Support for Swami Yati Narsinghanand is swelling on the ground, as Hindus realise that they alone can protect a Hindu priest who has been standing up for Dharma without fearing personal loss or penury. Yati Narsinghanand, head priest of the Dasna Shiv Shakti Mandir has been threatened by Islamists for speaking his mind on Islam and its prophet. In a free country, as a free citizen, although Yati Narsinghanand is entitled to his views and the propagation of the same, Islamists around the country are now after his life and are threatening the Hindu priest with beheading.
Mind you, calls for beheading the man have been made openly and without fear of the law by lakhs of Islamists. This has reminded Hindus across the country of the brutal manner in which Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari was murdered in 2019 for comments he had made about the Prophet in 2015-2016. Almost instantly, rallies and protest marches were carried out against Kamlesh Tiwari, in which Islamists called for the man to be beheaded for indulging in blasphemy. Today, Kamlesh Tiwari is no longer with us.
Hindus are beginning to see a pattern now. If a large number of Islamists call for the beheading of someone, that person inevitably ends up being killed. As such, since Swami Yati Narsinghanand is the new target of the bloodthirsty hounds, Hindus have realised that it will not take long for the religious extremists of a community to kill the Hindu priest. So, Hindus are coming out in support of the Dasna mandir priest in large numbers, across the country. They are sending a resounding message to all those concerned – the consequences of trying to harm Swami Yati Narsinghanand will not be pleasant.
In a video posted on Twitter, Hindus are seen marching in support of Swami Yati Narsinghanand, although the location has not been ascertained yet. Swami Yati’s supporters are seen crying a poster that reads: “We support the truth, we support Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati”. They also raised slogans in support of the Hindu priest. In UP’s Shahjahanpur, members of various Hindu outfits like the Shakti Dal, International Hindu Council and Bajrang Dal held a demonstration in support of the Hindu priest and in protest of the murderous calls of Islamists. The leaders also submitted a memorandum to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and demanded ‘Z’ category security for Swami Narsinghanand.
A protest against Islamists was also held in Haryana’s Yamunanagar, which led to confrontational scenes between Hindus and Islamists, forcing the police to intervene. Here too, the Hindus were demanding ‘Z’ category security cover for Swami Narasinghanand. According to a report by Jagran, the members of the Hindu outfits raised ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans while holding counter-protest against mobs calling for the beheading of Narsinghanand Saraswati.
Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati was speaking at an event held at the Press Club of India where he had called upon Hindus to be fearless in speaking about the characteristics of Prophet Muhammad. “If Islam’s reality, for which Maulana says, ‘If you speak about Muhammad, we will behead you’, Hindus should get rid of this fear. We are Hindus. If we can about the characteristics of Lord Ram, and other Hindu deities, then Muhammad is nothing for us. Why could not we speak about Muhammad and speak truth?” Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati had said.
Hindus have grown conscious of the repercussions they face for merely having an opinion, and trying to voice it freely. Although this sentiment was absent in the community during the years when Kamlesh Tiwari was being hounded by Islamists, his death seems to have served as an infliction point for Hindus. Now, the community is in no mood to let its members be threatened, let alone killed by borderline terrorists.