Keshav Prasad Maurya was questioned about the event held in December where Hindu religious leaders had purportedly made objectionable remarks against the Muslim community
File photo of Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya. Twitter@kpmaurya1
Ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the state’s deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya abruptly concluded an interview with BBC on being questioned about the calls for Muslim genocide in Haridwar at the Dharma Sansad event, which was held between 17-20 December, 2021.
According to a report by Scroll, Maurya said no such calls were made at the event. When told there is video evidence, the BJP politician told the journalist to ask questions about elections. “You are not talking like a journalist, you are talking like an agent,” the deputy chief minister said, proceeding to take his microphone off and ending the interview.
According to BBC News Hindi, the video was recovered from a camera chip after the UP deputy chief minister forced them to delete it. The leader stopped the interview midway and asked the journalist to ask ‘election-related’ questions. He snatched the reporter’s mask and forced the BBC crew to delete the clip.
Questioning reporters for putting only Hindu leaders in the spotlight, Maurya said, “Why are you only asking about Hindu leaders? What about comments made by other religious leaders? How many had to leave Jammu and Kashmir before Article 370 was scrapped, why don’t you talk about that? When you raise questions, they should not be for only one group. Dharma Sansad is not a BJP event. It is of religious leaders.”
The entire incident unfolded when the deputy chief minister was questioned about the event from December where some Hindu groups had organised the ‘dharma sansad’ in Haridwar and religious leaders had purportedly made objectionable remarks against the Muslim community.
NDTV in a report said that the interviewer pointed out that it was not unrelated to politics as such speeches vitiated the atmosphere ahead of polls. He also raised sedition charges over slogans raised at India-Pakistan match.
Maurya, as per the NDTV report, replied, “Sedition is a different issue. But this is a ‘dharma sansad’. Then we can say the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has no right to protest against Surya Namaskar.”
Maurya further said, “I don’t know what video you are talking about. Are you asking about elections? You are not talking like a journalist. You are talking like the agent of a specific group. I won’t talk to you.”
Post this remark, Maruya took off his mic and the video abruptly ends.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition seeking an independent inquiry into the Haridwar speeches allegedly inciting violence against the minority community.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, mentioned the matter for urgent hearing before a Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.
The Bench assured Sibal that the petition filed by former High Court judge and senior advocate Anjana Prakash, and journalist Qurban Ali will be heard without delay. The plea sought the arrest and trial of people who made hate speeches, inciting violence towards Muslims, at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad conclave.
During the mentioning, Sibal said that slogan of the country seems to be changed from ‘Satyameva Jayate’ to ‘Shasatrameva Jayate’.
“We are living in very dangerous times where slogans in the country have changed from Satyamev Jayate to Shashtramev Jayate,” Sibal told the apex court.
When the CJI also enquired from Sibal whether any inquiry into the case was already on, Sibal replied that the FIRs have been filed but no arrests have been made, ANI reported.
With inputs from agencies
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