Srinagar, Mar 27: Some rightwing Hindu outfits took out a tableau to honour a man accused of killing a Muslim man in Rajasthan. The photos of the rally have gone viral on social media.
The rally, according to ‘The Indian Express’, was taken out in Jodhpur to honor Shambhu Lal Regar who hacked a Muslim labourer from West Bengal to death and set his body on fire in Rajsamand district last year.
In the photos circulated on social media, a man is seen dressed in clothes similar to those that Regar wore at the time he hacked Bengali migrant labourer Mohammed Afrozul in December last year, said the report.
The poster accompanying the picture of Regar read: “Hinduon bhaiyon Jaago, apni behan beti bachao, love jihad se desh ko azad karana chahiye (Hindu brothers, wake up, save your sisters and daughters. The country should be free from love jihad).”
The accused was addressed as ‘Shambhu Nath, love jihad mitane wala’ (Shambhu Nath, destroyer of lover jihad) in the poster.
“The poster also has a picture of a shovel identical to the murder weapon that was used by Regar to allegedly murder Afrazul, while the act was also filmed by him. Later, in a series of videos Regar had gone on a long, anti-Islam diatribe,” said the report.
“The Ram Navami celebrations have being going on since the past 35 years and are organised under the banner of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. This year, around 2.5 lakh people participated in the celebrations and we generally ask the youth to take out tableaus on current affairs,” the report quoted Mahendra Singh, Jodhpur division joint secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
However, he also claimed that the outfit didn’t know that the tableau honouring Regar was being taken out.
“Of course, current affairs include subjects such as love jihad. But we had asked workers not to take out tableau about Regar but during the celebrations one such tableau was indeed taken out,” said Singh.
