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    • As Islamist gangs rally against Ramgiri Maharaj, here’s why the slogan ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ should be seen as a harbinger of terrorism
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    As Islamist gangs rally against Ramgiri Maharaj, here’s why the slogan ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ should be seen as a harbinger of terrorism

    Vaseline Posted on

    Amid outrage over Saint Ramgiri Maharaj’s recent remarks about Prophet Muhammad during a sermon in Nashik’s Sinnar area, Islamist mobs are holding protests across states. In what appears to be a repeat of Nupur Sharma, the Islamist protesters are demanding Sar tan se juda (beheading) as punishment for Ramgiri Maharaj. Meanwhile, multiple FIRs have been filed against the Hindu saint.

    At one such protest, several Muslim men along with children can be seen chanting “Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek Saza, Sar tan se juda” (“There is only one punishment for disrespecting Nabi (Prophet Muhammad).” The Islamists online are inciting their fellow believers against Ramgiri Maharaj and hurling insults at Ramgiri Maharaj. One such Islamist called Ramgiri Maharaj a “piss drinker.”

    A Muslim X user Alim claimed that “Kafir” (disbeliever) will help another Kafir and the only way to ‘punish’ Ramgiri Maharaj is to “Sar tan se juda”. “Kanoon iska kuchh nhi krega ye saare Qafir-Qafir ka hi saath denge Iska ek hi rasta h gustakhe Nabi ki ek saza sar tan se juda sar tan se juda Allahu Akbar (sword emojis),” Alim posted in response to an inflammatory post against the Hindu sage.

    Notably, a massive protest rally was held in Karnataka’s Kudachi. Apart from Karnataka, protests were also held in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara, Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha, Maharashtra’s Aurangabad and Mumbra and in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh.

    As previously reported, on 22nd In August, the Madhya Pradesh police took strict action against Islamists who pelted stones and created a commotion in the Chhatarpur Kotwali police station on Wednesday afternoon during a protest against Ramgiri Maharaj. The police registered a case against 150 people involved in the commotion after the orders were issued by CM Mohan Yadav. The FIR includes 50 named and 100 other people who pelted stones at the police station, injuring two policemen. MP CM Mohan Yadav took cognizance of the matter and directed the authorities to take strict action against the unruly Islamists. Subsequently, the house of the accused Haji Shahzad Ali in Mastan Sahab Colony in Chhatarpur town was demolished using a bulldozer.

    In Mumbra, the Muslim crowd held banners reading Sar tan se juda and chanted inflammatory slogans against the Hindu saint.

    Sar tan se juda: The Islamic way of silencing those who quote the inconvenient truths from the ‘book’

    This is not the first time that Islamists have unleashed the ‘Sar tan se juda’ terror on people who make critical remarks about Islam or Muslims. Last year, OpIndia reported how Islamists chanted ‘sar tan se juda’ slogans in Gir Somnath outside a police station, accusing Hindu rights activist Kajal Hindustani of delivering an anti-Muslim speech during the Ram Navami procession. As reported then, she spoke about forced religious conversion, where Hindu girls are lured into relationships by Muslim men who usually hide their religious identity and eventually force them to convert, demographic changes in parts of India and several other issues.

    Shortly after, Islamists started posting video clips in which they incited a Muslim mob against her. They claimed that she was spreading hatred and asked Hindus to take up arms against Muslims, while she only spoke of self-defense against various Muslim threats.

    In 2021, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan had called for the beheading of a Hindu priest through his verified Twitter account. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Muslims have called for the beheading of the head priest of Dasna Devi temple, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, for his statements against Muhammad. Muslim children were also seen shouting Sar tan se juda slogans against the Hindu priest.

    In 2015 and early 2016, lakhs of Muslims took to the streets of various cities in India, openly calling for the public beheading and murder of Kamlesh Tiwari. Muslims rioted in various states of the country and finally in 2019, Tiwari was brutally murdered by two Muslim assailants Farid-ud-din Shaikh and Ashfak Shaikh, at his office-cum-residence in Lucknow. Kamlesh Tiwari was shot and his throat was slit in the most barbaric manner. There were multiple stab wounds on his body and his throat was slit wide open with a sharp weapon.

    In May 2022, after her remarks during a debate on Times Now, former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma came under the radar of Islamists even when she quoted what is in the Islamic text. During protests, Islamists chanted “sar tan se juda” slogans. Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of Alt News, played a crucial role in fanning the flames of protests and denouncing Islamists against Sharma in India and abroad. As a result, the BJP expelled her from the party. Islamists killed many Hindus, including Kanhaiyalal from Rajasthan and Umesh Kohle from Maharashtra, for supporting Nupur Sharma. To date, Sharma lives a restricted life with occasional public appearances, while Taslim Ahmed Rehmani, whose statement against Bhagwan Shiv angered her during the debate, walks around freely.

    While these are a few major incidents, OpIndia has documented numerous incidents where Muslims chanted Sar tan se juda slogans of imaginary ‘blasphemy’ and that too without any reason or rather to strike terror in the hearts of Hindus. An example of this was witnessed this year in Muharram when a Muslim mob chanted Sar tan se juda slogans in Kanpur outside a Hanuman temple.

    Why Sar tan se juda should be considered a precursor to a terrorist act

    “Gustakh-e-Rasool ki Ek hi saza, sar tan se Juda, sar tan se Juda”, this murderous slogan has claimed many lives in the name of alleged ‘blasphemy’, not only in India where there are no ‘blasphemy laws’ but also in our hostile neighbour Pakistan. Like their brethren in India, Islamists in Pakistan too get upset over anything they perceive as offensive to their faith.

    In February this year, it was reported that a mob of Islamic fanatics, led by members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, thought that the colorful Arabic writing on a white dress worn by a woman was from the Quran, and therefore committed blasphemy, which is punishable by death in Pakistan. The mob surrounded the victim woman and shouted Sar tan se juda slogans, but fortunately the woman was saved from being lynched. In another such incident, Pakistani Islamists caused a commotion over a QR code on a bottle, claiming that it had Allah written on it.

    In the latest incident, Pakistani Islamists are leading Sar tan se juda protests against Pakistan’s Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa for freeing an Ahmadiyya man accused of “blasphemy” and saying everyone has the right to practice their religion.

    It is noteworthy that while the use of Sar tan se juda to silence opponents of Islamism crosses borders, the murderous slogan originated in Pakistan.

    In 2011, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his own guard Mumtaz Qadri, who had opposed Taseer’s opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Khadim Hussain Rizvi, then a Maulana of Pakistan, praised Qadri for killing Taseer and declared him a ‘Ghazi’. He led a procession with thousands of people in attendance, who chanted provocative slogans against the former governor of Punjab, Pakistan, and hailed Qadri as a hero.

    The procession, organised by the radical Barelvi terror organisation Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), reinforced the slogan of protection of Mumtaz Qadri among the masses of Pakistan in 2011. Two slogans were mainly chanted during the procession. One was “Rasool Allah, Rasool Allah” and the other, “Gustakh-e-Rasool Ki Ek Hi Zaza, Sar Tan Se Juda, Sar Tan Se Juda.” Rizvi would ask the crowd during the mass demonstrations, “Gustakh-e-Rasool ki Ek hi Saza?” The protesters would respond by chanting “Sar Tan Se Juda, Sar Tan Se Juda.” Qadri not only shot Taseer dead, but later justified his crime as his “religious duty.”

    This slogan of ‘Sar tan se juda’ and the street veto of Islamists poses a direct threat to the Hindu and other non-Muslim communities and also poses a challenge to the authority of the Indian legal system. This slogan should be seen as a precursor to a terrorist attack and a direct incitement to violence. All over the world, blasphemous attacks like the murder of Samuel Paty in France are considered terrorist attacks and are treated with utmost seriousness. While the Indian leftists have historically behaved as Muslim cheerleaders for political gains, the brutal attacks on communist leaders in Bangladesh by Islamists should raise alarm bells for them. The Islamists have only one ideology, that is to establish the supremacy of Islam wherever they live.

    To condone such slogans, under the impression that they are merely a cathartic expression of an angry mob outraged by the perceived insult to their prophet, is nothing more than wishful thinking. The chances are that a religious fanatic in the crowd, incited by the slogans, would be motivated to pick up a gun and kill someone like Kanhaiya Lal.

    In such a scenario, the state cannot adopt a lasseiz-fair approach and allow the sloganeers to spread hatred and get away with it with impunity. Instead, the state should take strict action against such criminals and set an example for others to discourage them from indulging in similar behavior. Bulldozing, UAPA charges and discontinuing government benefits are some of the first steps that the government can take to tackle the menace of ‘Sar Tan Se Judaa’ slogans. In most cases, Islamists use critical remarks by certain individuals, as seen in the case of Ramgiri Maharaj, to instigate riots and create havoc among Hindus and then act as victims by claiming that they are suffering because of the ‘Zulm’ of Hindutva people.

    If the country does not want to see more Umesh Kolhe, Kanhaiyalal and Kamlesh Tiwari beheaded by Islamists, the government should ban the slogan altogether and criminalise its use. The least this ban would do is send a message to Islamists that India is still a Hindu-majority democratic country and not some ‘Dar ul Islam’ they dream of.

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