Near about 20,000 Muslims gathered peacefully at the Islamia College ground in Bareilly after Friday prayers and offered themselves for “mass sacrifice” in protest against hate speeches made at the Dharam Sansad in Haridwar recently. A heavy security force was deployed to ensure law and order in the district.
“They want to kill 20 lakh Muslims. We are ready for it. At least 20,000 Muslims here will surrender before the government and are ready to sacrifice their lives for the country’s peace and harmony,” said Tauqeer Raza Khan, scholar and founder of Ittihad-e-Millat Council, who led the protest.
Provocative and communal speeches against Muslims were made at a three-day closed-door concert held in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, where Hindu religious leaders addressed the gathering and called upon the Hindu community to take up arms against Muslims. Brazen threats of violence against Muslims and passionate calls for a “Hindu Raj” at the ‘Dharma Sansad’ were howled which was attended by numerous leaders of politico-religious Hindu organisations between December 17 and December 19 in Haridwar. The conclave was organised by Yati Singhanand, a controversial Hindutva figure known to make openly communal statements.
I have said that you shout Pakistan Pakistan and target Muslims, Pakistan was the part of India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh were also the Indian territories during our reign. It is you who divided. It was ‘Akhand Bharat’ during the rule of Muslim emperors, you did partition and weakened the nation.
Khan had appealed to UP’s Muslims to gather in large numbers at the Islamia School in Bareilly on Friday. “The recent Dharam Sansad held in Haridwar was not the first one but it has been happening for many months, but the present government was never ready to hear anything,” Khan said in protest against the Hate speeches delivered in Haridwar conclave.
“I urge the government, give arms to these 20,000 Muslim youth, we will bring back Kailash Mansarover from China’s possession and will gift it to Hindustan. O you who oppress Muslims in the name of Pakistan, train us and call the Indian Army back, send us we will defeat Pakistan,” Khan adds.
Tauqeer Raza Khan’s statement, delivered on the ground of Islamia college in Bareilly, surfaced the social media for his controversial remarks. I interviewed him to get a brief answer about what was the gathering actually for and why did he feel mandatory to discuss Pakistan in his speech.
1. Some of your statements have been used by some journalists who say that you provoked the Muslim youth. What do you have to say about those statements?
Well, the national media and some journalists who work for them put efforts to furtherance the Political agenda. They have been cropping and editing videos and sharing them on social media to fuel hatred. They propagate negativity. We don’t care since we have the complete video recordings of the speech I delivered in the protest.
2. You mentioned Pakistan in your speech and said “I urge the government to provide arms to these 20,000 youth, call the Army back and send them, they’ll fight against Pakistan”, your statement has gone into the news and officials from Pakistan are criticizing on social media. Why it was important to quote Pakistan while protesting against the Hate Assembly held at Haridwar a couple of days ago?
In my speech, I quoted that if you are willing to fight then come with us to borders. Yes, I have said to send the Muslim youth to fight against Pakistan but they (The government) won’t do that since they call us hypocrites. It is our Islam that directs us to love our country passionately, and if needed we will heartedly go to fight against Pakistan. Our Muslim soldiers in the Army had always been fighting against Pakistan, Veer Abdul Hameed chooses to be martyred and he was killed by a Tank that ran over him. We have no objection to fighting against Pakistan, however, our relatives and brothers live there. Nevertheless, we are ready to fight against them for the betterment of our country India. If we are given a chance, not only Pakistan but we will bring Afghanistan back to India.
3. Did you take permission from the Administration for the gathering?
It was a demonstration and we had submitted a notice to the Administration and were granted permission.
4. Are you aware of the Bulli Bai App case, the Muslim women were auctioned online and the accused arrested are youth of 18 to 21 years of age. How do you see this?
The question is, who filled this dirty venom in such young generations? Small kids committing such heinous creepy crimes is a matter of great concern. These youth who’ve been arrested are the pawns, these are not the real culprits, they have been used as instruments, it is a big game to degrade Muslims in India and they are actively working on it. RSS is behind such cases.
5. ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) training center is going to be started in UP’s Deoband. How do you see it?
I’ll say, open a centre in Bareilly also. I am not inclined to accept the fact that Muslims in India can be terrorists. No Muslim can propagate terrorism in India, no matter what sect (Deobandi or Ahle Hadees or Shia) he belongs to. A person cannot be a true Muslim unless he loves his country, it is being taught in our religion to love the country we live in.
They only blame Muslims, there has been a great conspiracy against Muslims for so long. I want to ask, where did the terrorists disappear after 2014? We don’t see terrorists since after 2014 because those who led a conspiracy had brainwashed the innocent brains of the majority and occupied the regime. These are the real traitors. They captured the seats and hence no terror activity was reported since they came into power.
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath says that no riot happened during his tenure of five years in UP, I say yes, no riot happened because he was the only one who plan such activities. Since now he is in power, he does not want any such thing to happen in his state, but the day his government will fall, they will again start pushing and sponsoring violence in Uttar Pradesh.
6. Did you say in your speech that if this anger broke out, the day my youth came out of my control, on the day Muslims take up the law, Hindus will not find a place anywhere in the country? Doesn’t it seem to be threatening?
No, it wasn’t threatening, my statement has been misinterpreted. I said that if you’ll come to kill 20 million Muslims, they will also retaliate in self-defence. My youth is in my control and I keep on making them understand because we want peace. Every day something happens which fuels anger, they disrespect our Prophet, they burn Qoran and they disregard our women, this should stop. They called for a genocide of Muslims, but what if they will come to kill 20 million people? Muslims will defend their lives, it is their fundamental right guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. But this will push to a pathetic state which we call a civil war. No one easily offers their bodies to be get killed. We teach our people peace and they should also teach their children to maintain peace and harmony in the country we live in with brotherhood.
7. Naseeruddin Shah also quoted the same Civil War thing, and BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj replied that people who talk about civil war have no right to live in this country and such people if tried to take an inch of land will be punished with bullets. Do you want to say something about this?
I agree that there should be no place for such people who want Civil War in the country, what about those who hold conclaves to kill 20 million people of the same country? Forget punishment, they aren’t yet arrested. Actions should be taken against such vilipends inciting violence and fuelling hatred.
We gathered to offer ‘Mass Sacrifice’, but they didn’t come to arrest us. They were talking about 20 Million and we offered them 20,000, and we will keep protesting against such discriminatory policies in future also.
This Interview was taken over the phone by UP based freelance Writer-Journalist Akhlad Khan on Saturday, January 8
