An FIR has been filed against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair following the attack on Dasna Devi Temple in Ghaziabad last week, alleging that Zubair and two other Muslim leaders, including Arshad Madani and Asaduddin Owaisi, tried to incite Muslims around the country and got local Muslims to get outsiders to destroy the ShivShakti Dham in Dasna.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint lodged by BJP leader Dr Udita Tyagi on October 7 at the Web City police station in Ghaziabad after the temple attack on October 5 by a mob of Islamists that had tried to lay siege to the Shiv Shakti Dham after a video shared by Zubair had gone viral on the internet.
In her complaint, Ms Tyagi alleged that the October 5 attack was a preplanned conspiracy by Islamists against the Shiv Shakti Dham in Dasna.
She also alleged that Owaisi, Zubair, Madani, and other Muslim leaders have been constantly instigating the public to kill Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati. She had asked the police to mark the individuals trying to whip up a communal frenzy and take appropriate action against them. Dr Tyagi has also demanded that Yati Narsinghanand should be released and granted adequate security.
Zubair has been booked under Sections 196, 228, 299, 356(3), and 351(2) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The FIR mentions that he has been booked on the complaint by Dr Tyagi which states that his continuously provocative tweets instigated Muslims to attack the Dasna Devi Temple, where a large of Islamists had gathered two days back, chanting threatening slogans and pelting stones.
On 4th October, thousands of Islamists took to the streets to protest against Mahant Narsinghanand Saraswati’s remarks on Prophet Muhammad in the village of Sultanpur, Laskar, Haridwar district, Uttarakhand. The protesting Islamists raised slogans such as “Nara-e-Takbir Allah Hu Akbar”, “Fansi Do”, and “Sar Tan Se Juda”.
A similar incident took place in Bulandshahr, where Islamists protested and indulged in stone pelting over remarks made by Dasna Temple Mahant Narsinghanand Saraswati. The incident occurred in the Sikandrabad area. A large number of Islamists gathered outside Hazrat Ali Mosque to protest against Narsinghanand’s statements about Prophet Muhammad.
On October 3, Zubair shared a video of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati with a sensational claim that the Dasna Temple chief abbot had targeted Prophet Muhammad.
“One more derogatory and hateful speech by UP Priest Yati Narasinghanand targeting Islam and Prophet Mohammad,” Zubair tweeted, claiming that Narsinghanand was calling for burning the effigies of the Islamic Prophet. Ironically, Zubair, who champions himself as a ‘fact-checker’ committed to exposing “hate mongers”, has so far maintained a deafening silence on disparaging remarks made against Sanatana Dharma by Congress and DMK leaders.
Before long, other IT cell warriors who routinely share provocative posts, including tweets mocking Hinduism, were also outraged over what they claimed was an ‘unpardonable sin’ committed by Yati Narsighanand Saraswati. Posting inflammatory posts designed to incite violence against Narsinghanand, they claimed that he had spoken against the honour of their beloved prophet and that the police should jail him for committing the “gustakhi” (audacity).
How Zubair’s dog-whistling in the past had led to violence and death of innocent Hindus
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Zubair has been accused of flaring up communal tensions by inciting Muslim mobs. Earlier in 2022, Zubair dog-whistled Islamists against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma with an incomplete video from her debate on Times Now, where she stood up against an Islamist who mocked the Shivling discovered at the Gyanvapi controversial structure as a ‘fountain’. Sharma responded with remarks on Prophet Muhammad’s marriage with Ayesha, which was later picked up by Zubair, touching off massive ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ protests across the country.
While Islamists went on a rampage on the streets in many cities across the country, it was essentially Mohammed Zubair who was responsible for kindling a fire that had gone on to assume uncontrollable proportions.
It was Zubair’s dog whistle that made a mountain out of a molehill and painted a target behind the back of Nupur Sharma and anyone and everyone who came out in her support.
The ominous hounding of Nupur Sharma prompted many to extend their support to her. Kanhaiya Lal from Udaipur, Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, and many others extended their solidarity with the beleaguered leader, voicing their support for her amid the death threats from Islamists.
Lal was a marked man the moment he came out in support of Nupur Sharma. Islamists, provoked by Mohammed Zubair, dished out death threats to him for what they considered an unpardonable sin committed against the Prophet. And days later, the Hindu man was killed for something as trivial as just sharing a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma.
A similar fate befell Umesh Kolhe, a chemist living in Maharashtra’s Amravati, who was murdered by four Muslim assailants while he was returning from his pharmacy on the night of June 22, 2022. Kolhe, too, was murdered for his social media post supporting Nupur Sharma.
