All hell broke loose on Twitter on 8 June when Rahul Easwar tweeted that he was filing an FIR against Sadhvi Prachi for her recent exhortation to her followers to make India a Muslim-free country.
He qualified his action by reiterating that he was doing it not because he was anti-Hindu, but precisely because he is a proud Hindu.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Thiruvanthapuram on Monday directed the police to file a case against Sadhvi Prachi.
The order is based on the FIR filed by Rahul Easwar pointing out that Sadhvi Prachi’s statements are “offensive in nature and will harm the secular fabric of our nation”.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Rahul Easwar said that condemning Sadhvi Prachi’s statements stands him in good stead to work for the “genuine Hindu cause”.
Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code prohibits promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language or by indulging in acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.
When asked about the criticism he garnered from right wing supporters on social media, Easwar called it a sort of over-reaction based on a misunderstanding of what Hinduism stands for.
He emphasised that Sadhvi’s statement went against the spirit of the Indian Constitution and was not the kind of posturing a true Hindu would adopt.
When you say Bharat Mata has a population of over 1.3 billion, these include not just the Hindus but Muslims and other religious minorities as well. Even when I identify myself as a strong pro-Hindu centre-right-leaning person, I don’t have to be anti-Muslim to reinforce that image.Rahul Easwar
Why can’t we take a cue from our Indian PM Narendra Modi who – while visiting Brussels in the aftermath of the terror attack in March 2016 – had made an impassioned plea for the delinking of religion from terrorism?
“Many people question why I did not raise my voice against Akbaruddin Owaisi who had issued a clarion call for the extermination of all Hindus. In fact, I did file one and was one of the first to initiate an online campaign against that traitor. We need to opt for a Gandhian approach in such matters” said Easwar.
Remind him that Mahatma Gandhi is not exactly a favourite of the RSS or the BJP, and Easwar opines that that was a misconception among the masses:
Do you know that Gandhian socialism is one of the founding principles of the Bharatiya Janata Party? Veer Savarkar who is acknowledged as the father of modern Hinduism was, in fact, an atheist. And going by historian AL Basham, it was Swami Vivekananda who introduced the concept of multiculturalism – as embodied by India – to the Western world.
“Are you aware that it was Major Zain-ul Abideen Hasan of Subash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army who coined the slogan ‘Jai Hind’? So India is a country which thrives on this very rich pluralistic society that is all-inclusive”, says Easwar in conclusion.
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