By Basant Kumar
In June 2024, the Hindu Janjagriti Samiti organised the Vaishvik Hindu Rashtra Mahotsav in Goa. The theme of the event was “From Hindu Nation to Hindu World” and one of the speakers was Virendra Pandey, the founder of Shoorvir Programme, a service dedicated to connecting Hindu service providers with Hindu clients.
At the Vaishvik Hindu Rashtra Mahotsav, Pandey delivered a 20-minute speech in which he warned against letting “those people” into one’s home. “Most men in cities go to work, leaving mothers and sisters at home. In such situations, if they call someone to fix a broken AC, imagine a Vidharmi [non-believer] entering the most private parts of your house. He gains detailed knowledge of your home – how many sisters, daughters; old or young; who comes and goes, and when. This is how 80-90 percent of jihad begin to take root, when we allow a non-believer into our homes.”
Although Pandey’s choice of vocabulary was obtuse, the pointed innuendoes and use of the word jihad – which translates to “struggle” in Arabic – made it clear that his target was the Muslim community.
“Where a Hindu service provider charges Rs 300-Rs 400 rupees for a task, they [Muslims] offer to do the same job for Rs 250, just to take over,” said Pandey in his speech. “What do you expect in the coming years? We discuss Hindutva, but a non-Hindu is sitting in our homes. In 10 years, there will be many areas where you won’t find a Hindu worker.” He exhorted his audience to boycott Muslim service providers. “You should attempt to boycott them economically,” he said. “Whether people are physically capable of fighting them or not, I don’t know. However, many in our society fight. For those who can’t, at least boycott them economically.”
A slight variation of these same words may be found on the website for Shoorvir Programme, which aims to be like Urban Company, connecting service professionals to clients, but exclusively for Hindus. It is described as “a Nobel cause” and the website has images of Guru Gobind Singh, the Sikh guru who fought many battles against the Mughal army; and Lachit Borphukan, the Ahom general who has been adopted as a Hindutva hero for having defeated invading Mughal forces (historians say, Borphukan was not a Hindu and had Muslim commanders in his army).
Shoorvir Programme’s mission statement says, “We must unite constructively in a cohesive manner so that every penny you spend reaches our people only.”
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here.
