A type of anti-Hindu battle cry has recently gone widespread in India. The “sar tan se juda” gang has started killing people one by one after Nupur Sharma, a BJP spokeswoman who has since been suspended, made a divisive remark about the Prophet Muhammad that caused a huge uproar throughout the nation.
There is a growing, radicalised clamour on the streets of the nation, and anyone discovered to be in agreement with Nupur Sharma’s statement will face harsh punishment. Six persons in India have experienced the “sar tan se juda” ideology’s wrath.
Victims of sar tan se juda
Umesh Kolhe, a 54-year-old chemist, was fatally stabbed in June in Amravati, a city in eastern Maharashtra, after reportedly sharing a post on several WhatsApp groups in favour of Sharma’s contentious remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
June 28th, Rajasthan Two Muslim men in Udaipur killed tailor Kanhaiya Lal by hacking him to death with a cleaver at his store in the Dhan Mandi neighbourhood in retaliation for a “insult to Islam.” The murder of Kanhaiyalal in Udaipur was documented on tape by the assailants as well. At the conclusion of the video, the murderers yelled out, “…sar tan se juda” (sar tan se juda).
In the Raisen area of Madhya Pradesh, 20-year-old engineering student Nishank Rathore’s body was discovered on a railroad track. Police ruled out any wrongdoing, but a puzzling text message from his phone reading “Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se juda” perplexed them.
Most recently, a gang of individuals are accused of using sharp objects to beat a guy in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district while claiming that he supported suspended BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma. The same theme and the use of the slogan connect all of these assaults and killings.
But this adage is not brand-new
In India, the scream “Sar tan se juda” is not a recent one. About five years ago, when Kamlesh Tiwari of Lucknow made a statement regarding Prophet Mohammad, it was first extensively used. The following day, the scream “Gustakh-e-Rasool Ki Ek Hi Saza, Sar Tan Se Juda, Sar Tan Se Juda” (Same penalty as Gustakh-e-Rasool, separated from the body, separated from the body) quickly went viral.
Origins
DNA reported that Pakistan is where the slogan initially gained popularity. Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, was assassinated in 2011 by Mumtaz Qadri, a member of his own security detail who disapproved of Taseer’s opposition to the country’s blasphemy law.
At the time, Mumtaz Qadri was killed, and Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a Maulana in Pakistan, justified the killing by referring to the murderer as “Ghazi.” Following Taseer’s remarks against the blasphemy law, Khadim organised a procession with thousands of participants, during which two slogans were loudly chanted. Rasool Allah, Rasool Allah, and Gustakh-e-Rasool Ki Ek Hi Zaza, Sar Tan Se Juda, Sar Tan Se Juda, were the two phrases.
While Khadim may have died in 2020, among extremists in India as well, his slogans have taken on life of their own.
The nation is on the brink to get irreparable damages from these slogans. There are plethora of evidences to prove that the adage is a terror cry with an underlying intention to cause genocide.
