T Raja Singh, a Telangana BJP MLA, held a gathering in Mumbai’s Mira Road area on Sunday (25th February) to commemorate Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s birth anniversary. The rally organized by the local Hindu organizations was conducted under heavy police presence. Reportedly the police, based on a Bombay High Court order, videotaped the demonstration to monitor hate speech.
Police initially had denied permission for the event due to the communal rioting that had erupted in the Naya Nagar area of Mira Road from 21st to 23rd January. One of the rally organizers then petitioned the High Court to overturn the police order, claiming that Raja Singh has not uttered any such speech since the Supreme Court’s hate speech judgment on 19th January. The HC then gave its approval, but only under specific conditions.
The MLA praised Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and stated that he would continue to strive for the Hindu religion and the cow protection campaign.
According to reports, patriotic and spiritual songs were played throughout the rally, which began at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Kashimira and ended at the SK Stone Junction on Mira Road.
T Raja, accompanied by local legislator Geeta Jain, spoke from a makeshift stage. Raja, who professed the value of ‘Akhand Hindu Rashtra’, spoke on Aurangzeb, asserting that the Mughal emperor destroyed several temples.
“Many people tried their best to stop me from coming to Mira Road, but your love pulled me here. It is the need of the hour for us to take a resolution to work towards forming a Hindu Rashtra and act against those involved in heinous acts like cow slaughter and love jihad,” the MLA said.
Raja informed the media before the rally that it had nothing to do with the elections. “I am shocked by the large police presence. It appears that social media had concerns about hate speech and violence, forcing them to adopt preventative measures. I wholeheartedly support the farmers and believe that the government should initiate talks to resolve the concerns amicably. Only the Modi government is capable of leading the country, and I am convinced that we will win over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections,” he added.
It is important to note that the Mira Road region in Mumbai is Muslim dominant area and has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. In June 2023, massive controversy erupted in the capital city of Maharashtra after one of the Muslim families living in a society on Mira Road, Mumbai brought two goats a day ahead of Bakrid (Bakra-eid, Eid-Ul-Adha). The society members happened to refuse the Muslim family to get the goats inside the society premises for slaughter and said that they wouldn’t allow any kind of slaughtering activity within the society premises. However, the chaos erupted after the Muslim family claimed that they were harassed by the society members.
In the second crucial incident that was reported recently in January 2024, the Islamists attacked Hindus with stones, iron rods, sticks, and bamboo, leaving over a dozen people who participated in rallies to commemorate the return of Lord Ram in Ayodhya injured.
In the incident reported from Mira Road, Mumbai, Islamists also disrespected the Hindu religion and hurt the Hindu religious sentiments by tearing flags bearing images of Lord Hanuman. Islamists are also said to have vomited over the flags causing disrespect to the Hindu faith.
Recently, OpIndia also recorded 15 brutal cases of forceful conversion and community crimes from the Mira Road region in the past year. Hindus, especially the women in the region are deliberately harassed, trapped in love affair and then forced to convert their religion to Islam. OpIndia accounted 15 such cases. The detailed analysis of thes reports can be read here.
