Ex-BJP MP Navneet Rana attacked during rally, casteist abuses hurled at her

Case ID : b50739c | Location : Amravati, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 16 November, 2024

Case ID : b50739c

Amravati, Maharashtra, India

16 November, 2024

Ex-BJP MP Navneet Rana attacked during rally, casteist abuses hurled at her

Hate speech against Hindus

Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for supporting/being part of perceived Hindu party/org or working for Hindu community

Case Summary

In Maharashtra's Amravati, BJP leader and former MP Navneet Rana narrowly escaped an attack during a rally. While she was delivering a speech, offensive gestures were made toward her, and provocative slogans of "Allah Hu Akbar" were chanted. Following this, members of the crowd hurled abuses and began attacking her with chairs. The police have registered a case against unidentified individuals in connection with the incident. Navneet Rana shared details about the attack, stating, "The campaign in Khallar was progressing peacefully. While I was delivering my speech, some individuals were making gestures and jeering from a distance. I tried to conclude my speech without reacting. However, after I stepped down, these individuals began chanting 'Allah Hu Akbar' upon seeing me and my supporters." She further elaborated, "When our supporters requested them not to use offensive language against me and assured them we were leaving, they started throwing chairs and attacking us. They hurled abuses at me, threw chairs directly at me, and even spat on me. They also used caste-based slurs and continued chanting 'Allah Hu Akbar.' My six bodyguards and personal secretary managed to shield me and escort me to safety."

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The first category of the database relevant here is- Attack not resulting in death. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Attacked for supporting/being part of perceived Hindu party/org or working for Hindu community. In several cases, Hindus are attacked specifically or tangentially for their association with parties or organisations perceived to be pro-Hindu and/or for working in favour of the Hindu community. One of the classic cases was the attack against a Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha (BJYM) worker Praveen Nettaru. Nettaru was attacked and hacked to death for his association with Hindu organizations and his work for the Hindu community. He was murdered by PFI, a terror organization which aimed to commit a genocide of Hindus, target Hindu leaders specifically and turn India into an Islamic Nation. In such cases, it is possible that the immediate trigger for the violence is non-religious – either according to the perpetrator or the police. However, there are surrounding circumstances from which the conclusion can be reached that the victim was attacked for his association with a Hindu organization. In a similar case, Rinku Sharma was attacked by radicals. He was a member of Bajrang Dal and regularly worked for the Hindu community. While the police cited a different non-religious trigger for the attack, it is true that he was associated to a Hindu organization and the family of Rinku Sharma specifically attributed his gruesome murder to him working for Bajrang Dal and raising Jai Shree Ram slogans. Such cases are intrinsically driven by religious hate and would therefore be documented as a hate crime under this category. The second category under which this case has been placed is- Hate speech against Hindus. Under this, the sub-category selected is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. It can be argued that a caste-specific slur is aimed at her micro identity of belonging to the Dalit section of the Hindu community and not her Hindu identity itself. However, as far as Abrahamic religions are concerned, the micro identities of caste, region, and language are secondary. It is the religious identity that drives the animosity of the perpetrator against the Hindu victim. In this case, while Qadir hurled caste abuses at the victim, the animosity was driven by his animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. While the immediate trigger of the violence could be the "love triangle" as mentioned in reports, the fact that caste slurs were hurled at the victim by the perpetrator makes it a religiously motivated hate crime against the victim.