Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nitesh Rane was on Sunday booked for alleged anti-Muslim hate speech in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, The Hindu reported.
Two first information reports were registered against him on Sunday and Monday, The Indian Express quoted Rakesh Ola, Ahmednagar’s superintendent of police as saying.
The MLA from Sindhudurg district’s Kankavli had attended gatherings of the Sakal Hindu Samaj Andolan, an umbrella group of Hindutva organisations, on Sunday in the Shrirampur and Tofkhana areas of Ahmednagar.
A video from one of the events showed the Kankavli MLA, who is the son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane, making allegedly inflammatory statements against the Muslim community.
He warned the community not to comment on Hindu religious leader Ramgiri Maharaj. “If you are concerned about your community, do not say a word about Maharaj,” the legislator is heard saying in the purported video.
Ramgiri has been accused of making derogatory remarks about Islam and Prophet Muhammad at an event in Nashik district in August. The purported video of Ramgiri making the comments had gone viral on social media, sparking protests by Muslim groups in Ahmednagar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Jalgaon on August 16.
On Sunday, Waris Pathan, the spokesperson of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, asked Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home affairs portfolio, to take cognisance of the incident and arrest Nitesh Rane.
“In Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar, BJP MLA Nitish Rane is openly threatening the police administration that he will enter the mosque and kill Muslims one by one,” Pathan said on social media. “He is spreading hatred against Muslims in his entire speech.”
Pathan, a former MLA, alleged that Nitesh Rane’s comments were inflammatory and amounted to hate speech.
He also alleged that the BJP was trying to stir up communal violence in Maharashtra before the Assembly elections expected to take place later this year.
Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad said on Monday that her party’s delegation had asked the Mumbai Police commissioner to take action in the matter.
“Are all these people making provocative statements being protected because they are associated with the ruling party?” Gaikwad asked on social media. “Why is there no action against them?”
Nitesh Rane defended his comments on Monday. “There was nothing new in the statement given by him [Ramgiri],” the BJP leader told ANI. “I can show you statements of a minimum of 10 Muslim scholars who have already mentioned what Ramgiri Maharaj ji has said. Whoever is supporting Ramgiri Maharaj, those even putting it on their social media status, they are getting death threats.”
On Monday, Narayan Rane, a former Union minister, said that he had reprimanded his son.
“There is no need to drag any religion but only those who are guilty of it,” PTI quoted Narayan Rane as saying. “Not all Muslims are guilty of this, so don’t drag the entire community.”
This is not the first time Nitesh Rane has been booked for hate speech.
In March, Rane used words like “Rohingyas” and “Bangladeshis”, among other derogatory expressions, against the Muslim community during an event organised by the Sakal Hindu Samaj in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area.
Rohingyas are a Muslim-majority ethnic group from Myanmar. The Rohingya are the victims of a state-sponsored ethnic-cleansing campaign in their home country. Several thousands of them have fled to India and Bangladesh to escape death and violence.
However, the Mumbai Police told the Bombay High Court that using such terms was not derogatory towards Muslims living in India.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!