling for the rule of law to be maintained.
“No one can take law into their own hands. We demand that the state govt takes strictest possible action,” Owaisi tweeted.
Prominent Muslim organisation Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind condemned the heinous killing of the tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur on Tuesday, saying such an act cannot be justified in any way and is against the religion of Islam.
In a statement, Maulana Hakeemuddin Qasmi, general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, condemned the “brutal killing in Udaipur apparently on the pretext of the insult to the Prophet” and called it against the law of land as well as “against the religion of Islam”.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he is deeply shocked by the heinous killing of a tailor in Udaipur and called for immediate punishment for those spreading terror through such brutality.
The murder led to a tense situation in Rajasthan and police had to resort to Section 144 and suspension of internet service to avoid any communal tensions. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot maintained that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
On June 28 afternoon, the two main accused – Gos Mohammad and Riaz Akhtari, both residents of Surajpol area in Udaipur – were arrested. They were soon booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
A team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was sent by the Central Government to investigate the murder.
Latest developments
The Congress on Saturday alleged that one of the main accused in the brutal killing of a tailor in Udaipur is a “BJP member” and asked whether the Centre had moved quickly to transfer the case to the NIA due to this reason.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters here, the party’s media department head Pawan Khera said a very sensational disclosure has been made by a media group in connection with the Udaipur incident which pointed to the BJP links with Riyaz Attari.
Earlier in the day, responding to a tweet by a Congress leader referring to one of the accused’s alleged BJP links, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya dismissed the claim as “fake news”.
This article first appeared on siasat.com