A day after Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani from Delhi in connection to the murder of Kishan Bharwad, old videos have now surfaced on social media which show the Islamic cleric vying to avenge ‘blasphemy’.
A video from August 2021 was shared on Twitter by journalist Swati Goel Sharma. In the said video, Delhi police personnel were seen desperately trying to stop Maulana Usmani from holding anti-blasphemy protests. “We will go anyhow (to protest) since we have made a call to the public,” he announced.
“We will not listen to you. Insults have been hurled against our Prophet. We will not keep calm. What do you think? You will intimidate us by filing cases”, the radical Islamic cleric said.
Gujarat ATS has arrested Delhi-based maulana Qamar Ghani Usmani of Tehreek-Farogh-E-Islam for ‘radicalising’ killers of #KishanBharvad
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) January 31, 2022
Watch Delhi cops unsuccesfully trying to stop Usmani from holding a protest in August, where his followers demanded death for blasphemers pic.twitter.com/jwe4OxP9eG
“On August 8, it was said that Allah will be slithered and you have come here to teach me the law. What happened to the implementation of laws then? I don’t want to talk about it further. You can do whatever you want”, Maulana Usmani told the Delhi police.
In another video shared by journalist Swati Goel Sharma, the Islamist, who abetted the gruesome murder of Kishan Bharwad, was greeted by his co-religionists with chants of beheading for blasphemers.
“Nabi ke hum Ghulam hai. Gustaak-e-Nabi ki ek ki saza sarr tann se juda (We are the slaves of Prophet Muhammad. There is only one punishment for blasphemy – decapacitating the head from the rest of the body),” yelled his supporters.
Maulana Qamar Ghani Usmani of Tahreek-Farogh-E-Islam was garlanded, showered with petals and cheered on by Islamists as he walked the streets of Mumbai.
Gujarat ATS has arrested Delhi-based Maulana Qamar Ghani Usmani of Tahreek-Farogh-E-Islam for radicalising killers of #KishanBharwad
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) January 31, 2022
Here is Usmani being welcomed with chants of “san Tan se juda” (beheading for blasphemers) in his visit to Mumbai in September pic.twitter.com/mrKZWVxxev
Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani is the chief cleric of Tahreek-e-Farogh Islami or TFI. He was arrested in connection to the Tripura riots along with three associates in November 2021. He was booked under relevant sections of IPC and UAPA. He had spent 21 days in jail before getting bail in the case. After getting bail, Usmani said in a speech he never asked Allah to free him from jail. He said, “It was Allah’s grace that I got bail in 19 days even though people do not get bail even after six months if they are booked under UAPA.”
In February 2021, Usmani had justified the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari. He had said, “There is a conspiracy to ruin the lives of Muslims. There is an attempt to make India just like Spain. To achieve it, they are testing how much Muslims in India love their Prophet. This is why Kamlesh Tiwari was asked to do blasphemy. If you remember, that time people had come to roads to protest. There was fear someone would kill Tiwari, so he was sent to prison.”
He added it was not a punishment but an attempt to save Kamlesh Tiwari from getting killed. Tiwari was killed in cold blood in Lucknow on October 18, 2019.
