The Elgar Parishad was held in Pune again this year and saw the participation of trouble makers such as Sharjeel Usmani, Arundhati Roy and Prashant Kanojia. The Elgar Parishad of 2017 was the focal point of massive violence involving ‘Urban Naxals’ and anti-social elements and had attracted large crowds. This year, however, it appeared to be a muted affair.
Despite the lack of crowds, the venom was present nevertheless. There are videos going viral on the internet where the speakers can be heard making extremely controversial comments and crass Hinduphobic remarks. Along expected lines, the trouble-makers mentioned above were at the forefront of it.
Sharjeel Usmani, who was arrested recently by the Uttar Pradesh police but later granted bail by the Court, said that the ‘Hindu Samaj’ of today is “rotten” to the core. He also said about the Yogi Government in Uttar Pradesh that his administration has murdered 19 people everyday in encounters in one year and all of them were either Muslims or Dalits.
https://twitter.com/ek_aalu_bonda/status/1355568796203966466?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwUsmani, who has written columns for Newslaundry in the past, does not provide evidence for his claims that appear demonstrably false. Arundhati Roy was not far behind. She compared the Indian electorate which voted the NDA Government to power to the mob that stormed Capitol Hill on the 6th of January.
In the process, she also made the vile ‘Gaumutra’ jibe to mock Hindus, the same jibe that was made by the Pulwama attack terrorist.
https://twitter.com/iMac_too/status/1355575332615507970?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwPrashant Kanojia also delivered a speech where he made some rather incendiary comments. He said the movements will continue until their ‘Kashmiri brothers’ receive justice, Akhlaq and Pehlu Khan receive justice and the farm laws are not repealed.
He said that the movement will continue until the RSS is not uprooted from this world. Furthermore, in a particularly incendiary bit, he told Dalits that it better to ‘die fighting in the streets’ than live as ‘oppressed’.
https://twitter.com/YearOfTheKraken/status/1355788582380728321?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe event was held at a sensitive time when protests are still underway at the national capital and only days after a Khalistani mob unfurled the Sikh flag at the Red Fort on Republic Day. The participation was small with only around 500 attendees and the event was held amid tight security.