At the Haridwar event, Prabodhanand Giri had called for the ethnic cleansing of Muslims on the lines of the genocide in Myanmar.

Swami Prabodhanand Giri, who called for the ethnic cleansing of Muslims at the Haridwar hate conclave (Dharam Sansad), has once again made provocative remarks against Muslims, this time at an event in Ghaziabad.

“Jihadis are those who have understood the Quran,” said the chief of Hindu Raksha Sena in an attempt to justify the speeches calling for a genocide against Muslims at the Haridwar event. He had then called for the ethnic cleansing of Muslims on the lines of the genocide in Myanmar which resulted in the mass exodus and displacement of scores of Rohingya refugees.

“There are a few who read the Quran, the ones who understand it, become Jihadis,” he said at an event of his grand welcome in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, on January 2.

“We will stand up against every jihadi in India and clean the country of their presence. The Prime Minister has said Swachh Bharat, we will make it a clean and holy (pavitra) Bharat,” he said calling Hindus to pick their weapons against Muslims.

“If you keep weapons to fight irreligion as Ram did in Mahabharat, you will be blessed by Lord Ram and Krishna. Weapons are essential, to fight with Jihadis and there is no other way,” said the priest.

“It is an old tradition to keep weapons that we had forgotten. It is not a crime to keep arms with you, for self-protection, as a Hindu never strikes first,” he says while contradicting his own speech at the Haridwar event where he had incited Hindus to launch the first attack, whenever they feel threatened.

“Will a cat not attack and eat a pigeon if it closes its eyes? In such a situation (threat to life) why shouldn’t we first attack the cat and gauge its eye before it attacks us?” he asks the crowd.

When the Quint reached out to Ghaziabad police on January 4 to ask if this speech was prosecutable by law, they asked for the video and haven’t responded since then.

Prabodhanand also indicated the approval of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath over the controversial hate speeches and acts.

“In 2017 when there was nobody to speak for the Hindus, in the entire country, after Yogi stepped into the government of UP, I made him a promise that the sword of Hindutva, that he has prepared, will remain and will be sharpened with his (Prabodhanand’s) guidance, and people will not be able to survive in front of it,” he said.

“FIRs have been filed, and journalists today question me if I still stand by my words. I will stand by them till the end of time. This “Mahatma” will not step back,” said the violence-inciting sage, explaining that he feared none.

“We will organise Dharma Sansad all over the country and in every state, including the ones that are going to be organised in the near future, in Aligarh (January 22, 23), Kurukshetra, Haryana (15 and 15 February), and Himachal Pradesh (12 February),” he announced, claiming that no one will be able to stop the “Dharma Sansads” that are scheduled to take place all over the country./ siasat