Days after making a blatant call for violence against Muslims at the ‘Hindu Jan Akrosh Morcha’ in Mumbai, Telangana legislator T Raja Singh on February 19 took part in Shiv Jayanti celebrations in Latur, Maharashtra, and said if Shivaji had not been there, all Hindus would have been circumcised. He also urged Hindus to not be afraid of police action and teach a lesson to all ‘descendants of Afzal’ who indulged in ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘killed and ate gaumata’.
Singh had earlier announced through a video that he would visit Latur to attend this year’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti or Shiv Jayanti. Shiv Jayanti is a state festival of Maharashtra celebrating the birth of the first Chhatrapati and the founder of the Maratha Empire. Unlike the ‘Hindu Jan Akrosh Morcha’ this event did not have a political demand. In the video, Raja Singh, who had been sent a notice by the police for his hate speech after the ‘Hindu Jan Akrosh Morcha’, urged his viewers to make this year’s Shiv Jayanti a historic event.
Like every year, the Shiv Jayanti in Latur had a bike rally that was supposed to start at 10 am. The rally got delayed and started at 11. It took the following route: Siddheshwar Ratneshwar chowk – Sai Naka – Old Renapur Naka – Nandi Stop – Rajiv Gandhi chowk – Basweshwar chowk – Shivaji Chowk, covering a distance of 13.3 kilometers. The rally reached Shivaji chowk around 12:45 pm.
At the beginning of the bike rally, an individual got out of a vehicle’s sunroof and garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji attached to the roof of the car. Following this, the rally was flagged off from the Siddheshwar Ratneshwar chowk. It can be noticed in the videos that not a single participant in this bike rally was wearing a helmet. Some individuals can be seen sitting on top of cars or standing precariously on the sides of auto-rickshaws, sending traffic rules for a toss.
This story was originally published in altnews.in. Read the full story here