Police in Uttarakhand’s Almora have booked a monk for allegedly making a hate speech at a Hindu conference on Sunday in the presence of Union minister Ajay Tamta.
Senior police superintendent Chandrashekhar R Ghodke said a first information report (FIR) has been filed against Mahamandleshwar Lal Baba and an investigation has begun.
Baba was booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)’s Section 196 (1) (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) on Maa Nanda Hindu Sammelan Samiti convenor Manoj Sanwal’s complaint.
In the complaint, Sanwal, said that Baba made remarks about other communities, which affected the dignity of the event organised under the banner of Almora’s Maa Nanda Hindu Conference Committee.
“Speakers from various fields were invited to the event. Mahamandaleshwar Lal Baba of Chitragupta Peeth was also invited, as the committee believed that, given his position, he would have considerable knowledge of the Vedas and Upanishads.”
Sanwal called Baba’s comments his personal and said that the committee and its functionaries have no association with or responsibility for his statements.
In his speech, Baba said, “I warn those with a jihadi mindset to leave Uttarakhand. If I am forced to take out a rally, wherever I find you, I will cut you there.”
He said he does not fear police action. “The police administration can make whatever arrangements it wants. I am not afraid. Whether two sections are imposed on me or three, it does not matter…,” he said. “Just as goats are slaughtered… You slaughter them the other way around. Lal Baba will cut both ways, upside down and straight, and you won’t even know from where you will be cut.”