Dharma Sansads: Whatever happens, BJP wins

Narsinghanand has claimed that the Dharma Sansads were being organised once every six months. Why, then, were three such events planned in the space of a little over a month, with two of them in poll-bound UP?

N. C. Asthana

The speeches made at the so-called Dharma Sansad (literally, religious parliament) organised at Haridwar from December 17-19 warrant even sedition charges, among others. However, the police obliged the organisers by registering a case under only Section 153A (promoting enmity between groups) of the Indian Penal Code.

The case was registered first against a recent convert to Hinduism, namely, Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, formerly known as Waseem Rizvi and un-named others. Now it has been reported that the police have added the names of Dharm Das and Annapurna to the FIR as well.

On December 26, journalist Alishan Jafri reported on Twitter that more such Dharma Sansads have been planned. On the same day, a video titled ‘Kyon Zaroori hai Dharma Sansad’ (why Dharma Sansad is necessary) was uploaded to YouTube by a channel called ‘Swami Amritanand’. In the nearly eight-minute long video, Yati Narsinghanand is being interviewed by someone whose microphone bears the logo of GNT-Aaj Tak.

In the video, recorded after the Haridwar Sansad, Narsinghanand says that the next Dharma Sansad is planned for January 1-2, 2022 at the Dasna Devi Temple, Ghaziabad, and will be followed by another such event on January 23, 2022 at Aligarh. Subsequent Dharma Sansads are being planned for Himachal Pradesh and Kurukshetra, however, their dates were not mentioned.

Narsinghanand claimed that the first Dharma Sansad was organised from September 6-7, 2012 at Deoband, which was attended by some 30,000 people. He also claimed that he was placed under arrest by the Akhilesh Yadav government and that since then, Dharma Sansads have been organised every six months.

The purpose of the Dharma Sansads, in Narsinghanand’s own words

In this interview, Narsinghanand expounded upon his views and mission. He said that the main purpose of these events is to defend the Hindu Dharma; to tell the “truth” about Islamic Jihad to the Hindus; to prepare them for selfdefence and to fight against Jihad. He went on to note that he does not think the government will be able to “save” the Hindus and that Jihad is a danger not only for India, but for the whole world.

When asked to explain his refrain of ‘Hindus in danger’, he said that there have been several attempts made to murder him; that recently, a man was stoned to death near Dehradun; that one B. S. Tomar was murdered and that in total, six Hindus were killed by Muslims in the past three years and lives of their daughters were being spoiled.

When it was pointed out that these were but a few incidents, he said that his belief was formed not only by these, but by 1,400 years of history. He said that Islamic Jihad was an organised crime, that Islam was a gang of organised criminals and that Muslims simply do what is written in their sacred books, which, according to him, is kill Hindus by deceit, loot their women and grab their kids.

He went on to say that the police do not take any action in these cases and that even when they do, Muslims prevent Hindus from appearing as witnesses. He further added that while the media could ignore such incidents, ‘we’ could not.

He then announced that now, Hindus will retaliate; that they would fight and defend themselves. He said it was the duty of the sadhus to fight for the defence of the Dharma and even sacrifice their lives, should the need arise. He noted that he has been waiting for the day when he would be killed by Jihadis and that while today he is a person, after his death he will become a vichar (idea). The Hindu Dharma demanded sacrifice, he said.

Why should they organise these events in such rapid succession?

As Narsinghanand said himself, the Dharma Sansads were earlier being organised once every six months. What then explains three such events being planned in the space of little over one month, two of them being in electionbound UP? Obviously, there is more to it than meets the eye.

By his own logic, the Hindu Dharma is being endangered by a design implicit in Islam. This means that, in his opinion, this has been a long-term plan of Islam. Moreover, since there has been no recent, out-of-the-ordinary development in the country, there cannot have been any precipitating cause for alarm or urgency.

It is true that no legal action can be taken against someone if they only proclaim that they are concerned about the future of their religion and that they want to defend it.

However, since Hindus have supposedly been subjected to harm for the past 1,400 years and since the nature of the g