Anmol Pritam, a journalist with the online news organisation National Dastak, said on Twitter thata group of Hindutva supporters at an event at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Sunday tried to force him to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
The event had been organised by former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay as part of an effort he called the “Bharat Jodo (Unite India) Movement”. It ostensibly aimed to urge the authorities to put an end to “colonial-era laws” by establishing a uniform civil code.
However, participants chanted inflammatory slogans calling for violence against Muslims.
Despite several videos showing the identities of the participants, the police chose to file an FIR against “unknown persons” for promoting enmity between different groups, The Indian Express reported on Monday.
Pritam posted a video of some participants surrounding him at the event.
“If you want to live in this country, you will have to say it [Jai Shri Ram],” one person from the crowd is heard saying in the video. The journalist stood his ground, and said, “I will say it if I want to say it. You cannot force me.”
Another member of the gathering was heard calling him a “jihadi” when he refused to chant the slogan.
National Dastak condemned the harassment of their employee.
Soon after the video went viral, “#ISupportAnmol” started trending on Twitter with multiple people expressing their support for the journalist.
Also read
Jantar Mantar hate slogans: Police book unknown people though videos show identity of participants
‘Jai Shri Ram’ might be a new slogan – but the use of Ram as a political symbol is 800 years old
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