Sadhvi Rithambara, a right-wing Hindu figure known for her hate speeches and genocidal slogans against Muslims, is among the winners of the Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian honors in the country.
Rithambara is the founder-chairperson of Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the Hindu militant group Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
She is one of the 19 recipients of the Padma Bhushan this year.
Rithambara gained prominence among Hindu nationalists with the VHP in the late 1980s through the Jan Jagran Abhiyan and in the 1990s during the run-up to the Babri Masjid demolition. She was later named an accused in the Liberhan Commission report but was acquitted by a CBI court in 2020.
Between 1989 and 1992, Rithambara delivered multiple public speeches calling for war against Muslims. Cassettes of her genocidal rhetoric were widely circulated and played at temples and public gatherings across India.
In her speeches, she equated Muslims to lemon in milk and compared them to flies, alleging they were mass-breeding to outnumber Hindus.
She was also a star campaigner for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 1989 and 1991 Lok Sabha elections, as well as in several state legislative elections.
Rithambara was present during the Babri Masjid demolition, cheering the crowd while standing atop the mosque’s terrace. Three days later, she was arrested for inciting communal tensions.
The Liberhan Commission, which investigated the Babri Masjid demolition, found Rithambara and 68 others individually culpable for leading the country to the brink of communal discord for their role in the destruction of the mosque on 6 December 1992. A CBI court framed criminal charges against her in May 2017. However, on 30 September 2020, she and 32 others were acquitted in the Babri Masjid Demolition Case by a CBI special court.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
