Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP

Introduction Hindutva fanaticism is at its peak in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India. With around 44 million Muslim population which is 19.3% of the total population, UP ranks ﬁrst in number of Muslims among all Indian states. UP also contributes the largest number of seats to the Indian parliament. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and the extreme right-wing Hindutva groups draw its water and fertiliser from anti-Muslim sentiments have made Uttar Pradesh the best turf to demonise Muslims. Appointment of Yogi Adityanath to be tried in the International Criminal Court for his racial hatred and anti-Muslim stand and crimes, as the chief minister of the state was a very strategic move to ensure that Muslim marginalisation is carried out 'democratically.' Yogi was serving as an MP and had not contested the Assembly election in 2017, yet he was made the CM of UP. Development of the state or the welfare of the people, let alone of the Muslims, of the state have never been an agenda of the present UP government since the coronation of Yogi Adityanath aka Ajay Mohan Bisht, as the 'emperor' of Uttar Pradesh. The focus of Yogi government has been on hunting Muslims raising various false allegations against them. UP Police which have ever been discredited for human rights violations and communal bias against Muslims and Dalits, crossed all limits under Yogi Raj. This booklet is a collection of data and facts from authentic news sources on the web, about the crimes of Yogi in Uttar Pradesh. The following chapters are included in the booklet

1. UP the Lawless State in India 2. Horror of Muslim Hunt 3. Vendetta against Popular Front 4. Yogi, Crime and Career There are certain narrations and incidents repeated in the document, which could not be avoided in speciﬁc contexts.

03 Religious Fascism-Yogi Raj in UP UP the Lawless State in India Uttar Pradesh has become the epicentre of Islamophobic bigotry and atrocities against Muslims of the country ever since Ajay Mohan Bisht alias Yogi Adityanath became its chief minister. UP is now a lawless, terrorist state and has the notorious 'privilege' of being known as the rape-capital of the country. Anarchy is the hallmark of the state. Yogi who had been a consecutive ﬁve-term Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur, one of the most benighted cities in India, parliament constituency in UP was 'installed' as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh through the backdoor. He had not contested the 2017 UP assembly election and he was directly appointed as the Chief Minister of UP, later getting elected to the Legislative Council. The increasing police atrocities, human rights violations, communal riots, deterioration of democracy, wide-spread fear, the deliberate anti-minority and anti-Dalit activities all make UP a lawless state. This dossier analyses the callousness of a ruling political party and the ineptitude of the 'appointed' chief minister who is devoid of any human qualities or qualities of a ruler.

Police Atrocities and Human Rights Violations

Number of cases registered under police category in UP

(Reference: Unstarred question number 202, answered on 3rd February, 2021 in Rajyasabha)

04 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP The figures from Uttar Pradesh exhibit the horrifying state of affairs with a staggering 15,426 cases registered in the year 2017 to 2018 followed by 16,414 cases in the year 2018 to 2019. The numbers see a dip in the next two years, but stand at a whopping 9,417 and 5,388 cases respectively. It has also been consistent in topping the list of cases registered by the NHRC. (https://sabrangindia.in/article/over-11000- cases-registered-against-police-officers-2020-centre-rajya-sabha)

Uttar Pradesh is the state where police suppression has been the worst. In UP, chief minister Yogi gave a free hand to the police to bump oﬀ perceived criminals without any due process. The state police carried out over 5000 encounters, killing more than 100 people and injuring others. Not surprisingly, the highest number happened to be Muslims followed by Dalits and those from the most backward class. (National Herald, SR Darapuri IPS (Rtd), 18 Sep 2020, https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/is-there-any-doubt-that-india-is- now-a-police-state-koi-shaq)

A police state is a government that exercises power through the police force. The inhabitants of a police state may experience restrictions on their mobility, or on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force that operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right of every citizen and more so of the fourth estate. But that does not seem to be the order of the day in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, where a government with a thumping mandate appears to be becoming increasingly intolerant towards any kind of criticism. Criticism – which is one of the basic tenets of any democratic system – is most unwelcome to UP cops, who not only take aﬀront to any criticism, but also turn vengeful. Targeting journalists seems to have become a daily occurrence for the khaki-clad force in some UP.

The Noida police have been particularly notorious for its apathy towards the media persons. Even senior cops are not hesitant when it comes to displaying their indiﬀerence or antipathy against those who

05 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP do not toe the line of the cops. The manner in which members of the fourth estate are being targeted reflects the same mindset visible in the indiscriminate police encounters that have left some 67 alleged criminals dead. While the police officially described each one of them as “hardened criminals”, mostly carrying some bounty over their heads, insiders allege that at least half of them were petty offenders who were gunned down in cold blood after being made to look big- timers by declaring a bounty on their heads. Interestingly, the encounters are listed among the government's “achievements”. (Sharat Pradhan, Is Uttar Pradesh Turning Into a Police State? The Wire, 28/OCT/2019 (https://thewire.in/government/uttar-pradesh-police-journalists- safety).

Several patterns were repeated in many of the crimes, primarily the role of the police. A clear religion-based pattern emerged as we found many instances where cases against members of the BJP, currently in power in UP as well as at the Centre, or activists from Hindu right- wing organisations were watered down or prematurely closed. Cases involving Muslims were followed up with mass arrests, with many of the accused alleging they had been falsely implicated. In two of the major incidents, the police invoked the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Muslim accused. The NSA allows for preventive detention up to 12 months. The person detained has to be informed of the charges within 10 days, but if the authorities consider this disclosure is against public interest, they can withhold this information. Eﬀectively, this means a person can be detained up to a year without being told why. (https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/ﬁeld-report-13-sites-hate- crime-uttar-pradesh-lingering-fear-distrust-justice-delayed).

In an interview to a TV channel in 2017, Adityanath proclaimed, “Agar apradh karenge, toh thok diye jaayenge” (f “they” commit crimes “they” will be shot dead). It was the start of what is now known as the thok do (shoot down) policy of police extra-judicial killings. Over three years to 2020, 124 alleged criminals were shot dead in 6,476 “encounters”, according to data released by the UP police to the media. Up to 37% of those killed in these encounters till August 2020 were Muslims, almost double their proportion (19%) in the state's

06 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP population. This means a police “encounter” every ﬁve hours every day during the course of Adityanath's tenure. In a January 2019 letter to district magistrates, the chief secretary listed these “encounters” among the prominent “achievements” of the Adityanath administration.

UP, as per the 2011 Census, accounts for 16.5% of the country's population. However, almost a third of the hate crimes recorded in 2018, were reported from UP. Since 2009, 61 of the 278 attacks recorded in Hate Crime Watch have been reported from UP.

The dangerous failing in human rights violations occurring inside UP is illustrated in the statement released by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on March 1, 2021 on the ongoing investigation of the Moradabad gang rape case. The Commission has asked the UP government to submit proof of payment to the victim of gang rape in Moradabad district, which the Commission had sanctioned as relief alongside a compliance review of its recommendations to protect the fundamental rights of victims of heinous crimes.

The recommendations of the Commission include disciplinary action against the officers accused of negligence, deployment of lady police officers in all stations alongside a list of the police stations where there is no female police officer and registering case against officials who refused to file the FIR alleging rape.

Earlier, the investigating division of the Commission had discovered that police personnel did not register the case until the court intervened. This caused 1.5 months delay in the registration of the case by the Police. The actual incident occurred on 18th November 2018, when several men barged into the woman's house and raped her in broad daylight. According to the statement, when she was discovered and released, the oﬃcials at the Civil Lines police station, Moradabad refused to register the complaint for over a month. The delay in the investigation led to the destruction of crucial evidence, according to the Commission. NHRC alleged that this was a grievous violation of the victim's human rights. The state government had found signiﬁcant negligence on the part of the authorities in their handling of the case and had therefore accepted the recommendation

07 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP of the Commission announcing a ex-gratia relief of Rs. 2 lakh to the victim. However, the NHRC found that there was no conclusive action on the other recommendations of its report and was therefore forced to ask the UP government to conﬁrm compliance. Encounter Killings

PUCL statistics on encounters in Uttar Prades since Adityanath became the Chief Minister in 2017: Since March 2017, in over 1100 encounters, 49 people were killed, more than 370 were injured and over 3300 arrested across the State.

In a bid to quell the uproar around these encounters, the police later switched over to a policy of half-encounters, in which the alleged criminals are shot below the abdomen, preferably on the legs. Such measures have been adopted by the police to quell criticism over a spate of alleged extra-judicial killings of alleged criminals since 2017. Shooting below the abdomen is part of the standard operating procedure adopted in situations wherein people may be shooting at the police. Retired IG Police SR Darapuri of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, who is now the national spokesperson for the All India People's Front (Radical), strongly criticised such encounters. Darapuri has ﬁled an RTI to ﬁnd out the names and family details of all those who were killed or disabled. "In my application, I have also asked to be provided a list of policemen who have been injured, how much time they have spent in the hospital, their names and ranks. It is possible that many of them get admitted to hospital in the morning and are discharged by the afternoon. The hospital admission is done only to add gravity to the encounter," said Darapuri.

Rihai Manch, an NGO based in Uttar Pradesh, examined 17 FIRs in detail and concluded that these were all cases of extra-judicial killings. The Rihai Manch took up the matter before the NHRC and asked it to investigate the cases.

It was only when the NHRC began to investigate the 17 killings that the Uttar Pradesh Police went on the defensive. The PUCL also ﬁled a PIL in this regard on 14th January, 2019 before the Supreme Court. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Ashok

08 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Bhushan and SK Kaul have stated that the issues raised in the PUCL petition require serious consideration. (Rashme Sehgal, First Post, February 11, 2019,).

In a statement issued on March 3rd, 2018, PUCL demanded justice for all the extra-judicial killings in Uttar Pradesh as inscribed in speciﬁc laws and rulings. In another statement, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) condemned the systematic targeting and repression unleashed by the state of UP on the Adivasis. The State and the police forces have acted in an unconstitutional manner and continue to target Adivasi communities, so that they can be driven out of their lands. Those series of arrests and harassment against Adivasi women is a retaliation of the State against its people who have been agitating to gain their rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Despite the law, the State refuses to acknowledge their rights and has systematically targeted Adivasi women time and again, assuming them to be soft targets. This is extremely condemnable and those responsible for the violence and state repression deserve strict action and punishment for manhandling women and minor girls as well as senior citizens.

More than 6,476 encounters were against Muslims, as per the data. These incidents of encounters also led to deaths of 13 policemen and left about 941 policemen injured.

(https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/nearly-37-of- t h o s e - k i l l e d - i n - e n c o u n t e r s - b y - u p - p o l i c e - i n - p a s t - 3 - y e a r s - a r e - muslims/articleshow/77511147.cms?utm_source=contentoﬁnterest&utm_medium =text&utm_campaign=cppst) (https://www.ﬁrstpost.com/india/national-human-rights-commission-issues-notice- to-uttar-pradesh-dgp-over-police-action-during-anti-caa-protests-in-state- 7827131.html)

Custodial deaths Many international human rights groups have released the reports on human right violations in Uttar Pradesh. http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-3924-custodial-death-a-glaring- violation-of-human-rights.html (https://www.omct.org/en/resources/news-releases/human-rights-violations-and- police-brutality-in-uttar-pradesh-statement-by-sos-torture-asia-litigators-group)

09 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of custodial death cases registered in the period from 1st April, 2019 to 31st March, 2020, according to data shared by the Home Ministry. (https://www.huﬀpost.com/archive/in/entry/uttar-pradesh-custodial- deaths_in_5f61fc06c5b68d1b09ca45ea) Draconian laws

Uttar Pradesh uses draconian laws to detain those accused even in petty cases and even in false cases. When it comes to democratic and peaceful protests by political dissidents and minorities, they are treated as rioters and booked under repressive laws like UAPA, NSA, Sedition, etc. More than half the arrests this year under a tough National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh have included suspects in cases of cow slaughter. (https://www.reuters.com/article/india-crime-idINKBN2621FN) Mob lynching

Anyone can be lynched to death any time in North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh by forcing to chant jai Sri Ram or in the name of cow. The idea of mob justice is immensely popular and common if the perceived crime is allegedly committed by a Muslim, Dalit, Christian or tribal. With 43% share in hate crimes, UP is the most unsafe state for religious minorities and Dalits. Between 2016 and 2019, National Human Rights Commission has registered 2008 cases where minorities/Dalits were harassed, including cases of lynching. Of these, Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 869 cases. The harassment cases are many times higher than the registered ﬁgures in NHRC, as the reports of all cases are not reaching them.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi and the state police may claim to have improved the state's law and order situation but records of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) show that despite this, Uttar Pradesh continues to be the hub of harassment of minorities and Dalits. So much so that in the past three years, 43 per cent of all cases of harassment of minorities and Dalits, taken up by NHRC, were registered in Uttar Pradesh. This includes cases of lynching.

10 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Violence against women

Now Uttar Pradesh is known as the rape capital of India. Heinous crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh are glaring the failure of government and police. In 2019, 62.4 cases of crimes against women (per lakh women population) were registered in UP as compared to 58.8 cases in 2018, showing an increase of 3.5 per cent. (National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data).

The horrifying incident in Hathras shows callousness on the part of Yogi as the state chief minister. A 19-year-old Dalit girl was gang- raped and fatally wounded in Hathras district on September 14th. She breathed her last a fortnight later at a hospital in Delhi. The victim, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste, was brutally raped by four upper-caste men in an upper-caste-dominated village. It appears that perpetrators are acting with impunity under CM Yogi's rule in the state in caste-based violence and crimes against women. The Chief Minister took cognisance of the crime only after the teenager's death, while the police cremated her body in the dead of the night despite protests from her family. The leering images of the police hurriedly cremating the victim have ﬂooded the internet.

Another woman, also a Dalit, and aged 22 years, died on the same day in Balrampur district after being sexually assaulted by two men; meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl was hospitalised following rape by her 20-year-old neighbour in Bulandshahr. The series of rape incidents highlights that the government in the state, which is notorious for 'overturning vehicles' to 'ensure justice,' has failed to protect women from horrendous atrocities.

News about women being subjected to sexual violence has become alarmingly common in Uttar Pradesh. The issue cannot be resolved merely by giving compensation or taking “strict action against the culprits”. The question is why the state government only wakes up after such incidents have taken place, and why it does not do anything to prevent them from happening. It must be noted that rape is also an expression of power, dominance over the victim; and therein lies the

11 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP complexities of the patriarchal society that has shaped a monster in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Yogi has turned UP into rape state.

What is also to be looked into is the role of the law-and-order machinery in the state. UP cops are often in the headlines for all the wrong reasons and one thing that is repetitive in nature is the callous handling of cases pertaining to women. It is a common cry that the victim approaching the police to register the wrongdoing is being subjected to humiliation by the policemen.

(https://www.timesnownews.com/mirror-now/in-focus/article/heinous-crimes- against-women-in-uttar-pradesh-are-glaring-failure-of-govt-police/660922). (https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/yogis-up-turns-into-rape-state-after- hathras-and-balrampur-8-yr-old-raped-in-azamgarh-a-teen-in-bulandshahr) (https://scroll.in/latest/974499/up-had-most-cases-of-violence-against-women-in- 2019-across-india-87-rapes-reported-per-day-ncrb) Violence against children

Uttar Pradesh tops in crimes against children and rape and accounts for more than 18% of such crimes. The National Crime Record Bureau's (NCRB) recent data suggests that Uttar Pradesh tops the list in crime against minors, with around 15% share of total crime against children in the country. (https://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/uttar-pradesh-tops-in-crime-against- children-rape-accounts-for-more-than-18/story-Kbohdl4x2qOvIhpf6cGFJI.html)

More than 60 children have died at a public hospital in UP, oﬃcials say, amid allegations that the oxygen supply was cut over unpaid bills. District oﬃcial Anil Kumar admitted that there was a "payment issue" with the supplier, but said the deaths could have been caused by "natural" causes as many patients were admitted in a "serious" condition. Atrocities against Dalits: Hathras gang rape

The horrendous rape and physical assault on a teenager Dalit girl that led to her death in Hathras on 14th September was initially reported as

12 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP an attempt of murder by one of the accused, though later in her statement to the magistrate, the victim named four accused as having raped her. The police registered a complaint only on 20th September 2020, and they were able to record the victim's statement only on 22nd September 2020.

The Hathras victim's brother's words are heart-rending: “We did not even get to see her face once. We don't even know if the person they cremated was my sister.” What do these words say about the police actions that provoked them? This narrative suggests the denial of the ethical right to stand with the parents of the victim and express their sympathies with the near and dear ones of the deceased teenager. It entails the demand for justice to the victim and her family. At the other end, the narrative by the state seems to dwell on self-serving expressions, such as “incitement to caste hatred” “conspiracies,” “sedition,” and ﬁling of ﬁrst information reports (FIRs) to deal with protests. Increasingly, the latter kind of narrative is becoming widespread and the police are lending themselves as its handiest creators even elsewhere. (Gopal Guru, Editorial, EPW October 10, 2020).

As was evident from the television reporting, some of the upper-caste members went ahead with conducting a mass meeting in support of the accused in the case, thus disrupting the law-and-order situation in the vicinity. In this regard, what is more astonishing is the discriminatory response of the upper-caste community offered not in favour of the victim but in defence of the accused. The response is more shocking on two counts: ethical and legal. Ethical conviction, if not compulsion, is necessary particularly for a sentient human being to at least refrain from siding with the accused if not expressing grief over the loss of a human being. It is not the benumbing brutal rape that has emotionalising impact on the upper-caste consciousness, but what rules such consciousness is the caste-consciousness that suddenly jumps out of the upper-caste- skin. What is at issue here is the caste consciousness that trumps both moral and legal consciousness. Caste consciousness weighs heavily on the moral judgment of some members of the upper-caste community, thus making the latter both indifferent and insensitive to the tragedy inflicted on the victim. (Gopal Guru, Editorial, EPW October 17,

13 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP 2020, p. 7). According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data of 2019, all States barring the Union Territories recorded 3,91,601 cases of crimes against women and Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 59,853 cases. From 2015 to 2017, UP had the greatest number of atrocities registered against Dalits, with an accelerating trend of 8,357 in 2015, 10,426 in 2016 and 11,444 in 2017.

In terms of atrocities against Dalits, Uttar Pradesh is in the prime position, accounting for 17% of the crimes against the 20% of India's Dalit population that it houses. The enormity of this number reveals a mindset that is deeply entrenched in the caste system; a mindset revels in a sense of superiority arbitrarily granted by birth. Although UP was ﬁfth in crime rate against Dalits in 2019, registered crimes against Dalits—many are not recorded—in UP rose 47% over four years to 2018, according to the latest available data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). In 2019, the state, with about 16% of the country's population, also accounted for more than 25% of crimes against women and girls and gang rapes, according to the NCRB. At least three more rapes were reported the day after the death of the Hathras girl, who the police claim was not raped. Violence against Christians

A recent report titled 'Hate and Targeted Violence against Christians in India' has shed fresh light on a series of instances of lynching and violence faced by members of India's minority Christian community that accounts for just over 2 per cent of the population of the country. The report prepared by the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) of the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) says: “The absolute sense of impunity generated in the administrative apparatus of India by the Corona pandemic lockdown, and the consequent absence of civil society on the streets and in the courts, has aggravated the environment of targeted hate and violence against Christians in major states and the National Capital territory, as seen in the data available till June 2020.”

Releasing the half-yearly report on violence against minority Christian community in India, the Religious Liberty Commission of

14 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFIRLC) said it registered 135 cases of lynching, community repudiation and concerted eﬀorts to stop worship and gospel-sharing in the ﬁrst six momentous and eventful months of 2020. The 33-page Report titled "Hate and Targeted Violence against Christians in India" stated that the situation has worsened as even in normal times, the police were loath to register cases while communally motivated crime is either unreported, or under-reported. Uttar Pradesh, ruled by the Bharathiya Janata Party with Yogi, a religious abbot or head of the Gorakhnath sect's main temple in the eponymous eastern city of Gorakhpur, has the dubious distinction of topping the persecution scale with 32 cases of hate crimes." 366 incidents of hate and targeted violence against Christians in India were recorded by EFIRLC in 2019. https://bit.ly/2Wa1oov

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15 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Horror of Muslim Hunt

The headline of an international news portal about his appointment as the CM was “India's prime minister just selected an anti-Muslim ﬁrebrand to lead its largest state” which reﬂects the international image of the racist monk. (hps://www.vox.com/world/2017/3/20/14982146/modi-india-muslim-yogi- adityanath-incitement)

Notorious for rabid anti-Muslim stand, this saﬀron-clad monk is a politician with criminal past and there were several criminal cases against him which all were withdrawn by him once he assumed the post of chief minister in UP. The FIRs against him in Gorakhpur, Allahabad and other places were illustrative of his criminal proclivity. It is this criminal who now as the chief minister is engaged in abusing the constitutional powers vested with him. All those cases were for disrupting communal harmony by attempted murder, criminal intimidation, and rioting, instigating violence on communal grounds, whipping up communal divide and spreading hatred among the people. As the qualiﬁcation of Modi to get elected as the prime minister of the country had been his irrefutable role and unremorseful stand in the 2002 Muslim genocide in Gujarat, Ajay Bisht's competency to be appointed as the chief minister of UP is his uncompromising hatred against Muslims which he had openly shown at many instances.

Some of the explicit communally charged anti-Muslim activities of the Yogi government are listed below:

16 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP · Yogi Government has singled-out Muslim religious schools to provide video evidence that their students had sung the Indian national anthem during Independence Day celebrations. (The Economist, 17 August 2017) · The UP police have forced on thousands of scared residents—mostly Muslim—“good-behaviour” bonds, worth exponentially more than their income, deterring protests against the citizenship law. · On 29 February 2020, private-school teacher Mujahidul Islam was, as he put it, “in a state of shock” because the UP government has demanded from him a good-behaviour bond of Rs. 50, 00,000, or 416 times his monthly income. Similar notices were served on 2,000 people in Aligarh, 100 km southwest of Sambhal—one of the epicentres of protest against the CAA, witnessing riots and police action. No clear state-wide ﬁgure is available, but such notices are estimated to be in the thousands. The majority of those who compelled to sign were Muslims and poor, afraid of the police and the legal process, largely without criminal records and signing without question because they were relieved at not being arrested. The bonds are almost similar to the ones people with criminal cases must sign when they are released on bail. These notices have created a lot of fear in the community and people fear that their property might be attached by the government, if they do not obey. · The UP government used to attach property of alleged rioters or shame them on billboards even if they are acquitted in a criminal case. Drafted within days to bypass adverse court rulings, Ordinance No. 2 permits the state to begin parallel civil proceedings in the same case. The UP government raised hoardings listing 57 alleged “rioters”, along with their names, pictures and addresses. On 12 March 2020, a bench of two justices of the Supreme Court told the UP government that there was no law to support its action of putting up gigantic hoardings with names, and addresses, for persons allegedly involved in the destruction of public property

17 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. On 15 March 2020 there emerged a law to support the government: Ordinance No. 2 of 2020 was passed, empowering the government to publish personal details of individuals allegedly involved in the destruction of public property. · As many as 41 minors were detained and tortured in UP in the wake of anti-CAA protests that erupted after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was enacted, finds a new report by HAQ Centre for Child Rights. The minors interviewed by the fact- finding team said they had been beaten with batons. Close to 41 minors were detained and subjected to custodial torture. Of these, 22 minors were detained and tortured in Bijnor and 14 minors in Muzaffarnagar. (Brutalizing Innocence, Jointly published by: Quill Foundation Citizens Against hate HAQ: Centre for Childs Rights, Delhi. hps://www.haqcrc.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/02/brutalizing-innocence-report.pdf). The report contains documentary evidence of the nature of violence, methods of custodial torture and intimidation. India is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Child Rights that upholds a child's right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly and bans any form of custodial torture. · On December 19, 2019, chief minister Yogi swore to take 'badla' (revenge) on those who had vandalised public property during the protests. Footage by TV channels including NDTV shows police ransacking homes belonging to minority communities. The full report is available at: hps://www.haqcrc.org/new-at-haq/brutalizing-innocence-detenon- torture-criminalizaon-of-minors-by-up-police-to-quell-an-caa- protests/ · Along with the spectre of love jihad, UP Muslims are regularly being hounded, attacked and in some cases even killed on the charges of cow slaughter, which also remains banned in India. Over the last three years more than 50 people, a majority of them Muslims, have been killed by Hindu vigilante groups, while scores of others were injured. 18 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP · During December 2019, the BJP central government slapped the discriminatory citizenship law i.e., Citizenship (Amendment) Act that aims to strip tens of thousands of Muslims of their citizenship. Yogi government forcefully tried to block any type of opposition inside the state registering so many cases against those who rose against CAA. Anti-CAA protesters were detained and non-bailable arrests, lathi-charge and teargas on protesters were carried out. · Despite section 144, people came out to protests in Lucknow and Sambhal against CAA. These areas also saw violent protests. Around 200 protesters were arrested for peaceful protest in Lucknow. In Varanasi, 69 people were arrested under non-bailable sections. Anti-CAA protests were seen in 24 districts of UP. Police action against the protestors caused in 24 deaths, 1,200 charge-sheets and the filing of 5,000 unnamed FIRs in the state. · The Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU) made a report after conducting its own inquiry into the violence that took place on campus on the night of December 15, 2019. The report showed the unwarranted use of violence by the police on the students. Videos have recorded the use of stun grenades, rifles, stone pelting, abusive language and communal slurs, ruthless beating by the police and other forces. · United States Commission for International Religious Freedom, 2017 Annual Report – India reported that Yogi has called for laws to regulate the Muslim population: hps://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/USCIRF_Tier2_India.pdf

Began with Slaughterhouses

Yogi's Muslim hunt begins with the raids on slaughterhouses, most of which are owned by Muslims, immediately after he took charge as the chief minister. This was a targetted act to destroy the livelihood of poor Muslims in the lower strata of the society. Many Muslims were

19 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP shot down by the police and lynched by fanatic right-wing mobs alleging them of cow-slaughter and beef-eating. The killers of such mobs are very confident of their impunity that they proudly say, “the police is on our side because of the government.” (hps://theologicalindian.com/amp/exclusive/up-muslims/). The words of Yunis Qureshi, a butcher “Ever since this government has come in, I feel like people look at me and see a Muslim for the first time. They have shut down our businesses, changed the food we eat. . . . Of course, we are going to feel persecuted because we're Muslims,” reveals how alienated and afraid are the Muslims and how their livelihood has been destroyed. (hps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/cows-are-sacred-to- indias-hindu-majority-for-muslims-who-trade-cale-that-means-growing- trouble/2018/07/15/9e4d7a50-591a-11e8-9889-07bcc1327f4b_story.html) Scapegoat Dr. Kafeel Khan

Case against Dr. Kafeel Khan who tried to save the lives of infants dying due to lack of oxygen is a classic example of ruthlessness and vindictive face of a racial ruler. Khan was removed on charges of dereliction of duty and carrying out private practice. On 2 September 2017, Khan was arrested after a court had issued a non-bailable warrant.

Dr. Kafeel Khan, a pediatrician from the BRD Hospital in Gorakhpur, the safe and favourite turf of Yogi, was the prominent Muslim that the Yogi government intermittently bully and harass. He was charged with sections of culpable homicide and arrested, when scores of infants were dying in the neonatal unit of the hospital. The deaths were attributed to lack of oxygen; supply of which was stopped by the suppliers due to huge outstanding payments. At this crisis Dr. Kafeel Khan tried to purchase oxygen cylinders by paying from his own pocket in an attempt to save the valuable lives of the infants. This was accused to be an unpardonable 'crime' by Yogi and the doctor was imprisoned.

While in prison, Khan wrote a 10-page letter, of what actually have occurred at BRD Hospital due to the oxygen supply being cut. He claimed that he contacted the head of department, the principal and

20 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP acting principal of BRD, the district magistrate of Gorakhpur, the chief medical superintendent of BRD Medical College, and his other colleagues to alert them about the gravity of the situation. He narrated that he went out to purchase oxygen cylinders himself. He was able to get 250 cylinders together, paying for them from his pocket. He carried some cylinders in his car and arranged with the Deputy Inspector General of Police for a truck and manpower from the Armed Border Force to deliver the others. In April 2018, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) released a statement in defence of Khan, arguing that he had been framed. Over 200 health professionals and allied activists wrote a letter to UP chief minister, Yogi demanding justice for Khan, his immediate release and the dropping of “false charges” against him. On 25th April 2018, Khan was released on bail after 9 months of imprisonment. The court ruled that there was no evidence of medical negligence on his part.

On 10th June 2018, Khan's brother, Kashif Jameel, was shot by unidentiﬁed assailants who were on motorbikes. On 27th September 2019, Khan was acquitted of all charges in relation to the 2017 Gorakhpur Hospital deaths.

Khan was arrested in Mumbai on 13th December 2019 by a special task force of the UP police for offences under the National Security Act 1980, in relation to a speech made by him at Aligarh Muslim University earlier that month during the Citizenship Amendment Act protest. The Uttar Pradesh Police filed an FIR accusing Khan of committing an offence under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, which relates to "Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony". The FIR alleged that Khan's speech amounted to criminal offence because it "sowed the seeds of discord and disharmony" amongst students, and included disparaging remarks against the RSS and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

He was granted bail on 10th February 2020 by an Aligarh court, but was re-arrested on 13th February 2020 and charged with oﬀences under the National Security Act, before his actual release from jail. Allahabad High Court, on 1st September 2020, acquitted him of all

21 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP charges. The Court found that the speech "gives a call for national integrity and unity among the citizens. The speech also deprecates any kind of violence." The High Court noted that the evidence provided by the prosecution was insuﬃcient to warrant charges under the National Security Act, and that Khan had been denied the chance to examine the evidence led against him. The Court observed that this constituted a violation of Khan's constitutional rights, and accordingly set aside his detention. Case of Faizal Khan

Section 153A has been repeatedly and wrongly invoked by the UP police to implicate protestors and minorities. For over two decades Faisal Khan, a peace and interfaith activist, used religion to combat hatred. On 3rd November 2020, the UP police arrested Khan from his Jamia Nagar residence in Delhi on charges of “promoting enmity between groups”, “injuring or deﬁling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion” and “public mischief”, under sections 153A, 295 and 505 IPC, respectively, for performing namaz at a temple during his inter-faith campaign on which he visited 15 Hindu temples and recited Hindu scripture.

Khan's initial 14-day judicial custody was extended continually, despite the fact that he tested positive for Covid-19 right after arrest. He was jailed for 45 days before his release on 19th December 2020 by the Allahabad High Court, after two lower courts rejected bail. Khan has worked as a Gandhian activist for over 20 years. Yet, the only thing that got highlighted is his Muslim identity which the BJP derides. Atrocities on anti-CAA activists

The anti CAA protest during the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 turned out to be the fertile ground for the Yogi government to bully, hunt and kill Muslims.

Out of the total victims killed in various parts of UP during the anti- CAA protests, 21 deaths resulted from bullet injuries, one minor was

22 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP crushed in the stampede following lathi-charge, and one died of head injury caused by hitting with a stone. All of the killed were Muslims and the death toll is Firozabad (7), Meerut (5), Kanpur (3), Bijnor (2), Sambhal (2), Lucknow, Muzaﬀarnagar, Rampur and Varanasi (1 each). (hps://www.newsclick.in/who-were-23-people-killed-during-an-caa- nrc-protests).

Charge sheets were ﬁled against 297 people for their alleged involvement in the protests against the CAA at the iconic Ghanta Ghar in Lucknow, on December 19, 2019. Out of those arrested, action has been taken against 68 accused under provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, while 28 persons were charged under the U.P. Control of Goondas Act, 1970. Non-bailable warrants were issued against 43 accused in the same case. As Hardcore goondas roam around…

The irony is that provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti- Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, and U.P. Control of Goondas Act, 1970 were invoked against people who had democratically fought for their right to live in the country where they were born, while the real hardcore goondas, gangsters and anti- socials were roaming free across the state with impunity.

Activists belonging to many civil rights groups, opposition political parties and community organisations were rampantly arrested for anti-CAA protests. “The conspiracy of some organisations, including the Popular Front of India, was found behind the violent demonstration. Oﬃcials of these organisations were also arrested and sent to jail. We plan to impose the NSA on the 18 accused," said a high police oﬃcer. Many Popular Front activists including its UP- state ad-hoc committee convener Wasim Ahmed (Lucknow), members Mufti Mohammad Shahzad (Gaziyabad) and Qari Naasirudeen (Bijnor) were implicated in false cases. When Wazim Ahmed was granted bail after spending many days in jail, police prevented his release by implicating him in another false case. He along with many others was threatened with recovery notice. Mufti

23 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Mohammed Shahzad who was on bail, evidently as revenge for his act of ﬁling petition against police in High Court, was re-arrested by the police.

Prominent amongst the charge-sheeted are Sadaf Jafar, a social activist and Congress leader; the lone woman arrested in Lucknow following the protest on December 19th was in jail for two weeks. Chief of UP Congress minority cell Shahnawaz Alam; human rights activist and founder of the Rihai Manch Mohammad Shoaib, were also detained for a month at the Lucknow district jail for allegedly participating in protests at Parivartan Chowk in the city. Retired Indian Police Service oﬃcer SR Darapuri was also one of the accused. The police had arrested Darapuri and Sadaf Jafar along with hundreds of others in December. Student activist Sharjeel Usmani too was arrested by the police in connection with the protest.

Many including Sadaf Jafar, S.R. Darapuri, Mohammad Shoaib and Robin Verma were served notice to cough up more than Rs 64 lakhs for vandalism. The notice read: "You have to pay Rs 64,27,637 within seven days for public property damage during the protest.” Darapuri told that he was under house arrest and did not take part in any demonstration. Still, they sent him notices more than once to attach his property.

On December 16, Internet access on mobile phones was suspended in 21 districts of UP, including Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Agra, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Mathura, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bareli, Firozadad, Pilibhit, Rampur, Saharanpur, Shamli, Sambhal, Amroha, Mau, Azamgarh and Sultanpur. In Muzaffarnagar, it was reported that mobile service was suspended only in Muslim localities, while broadband internet services were also shut off in some cities including Lucknow and Ghaziabad. “Pakistan or Khabristan”

In Varanasi, about 70 persons including notable social and political activists, students, elderly persons, and young women were jailed. Omar Rashid, journalist with 'The Hindu' was badly humiliated and

24 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP intimidated by the police and threatened with arrest due to his Kashmiri identity.

Moulana Asad Raza Hussaini, a 66-year-old, Shia scholar, was dragged out from a madrasa and brutally beaten up by the police. Haji Hamid Hasan, a 72-year-old timber trader in Muzaffarnagar has complained that about 30 police officials (some in plainclothes) barged into his two-storey house at 11 pm on 20th Dec and assaulted him with rifle butt and sticks. The police official vandalised the house, breaking washbasins, bathroom fittings, bed, furniture, fridge, washing machine and utensils. They looted at gunpoint the jewelry and cash of Rs 5 lakh kept in the almirah which Hasan recently arranged for the weddings of his two granddaughters. The policemen told him that “Muslims have only two places, Pakistan or Kabristan."

In Muzaﬀarnagar, cops barged into many houses and arrested close to a hundred people. They broke 200 vehicles at midnight and barged open the main gates and houses of Muslims. Policemen smashed cars, beat up kids, pillaged homes, thrashed women, and elderly people. Apparently, they also looted money and jewelry from Muslim homes. 2 Mosques were destroyed.

Mohamed Faizal, a practicing young lawyer at the Kota Bar Association of Rajasthan Bar Council, went to Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh on the call of local people to provide legal aid to the victims aﬀected by the police in the anti CAA Protest. While he was discharging his duty as a lawyerhe was arrested by the police and sent into jail, in the evening of December 23, at Shamli.

25 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Police Violence without Respite

Many more incidents reported in Hindi and Urdu media are quoted here:

Ø 23/03/2020: Prayagraj: There was a protest going on for 72 days at Roshan Bagh Mansoor Ali Park in Khuldabad against CAA. The administration ﬁled case against 17 named and 100 unnamed people under Epidemic Act, when the protesters refused to end the protest during lockdown.

Ø 14/05/2020: Aligarh: NSA against Dr. Kafeel Khan falsely accused of delivering hate speech at AMU during anti-CAA protests.

Ø 29/05/2020: Aligarh: Student leader Farhan Zubairi was arrested as an accused in 12 cases including pelting stones on the vehicle of Superintendent of Police. Farhan belonged to Islamnagar in Janpad Badayun and was a student of MSW at AMU. He was one of 1100 students booked for violence in AMU during anti CAA protests.

Ø 18/06/2020: Lucknow: 6 accused of vandalism and arson in Lucknow during anti-CAA/NRC protests Mohsin, Aslam, Ayaz, Salman, Mullu alias Waris and Rehan were sent on judicial remand under Gangster Act. About 55 people were booked under this act in Lucknow; 25 from Thakurganj and 15 each from Qaiser Bagh and Hasanganj. 10 out them were rearrested.

Ø 19/06/2020: Lucknow Police had sent notice to anti-CAA women protesters including Sumaia Rana d/o Munawwar Rana (Urdu Poet), Usma Parveen, Sadaf Jafar et al for cases ﬁled under 143,147,188,353 of IPC.

Ø 05/06/2020: National Security Act (NSA) imposed on 4 accused of rioting on 23 Feb during anti CAA protests in

26 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Aligarh - Imran, Anwar r/o Bhujpura, Sabir alias Milan r/o Kanjran and Faheemuddin r/o Khaidora. Two of them had got bail earlier, but the administration imposed NSA on all saying that the peaceful environment could be disturbed once they are released. Ø 4/07/2020: Sulaiman was killed during anti-CAA violence in Bijnor on 20th Dec 2019. Sulaiman's brother Shoaib had ﬁled a complaint against SHO Rajesh Solanki, Ashish Tomar, Mohit and 3 other policemen for shooting Sulaiman when he was returning after oﬀering namaz. SIT claimed that the allegation that Police were killing in fake-encounters as baseless.

False cases in Yogi tool-kit

The following cases will tell us the illogical and unwise acts of police trying to continuously harass the people under the cover of punishing the wrongdoers during the Citizenship protests:

The administration sealed a welding workshop in Khurram Nagar owned by Mohammad Nafees, accused of vandalism and arson in Hazratganj area on December 19th, 2019. The city administration put on auction two shops in Hasanganj area, with one of the properties to be auctioned not owned by the person served the recovery notice. The two shops were a big garment store, NY Fashion Bazaar, and a junk shop. Dharamveer Singh who worked as an assistant manager at NY Fashion Bazaar was arrested on December 19 and booked for rioting and attempt to murder apart from sections under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. He was released on bail after a month but received recovery notice regarding NY Fashion Bazaar. He said he was served the notice regarding property attachment while in jail.

The other property was Mahenoor Choudhary's junk shop in

27 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Khadra area. Choudhary said the order was a big blow for people like him struggling to make ends meet since the lockdown. Denying anything to do with the December 19 protests, Choudhary said, “I was merely passing by when I saw a crowd and stopped to see what was happening. Police took a photograph of me at that time. I am not seen indulging in any kind of violence.” Choudhary was arrested from his home in Khadra on December 24. Facing the same charges as Dharamveer, he too spent a month in custody before bail. He adds that he had failed to reply to the recovery notice earlier as he was in jail. The administration has sealed the store which was owned by his family members.

Mohammad Kaleem was arrested as he failed to pay the damages. Kaleem is among 13 people ordered to pay Rs 21.76 lakh as damages in the Hasanganj area. Kaleem's wife Nargis says she cannot understand why he was arrested again, having been jailed for a month in December.

The UP government, infringing the privacy and dignity, a basic human right of the citizens, erected hoardings at key points in the state displaying the photos of the Muslims arraigned in the anti-CAA protests.

Yogi never put a halt to his Muslim-hunt. It continues.

“Love Jihad Law” to promote a lie

Apart from the physical attack and torture of Muslims, Yogi enacted a law, unofficially referred as “love jihad law,” banning religious conversion. To create an environment that justify the new law, Hindutva centres unleashed a fierce false campaign that Hindu girls are widely being lured by Muslim boys with an ulterior motive of converting them to Islam. The law is specifically targetting Muslims was evident from the very first

28 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP case charged under this law. A Muslim young man was arrested for marrying a Hindu girl, who asserted that she married the Muslim youth on her own volition.

Witch-hunt under cover of 'Hathras'

On 14th September 2020, a 19-year-old Dalit girl was gang- raped and killed in Hathras by four upper caste men. This sparked outrage across the country. Instead of ensuring justice, the UP Government has been trying to cover up its failures by scapegoating Popular Front in this incident. It is as part of this script that UP Police arrested two Muslim student leaders Atiqur Rahman and Masood Ahmed along with Kerala journalist Siddiq Kappan and a taxi driver Muhammad Alam, alleging all of them as Popular Front men. Stringent laws including UAPA have been charged on these innocents, making their release a distant possibility. As per the police story itself, they were on the way to visit family of the victim many days after the incident. Still, they were booked under repressive laws for an alleged crime that never happened. Later, Campus Front of India General Secretary Rauf Shareef was also jailed by alleging ﬁnancing this imaginary crime. It was the Enforcement Directorate that arrested Rauf in Kerala charging a money laundering case and later he was implicated in the Hathras accusing him of funding the trip of Siddik Kappan and others. It is clear that the ED is colluding with UP police in all these for hunting innocent Muslim student activists and journalists. Subsequently the arrested persons were pressurised to concede that for anything and everything Popular Front is the mastermind.

Barring a ﬁve-day interim bail on humanitarian grounds granted to Siddiq Kappan, all of them are still languishing in jail in UP. Rauf Shareef, the national secretary of Campus Front of India was snatched by the UP police from Kochi, immediately after he was granted bail by the Special Court (PMLA), in a case 29 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP charged by the ED; and he was taken to UP linking him with the false case charged against Siddiq Kappan and others.

Unending state violations

Anti-democratic activities of the Yogi government do not end in the above arrests and property attachments. Dissenting voices, critiques, journalists reporting the ineﬃciency and illegalities of the rulers, etc. too are under the threat of government actions against them.

One cannot expect a policy and approach that duly respects the Constitution of India, democracy, and rule of law from chief minister Adityanath who himself is implicated in many serious criminal cases in the past throughout his spiritual-cum-political career.

***

30 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Vendetta against Popular Front

From independence till 2014, Uttar Pradesh had been ruled by secular parties or coalitions of all ideological varieties. All of them failed or showed no commitment to the very ideals they claimed to adhere to. Every time, when large scale violence erupted in the state, these governments were interested in retaining their political power rather than maintaining communal harmony and ensuring social justice or in providing basic security to minorities and Dalits. Victims of anti-Muslim violence or anti-Dalit atrocities, which happen comparatively more frequently in the state, were hardly given justice. Meanwhile all secular parties ignored the fact that fascist forces were strengthening their base in the state.

It is under these circumstances that Popular Front of India began its activities in Uttar Pradesh in early 2010, mainly focusing on plans and programmes aimed at empowering the backward classes. The organisation worked peacefully and democratically by highlighting the issue of human rights violations and Hindutva fascist assaults on Muslims and other weaker sections. Popular Front has always been concerned about the erosion of secular forces in the state. The anti- Muslim violence that occurred in Western UP in late 2013, which took dozens of lives and left nearly 70,000 poor Muslims refugees, was the worst fallout of this erosion. The polarisation was almost complete.

Popular Front did extensive relief work among the victims and supported to the extent possible their legal struggle for justice. The violence was almost like the last nail on the coﬃns of the major

31 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP secular parties in the state. The two elections that followed, the 2014 Lok Sabha election and the 2017 assembly election, proved this fact. BJP victory in 2014 in UP was crucial for the party on its ascendance to Delhi.

In 2017, after a highly polarising campaign, BJP won a sweeping victory in the Assembly election and Ajay Mohan Bhisht aka Yogi Adityanath was appointed as the Chief Minister. Yogi has been a frightening ﬁgure in the state. He founded the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a rabidly Hindu sectarian and anti-Muslim organisation. In power too, Yogi acted no diﬀerent than the head of Hindu Yuv Vahini. Yogi showed little interest in anything that helps improving the living condition of the people. Even at the time of a humanitarian crisis like children dying in hospitals due to lack of oxygen, he diverted people's attention through his divisive discourse full of hatred against Muslims and secular politics. Extrajudicial killings, anti-Muslim violence, caste atrocities, state supported vigilantism in the name of cow protection and the mob lynching mark the term of Yogi rule. Criticism of the government sparked vicious vindictive actions. Yogi government was particularly intolerant towards Popular Front of India and its activities in the state. Anti-Muslim media provided all kinds of support from the very beginning in vilifying the organisation, making it easy for the UP police to harass members and supporters of the organisation.

Harassment for remembering Babri Masjid

In 2017, as part of the 25th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid Popular Front had held a nationwide campaign demanding the reconstruction of the historic Masjid on the same site it was demolished. As part of the campaign, organisation members and supporters in Uttar Pradesh had also put up posters in Uttar Pradesh. However, Meerut police ﬁled a case against the organisation members over the posters.

Disrupting campaign against mob-lynching

On 17th July 2019 Popular Front of India announced a nationwide campaign with the slogan, “Live without Fear, Live with Dignity”

32 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP highlighting the need of collective efforts for providing security to the lives of minorities and weaker sections vulnerable to the ongoing Hindutva mob attacks and hate crimes in the country. Poster campaigns, hand bill distribution, street corner meets, seminars and public meetings were held across the country as planned, except in Uttar Pradesh and adjacent Delhi. Muslim youths and members of Popular Front were harassed for sticking posters in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Police foisted false cases in Shamli and Meerut and arrested two persons. Delhi police kept coming to the national office in Shahin Bagh in the name of inquiry. When the organisation filed a bail application before the Shamli SDM court for one of the supporters who was arrested for campaigning, the SDM dragged on the proceedings and delayed bail. Sec 295 of IPC was invoked for the posters carrying a message against mob violence, in Meerut. Whose religious sentiment was hurt by the posters or what was illegal in the content of the posters were never explained. The fact is that Yogi government did not like victims raising their voice against RSS fascism.

As part of the campaign, the organisation had planned a press conference in Meerut on July 22nd, 2019. But it was disrupted by the local police without any reason. Minutes before the scheduled time, the Press Club cancelled the booking, stating that it was under pressure from the police to do so. Later, the organisers decided to hold the same at the oﬃce of Social Democratic Party of India in Meerut, where the police detained the organisers and blocked the event. Media persons were told by the police to keep distance from the organisers of the campaign.

Popular Front was made scapegoat by UP Police to discredit and suppress Citizenship agitations. After the passage of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, Uttar Pradesh, like many other states in the country, witnessed massive popular uprising against it.

There were people belonging to all parties and groups and many known and unknown activists belonging to diﬀerent groups in the anti-NRC-CAA-NPR protests. The participants were booked under stringent laws like UAPA, NSA, Sedition, etc. However Popular Front of India as an organisation was particularly targetted and its

33 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP leaders were depicted as the masterminds of the alleged violence. In fact, it was police violence everywhere on peaceful protesters.

Wasim Ahmed, the convener of PFI's ad-hoc committee, was visited at his home by the police on the evening on 18th of December 2019. He was not there at that time. The police asked his family to sign a notice, but they refused to oblige. The police left saying that “We have seen the house and can come again anytime”. At night the next day, Wasim went to Hazratganj Police Station with some friends to ﬁnd his missing brother Samin. He, along with his two friends, were seated inside. Then nothing was known about them until the 22nd. On 21st night the police raided the PFI guest house in Khurram Nagar. The neighbours said that the police came there in 12 vehicles and stayed inside for more than one hour. Nadeem Ahmed and Mohammad Ashfaq, who were sleeping there, were arrested. The police took away all their belongings including computers. When asked about the role of PFI members in the demonstration, they said that “the members were advised not to participate in this demonstration because it was not clear which organisation had given the call for the protest. Who will do what was unclear?” But the police alleged that they found anti-CAA placards, banners and pamphlets in the oﬃce. When asked about this, they said that those were from the December 11th protest demonstration called in Lucknow by the Social Democratic Party of India. After the demonstration, the placards were kept in the guest house.

Wasim Ahmed, Qari Ashfaq and Mohammed Nadeem were later slapped with serious charges and presented before media as the "masterminds" of the violence. Two of them were brought before the media by police by covering their face to add a terror-tag to the whole episode. UP Police failed to prove their unfounded allegations against Popular Front in courts and the arrested leaders were released on bail. Targeting Popular Front ahead of Bhumi Pujan (Courtesy: newslaundry.com)

More than 30 Muslim men, mostly aﬃliated to Popular Front of India, were arrested, detained or visited by the Uttar Pradesh police in the

34 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP days before and after the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony for the Ram temple in Ayodhya on August 5th, 2020.

At least 17 men were arrested or detained in Bahraich, four each in Barabanki and Sitapur, three in Lucknow, and one in Varanasi. The police also raided the houses of at least 10 alleged Popular Front members in Shamli and eight in Muzaﬀarnagar on August 4. Arrested for Facebook post

Sarwar Ali, 25, lives in Shamli town and runs a Unani pharmacy in Panipat, Haryana. On 8th August 2020, at around 2:45 am, Sarwar's family were woken up by policemen jumping onto their roof from a neighbour's.

Sarwar's cousin recalled that the policemen made their way downstairs, dragged out Sarwar and abused his father, Abbas Ali, 50, when he tried to intervene. Sarwar was taken to the Kairana police station, where he was thrashed and his phone was taken away, the cousin added.

It wasn't the ﬁrst time the UP police had barged into Sarwar's home. On 18th December 2019, a day before the protest marches against the new citizenship law were due to take place in diﬀerent cities across India, Sarwar was detained. The next day, another of his cousins was taken away as well. They spent over three weeks in jail before being released on bail.

When Sarwar's relatives went to the police station and asked why their sons had been detained, a policeman on duty allegedly said, “Your sons are terrorists. We will send them to a place where you would never be able to see them.”

In an FIR registered at the Kairana police station on August 9th, Sarwar was charged under penal provisions “provocation with intent to cause riot”; “promotion of enmity between diﬀerent groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language”; “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings”. He was also charged under section 67 of the IT Act which punishes

35 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP the publication or transmission of obscene material in electronic form.

The FIR is based on a complaint by one Sonu Kumar. Kumar claims that he was surﬁng Facebook and came across certain “incendiary messages” posted from Sarwar's account. The posts amounted to contempt of the Supreme Court's judgement on the Babri Masjid dispute. The FIR states that it appeared to be a handiwork of groups such as Popular Front of India, Social Democratic Party of India, and All India Imams Council.

Popular Front is a socio-political organisation and SDPI an independent secular political party registered with the Election Commission. Imams Council is an association of Muslim religious scholars, clerics and teachers engaged in Islamic Da'wa work.

The Adityanath regime has accused Popular Front of orchestrating violence that broke out during the citizenship law protests in UP. In January 2020, his government sent a letter to the central home ministry seeking a ban on Popular Front.

Around 40 Popular Front supporters were arrested since December 2019 in connection with the anti-CAA protests in UP. They included four members of the group's state leadership (ad-hoc committee).

Booked for 'WhatsApp campaign'

An FIR registered at Lucknow's Kakori police station on August 5th accuses Abdul Majeed, 20, of trying to break communal harmony through a campaign on WhatsApp and Twitter to protest against the Bhoomi Pujan. The campaign used hashtags such as “Return Babri land to Muslims” and “Restore Article 370”. He admitted to running the campaign after he was detained, the FIR claims, and insisted that he would do so in the future as well.

The FIR claims that Majeed ran the campaign on WhatsApp groups “Broadcast”, of which he was the admin, and “AIICUP.”

36 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP He was booked under provisions punishable for “words uttered with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of a person”.

Asked whether such social media posts amounted to a penal offence, A Q Zaidi, a lawyer at the Allahabad High Court told, “Prima facie the tweets and the Facebook posts do not satisfy the requirements of sections invoked in the FIR. None of these posts contains anything provocative, inflammatory or calling for violence. Hence, no offence appears to be made out. Every person has the right to the freedom of speech and expression and in this case also these posts fall within the protection of constitutional safeguards.”

'Encounter kar denge'

Qamaruddin, 34, owns a furniture shop in Jarwal, a town around 55 km from Bahraich city. On August 4th, 2020, he had stepped out to purchase wood from a wholesaler when he got a call from his friend, Sahibe Alam. “Daaroga - meaning a local police oﬃcial - wants to see you,” Sahibe Alam, 28, who has a shop selling motor parts, told him. He too had been summoned.

Qamaruddin and Sahibe Alam reached the Jarwal Road police station in the afternoon and waited for about three hours before being called in. “Which organisation do you work for?” the Circle Oﬃcer asked. They were associated with Popular Front, which, Qamaruddin and Sahibe Alam made sure to clarify, wasn't a banned group. 'There is AIMIM. Can't you work with them?” the oﬃcer allegedly retorted.

Qamaruddin and Sahibe Alam were taken into custody, where they were kept for two days and were subjected to interrogation by four plainclothes men from the police's Local Intelligence Unit. Two of them slapped Sahibe Alam while the other two hurled abuses at Qamaruddin, he recounted.

One of them allegedly also told Qamaruddin, “We will kill you in an encounter. Who do you think you are? This is the prime minister's programme, what are you up to?” He was referring to the Bhoomi

37 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Pujan ceremony where Narendra Modi would be the centre stage the next day.

In a press note issued on August 6th, the police said that they had arrested three men – Sahibe Alam, Qamaruddin and one Dr Aleem Ahmed – and booked them for spreading communally sensitive messages on Twitter and WhatsApp. They had all been arrested from Aleem's clinic in Bahraich city, the police added.

Qamaruddin rejected the allegations, pointing out that he owned only a simple Lava keypad phone and not a smartphone. So, there was no question of him running a social media campaign. Tortured in Police custody

Mohammad Nadeem, 28, was one of the 16 Popular Front members arrested in December 2019 for allegedly orchestrating the violence that broke out during the anti-CAA protests in Lucknow. He was bailed out after about a month.

On August 4th, 2020, the police again came looking for Nadeem at his home in Barabanki. He was out and they searched his house for an hour. At around 10:00 pm, Nadeem went to the local police station. He was asked to hand over his mobile phone because the police wanted to look at his Facebook posts. Nadeem refused to do so, and was immediately arrested. The next day, the police went back to his house and conﬁscated his younger brother Faheem's mobile and laptop. Faheem, who was pursuing a Master's in Social Work, had been using the laptop to take online classes during the lockdown.

Faheem said that he noticed rashes on his hand when he went to meet Nadeem in the police station. “They were marks left from beating with a belt,” he claimed.

While he was visiting his brother, Faheem alleged that he was forced to sign a document stating that the police had arrested Nadeem from outside their village and found weapons with him.

38 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Since completing his Master's in Library Science in 2017, Atikur Rahman, 25, had been trying to secure a Ph.D. He was preparing for an upcoming exam in the afternoon on August 4th, 2020, when a group of about 10 policemen landed at his home at Riawali Nagla village in Budhana tehsil of Muzaﬀarnagar. They asked for Atikur Rahman and when he identiﬁed himself, the SHO told one of the constables to click his photo with the young man. An argument ensued when Atikur asked them why they had clicked his picture. Atikur is the national treasurer of Campus Front of India.

In December 2019, Atikur was in Delhi and had participated in protests against the citizenship law there. Back in Muzaﬀarnagar, the police raided his house on December 19th and arrested his brother Mateen Chaudhary. He was released the following day.

In February, Atikur learned from a friend employed with a local media organisation that the police were still looking for him. So, on February 9th, he wrote to the District Magistrate complaining about harassment by the police. The complaint was listed on Jan Sunwai Portal, an online platform meant to address public grievances, but subsequently disposed of without recording Atikur's statement. Arrested, released, arrested again

Mohammad Iqbal, a teacher, runs a high school at Riawali Nagla village. In the late afternoon on August 4th, 2020, about a dozen policemen arrived at his house. “Are you putting up a poster of the Babri Masjid,” one of them asked Iqbal.

He claimed the policemen hurled abuses at him in front of his children and elderly family members. “Dehshat ho jati hai,” he recounted the experience. “We were terrorised.”

Iqbal's was one of eight houses in Muzaﬀarnagar that were raided by the police the day before the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony. Unlike several other Muslim men who were arrested, detained or raided around that time, Iqbal said he was not even a Popular Front supporter, let alone a member. “I did not participate in anti-CAA protests either,” he added.

39 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP At the time of the protests, though, the police had detained Iqbal's younger brother, Mohammad Shamshad, a B.Pharm student, for 24 hours. Iqbal recalled that when he and some of his relatives went to ﬁnd out why his brother had been detained, the Ratanpuri SHO told them, “Ghar wapsi kar lo.” He asked them to convert to Hinduism.

On February 1st, the police came again to their house, this time to arrest Iqbal. He was thrown behind bars and not allowed to meet his family, he said. When Iqbal demanded to know why he had been arrested, a Local Intelligence Unit oﬃcial slapped him and said, “You became Muslims in Aurangzeb's time. Now, come back to the Hindu fold.”

Iqbal was told to sign on a paper without reading it and when he refused, the same oﬃcial started beating him up with a cane and threatened to sodomise him with a baton. He was then booked under penal provisions related to rioting with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing hurt, disobeying a public servant's order, attempt to murder, and criminal conspiracy. He obtained bail from a magistrate's court on February 19th and was released. Legal aid to the victims of Police atrocities

Popular Front continued to pursue legal recourse against UP Police's atrocities and killings. Also, the organisation provided legal aid to more than hundred falsely implicated people leading to their release on bail. Popular Front also helped victims of police violence to approach the National Commission for Human Rights and higher officials of Uttar Pradesh government for their reparations. Presently, Popular Front members in Meerut are helping the National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO) and Social Democratic Party of India to fight the case of 5 killed in police firing.

The organisation ﬁled a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Allahabad High Court seeking a court-monitored judicial probe by a retired or sitting Supreme Court judge or High Court judge on the police violence happened on 19th December 2019 during citizenship protests and the court issued notice to the State government.

40 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Since then, the police started harassing Popular Front members and their families. Despite the police pressures to withdraw PIL and other complaints, they never bowed down. This is the reason why the organisation is continuously being targetted in UP. Arrest of Mufti Muhammed Shehzad

UP Police arrested Popular Front of India state ad-hoc committee member Mufti Mohammad Shehzad, from his house in Ghaziabad. According to his father Mohammad Omar, by 4:30 pm on the evening of June 5th, 2020, about 30 to 40 policemen stormed in to his house in Nekpur district of Ghaziabad and took him. Police refused to give any reason for the arrest, despite his family's repeated questions. Shehzad was the one behind the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Allahabad High Court. His family had also sent complaints about the Police harassments to SSP, DGP, Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court and NHRC. This may have made UP police furious enough to initiate the malicious proceedings against him. It took Shehzad six months to get out of jail in the cases.

Abduction of Kerala youths: another false terror plot

In mid-February 2021, two Popular Front of India activists, Anshad and Firoz from Kerala were kidnapped by the UP police from UP, while they were travelling in a train from Kathihar, Bihar to Mumbai. They were kept under custody and tortured for ﬁve days till their families lodged complaints in Kerala about them missing. Following the complaints, they were produced before the press; and the UP police, as usual, presented the cooked-up script that these two young men were arrested with explosives and they were planning to carry out blasts in UP! They too are jailed in UP.

The arrest of Anshad and Firoz is also part of the vindictive agenda against Popular Front. All the allegations made against them by UP Police lack credibility. They are Popular Front members and had visited West Bengal and Bihar for the expansion work of the

41 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP organisation. On 11th February morning 5:40 am, they boarded a train from Katihar (Bihar) to Mumbai. As per their families, their last contact was on the same day evening, after which they were not reachable on their phone. Their families ﬁled complaint at local police station in Kerala on 14th and 15th February. It was after ﬁling the complaint that the UP Special Task Force (STF) hurriedly called a press conference and presented a fabricated story of their arrest alleging plan and preparation for terror attacks. It is a clear case of kidnapping while on travel by UP Police when the train was passing through UP.

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42 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Yogi, Crime and Career

His name is Ajay Bisht and he was born on 5th June 1972 at Panchur in Uttarghand. Ajay is a Hindu Thakkur and has completed B.Sc in Mathematics. He left his home at the age of 21 for Ram Temple movement in the 90s. In 1994 Ajay Bisht changed his name as Yogi Adityanath.

Yogi's political journey began in 1996 when he was elected as a member of parliament (12th Lok Sabha) in 1998 from Ghorkhapur constituency, Uttar Pradesh. Since then, he has been elected from the same constituency in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.

Yogi is the founder of the Hindutva extremist group Hindu Yuv Vahini. In 2002 April, on the day of Ram Navami he formed HYV while he was a member of Indian parliament representing BJP. HYV is a private saﬀron army and terrorist group. The group has led various attacks against Muslims, Christians and Dalits. In 2005 Adityanath converted more than 5000 people of other faiths to Hindu religion. He says that mission of his life is to convert other religious believers to Hinduism.

Yogi's career of criminal nature in life and politics helped him to escalate to the position of chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. He became the 21st Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

Instead of focusing on the development of the state or the welfare of the people, Yogi has been in the business of targetting Muslims, the ﬁrst 'enemy' of the nation as deﬁned by Golwalker in his book

43 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP 'Bunch of Thoughts,” pursuing his declaration “I will not stop till I turn UP and India into a Hindu Rashtra.” (hp://zeenews.india.com/news/india/will-install-gauri-ganesh-in-every- mosque-says-yogi-adityanath_11543681.html). Yogi Adityanath, personiﬁcation of Hindutva

Since the crowning of Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the state has been turning into a police state. He carries the bad reputation of a Muslim-hater and it is his racial stand against Muslims which is warranted from a right-wing populist Hindutva ﬁrebrand, that made him the 'beloved' leader of Hindutva fascists.

He became a disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath, the chief of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindutva nationalist. Yogi Adityanath belongs to a speciﬁc tradition of Hindutva politics in Uttar Pradesh that the Mahant Digvijay Nath, who led the capture of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya for Hindus on 22nd December 1949, upheld. Both Digvijay Nath and his successor, Mahant Avaidyanath, belonged to the Hindu Mahasabha and were elected to the Parliament on this Hindutva political party ticket. After the BJP and the Sangh Parivar joined the Ayodhya movement in 1980s, the two constituents of Hindutva nationalism merged.

Adityanath was very much critical of BJP's moderate view which he termed as a dilution of the Hindutva ideology. With UP in its pocket, the BJP is now confident that this model of “development” and Hindutva can work. It can shed the pretense of being a party for all and go ahead to pursue its sectarian and communal agenda. For that a Yogi in UP and a Modi in Delhi, both polarising figures in different ways, are the perfect fit. Continuing Anti-Muslim Rhetoric and Mayhems

Adityanath has instigated violence against Muslims on more than one occasion. At an election rally in Jaunpur in October 2020, Adityanadh warned about the so-called “love jihad”: “Those who do not mend their ways, will be sent to their death journey (agar woh sudhre nahi toh Ram naam satya hai ki yatra nikalne waali hai).” 44 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP On March 24, 2017, Amnesty International released an unusual statement asking the new chief minister of India's largest state to publicly retract his anti-Muslim statements.

· “This is the century of Hindutva, not just in India but in the entire world,” he said. He once blamed Mother Teresa of being part of a conspiracy to Christianise India.

· Adityanath openly said that he hates the Taj Mahal because, in his view, it does not represent Indian culture (since it was built by Mughals, and Muslims in the country are seen as their lineage).

· Adityanath has praised the US President Donald Trump's decision to enact a ban on citizens from 7 Muslim- majority countries entering the United States and has called for India to adopt similar policies to tackle terrorism.

Venomous statements

Ajay Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath has on record a lot of shameful statements to his credit as an open hatemonger against Muslims and he is not seen controlling his tongue even after becoming the chief minister. Some of his hate-ﬁlled venomous statements against Muslims as reported by media are:

· “If they convert one Hindu girl, we'll convert 100 Muslim girls.” · “If we get the chance, we'll decorate every mosque with idols of Ganesh, Gauri and Nandi.” · “Hindu-Muslim cultures can never co-exist.” In the same meeting one of his followers ranted “dead bodies of Muslim women should be dug out and raped. The day when this country will become a 'Hindu Rashtra', it is

45 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP when Muslims' condition will be alike of Hindus in Pakistan”. While this speaker shouts on the stage and public cheers his views, the now UP CM Yogi Adityanath shares the stage with him and listens to his speech silently. hps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLXYzvI_FWs&feature=youtu.be (hps://archive.siasat.com/news/yogi-adityanaths-speaker-asks-rape- muslim-women-taking-them-out-graves-1356365/) · “We'd like to issue a warning, if one Hindu is killed then, in order to seek revenge we'll kill at least 100 Muslims.” · “If congress, SP, BSP believe in Ali, BJP believes in Bajrangbali.” · “In places where there are 10 to 20% minorities, stray communal incidents take place. Where there are 20 to 35% of them, serious communal riots take place and where they are more than 35%, there is no place for non- Muslims.” · “These people speak the language of terrorists. There is no difference between the language of Shah Rukh Khan and that of Hafiz Saeed. He (Shahrukh Khan) should remember that if a huge mass of people boycotts his films, he will also have to wander on the streets like a normal Muslim.” · “The thousands of women who have been gathered for two months in the Delhi suburb of Shaheen Bagh in protest against India's new citizenship law were “terrorists”. · “The protests happening at various places in Delhi are not because of the Citizenship Amendment Act,” said Adityanath, to roars from the orange-clad crowd gathered before him. “They are happening because these people want to prevent India from becoming a global power. Terrorists should be fed with “bullets not biryani”, he added.

46 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP (hps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/06/feed-them-bullets-not- biriyani-bjp-uses-delhi-elecons-to-stoke-religious-hatred)

Criminal cases against Yogi

Yogi Adityanath told in UP Assembly that about 20,000 cases against him and his party members were politically motivated. (hps://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/yogi-adityanath-case-withdrawal-against- self-others-1116811-2017-12-27). The large number of criminal cases against him shows the atrocious personality of the political leader Yogi. Some of the cases are listed below:

• Charges related to Attempt to murder. (IPC Section 307) • 1 case related to criminal intimidation. (IPC Section 506) • 1 case related to Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace. (IPC Section 504) • 1 case for endangering life or personal safety of others. • 2 cases for trespassing on burial places (IPC Section 297) • 2 cases for rioting, armed with deadly weapon (IPC Section 148) • 3 cases as punishment for rioting. (IPC Section 147) • 2 cases for promoting enmity (IPC Section 153 A) • 2 cases for deﬁling a place of worship (IPC Section 295) •1case for promoting mischief by ﬁre or explosive substance with intent to cause damage (IPC Section 435)

Yogi is one of the accused in the murder case of police constable Satyaprakash Yadev on Feb 10, 1999 in Maharaj district of UP. The victim was the gunman of Samajvadi Party leader Talat Aziz.

After Yogi became the Chief Minister, UP government has withdrawn the cases against him including the Muslim carnage in Muzafarnagar in 2013. The government in Uttar Pradesh has

47 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP recommended withdrawal of 38 cases against more than 100 accused in the deadly riots in Muzaﬀarnagar district that claimed at least 60 lives and displaced over 50,000 people as per reports. UP special secretary of law JJ Singh had directed Muzaﬀarnagar district magistrate Rajeev Sharma in January 2020 to withdraw all cases against Yogi, which shows the desolation of law and order under his regime.

Threat to coexistence

Yogi is shameless in spreading hate against Muslims openly as we have quoted earlier in this text. Mincing no words, he threatens to break the law and speaks against the coexistence of religions. His highly communal speeches deserve to be condemned. The question remains: Will a democracy let leaders like Yogi who remain in a position of Chief Minister of the largest state in India, to continue in that post? hps://thewire.in/polics/hindutva-adityanath-rss-bjp

48 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP Save UP now to save India for ever

If the police or investigative agencies can abduct two persons traveling from one state to another and present them before media as terrorists with their faces covered without worrying about any consequences, if the journey of a fact ﬁnding delegation on the way to visit family of a Dalit girl who was brutally raped and killed can be branded as an act of promoting violence, it is clear that Uttar Pradesh under Yogi has turned into a Jungle Raj where Indian Constitution is abused and rule of law is made a mockery.

The whole system of governance in UP has been deeply maligned with sectarianism and hard-core communalism. The incompetence to control crime, runs alongside suppression by its chief minister Yogi on cow-slaughter and on the small-scale beef trade, run largely by Muslims and Dalits. The misuse of preventive detention and other laws against dissenters, the encouragement of extra-judicial killings, campaign against so- called “love jihad” of Muslim men marrying Hindu women and indiﬀerence to court order are evidence that questions the continuance of the present government in UP.

The above acts of vendetta by UP government must be seen as the initial steps of a wider plan to relegate the entire population

49 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP of India as pawns in the Hindutva fascist political chess board. The fall of Uttar Pradesh cannot be sidelined as the fate of a single state. UP is now the laboratory of the new phase of Hindutva experiment of making religious minorities second- class citizens or non-citizens. If we fail in checking the breakdown of human values and democratic systems by saving the state from the clutches of present Yogi-led BJP government, there is every chance of entire India becoming UP in the near future. Hence the onus on the shoulders of all sane Indian citizens and their groups is to save UP now to save India for ever.

India's democratic secularists should raise their voice against the continuing injustices and brutalities in the state. The international community should also raise to the occasion to curb the UP-state terrorism which, if not checked, will be spread all over India.

Now India faces the prospect of Adityanath succeeding Modi — and we have abundant reason to fear what he will do to prove that he can accelerate the process of turning India into a Hindutva nationalist nation similar to Nazi Germany or fascist Italy. That should be of serious concern not just for Indians but also for the international community. As martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever aﬀects one directly, aﬀects all indirectly.”

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50 Religious Fascism -Yogi Raj in UP