Hindutva leader Kajal Shingala was on Sunday arrested in Gujarat’s Una town for allegedly delivering a provocative speech last week, reported The Indian Express. Kajal Shingala, also known as Kajal Hindusthani, was booked in the hate speech case on April 2, three days after she had addressed a gathering during Ram Navami celebrations.
She has been sent to judicial custody as the police did not seek her remand. “Her speech is already out in the public,” Gir Somnath Superintendent of Police Shripal Sheshma told The Indian Express. “Therefore, there is no question of remand.”
The case pertains to a speech Shingala had given at a public meeting organised by Shree Ramkrushna Janmotsava Samiti, Una in Tower Chowk of Una as part of the Ram Navami celebrations on March 30. Police say tension had built up after her speech. To diffuse the atmosphere, the police had called a meeting of leaders of the two communities on April 1.
Kajal had in her Una speech stated – If our Muslim sisters marry Hindu boys what benefits they shall get? The first benefit to marrying Hindu youths would be that they shall not have to face three other wives, not many children, safety, and respect, no uncle, or father would touch her, no Burkha (veil) in 45-degree temperatures, and freedom to wear whatever you want to wear, would be called daughter and owner of the house, would get matching share in the property, would not be deserted after Talak Talak Talak, no Halala, no contract like Nikah but 7 birth togetherness, children will not become the victim of radicalization, terrorism, etc.
However, the meeting took an ugly turn as leaders of both communities engaged in heated exchanges in the presence of police officers. Following this, a mob vandalized vehicles and threw stones and glass bottles at the homes of the residents. The police then booked 76 Muslims and 200 others for unlawful assembly and rioting on April 1.
The next day, Shingala was booked under Sections 195A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
Islamic and Liberal Ecosystem activated against Kajal
As always, Islamists and Liberals accused Kajal of inciting violence and hatred. The conspiracy to blame Hindus and target Hindu leaders started on social media. For some time, low-profile Islamists kept trying to instigate Muslims against Kajal.
However, later the infamous players jumped into the game. The controversial Twitter handle Hindutva Watch shared a video of Kakal Hindusthani and wrote, “At Hindu Jagruti Samelan, Kajal Shingla aka Kajal Hindusthani, a repeat offender, delivered hate speech targeting Muslims and called on Hindus to wake up and pick arms to defend themselves.”
It is important to note that Kajal only talked about self-defence. She never asked Hindus to attack someone. However, her statements were twisted and used for propaganda. The propagandist fact-checker and co-founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, took charge of the conspiracy against Kajal. He shared Hindutva Watch’s video and tagged Delhi Police, saying, “Kajal Singla (Kajal Hindustani) says, “Utho Hinduon shastra apne aap uthao, apni raksha apne aap karo”. Isn’t this provocation to pick up arms? Delhi Police.
Here, Zubair deemed the call of self-defence as a provocation. This is the same person who dog-whistled Islamists against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on social media leading to ‘sar tan se juda‘ threats against her. Not to forget, Zubair’s dog-whistling led to the murder of several Hindus, including Udaipur resident Kanhaiya Lal and Amravati resident Umesh Kohle, as they supported Nupur Sharma on social media. He employed the same modus operandi to target Hindu activist Kajal Hindusthani and paint a target behind her, triggering violence and riots in several parts of the country.
Government acted in biased manner
Here the government has also acted in biased manner. There are numerous people who make highly objectionable comments against Hindus, Hindu deities, festivals, and their culture, but no government takes any action against them. During Kashi Vishwanath issue, numerous Muslims scholars, media personalities, and social media influencers made obnoxious comments against Bhagwan Shiva, but no action has been taken against them.
Here Kajal was only asking Hindus to learn self-defenses, but she has been arrested.
