NEW DELHI: Indian police on Thursday arrested a Hindu religious leader for allegedly insulting India’s independence leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and praising his assassin.
Gandhi, revered in India as a Mahatma (Great Soul), was shot dead by a Hindu hardliner during a prayer meeting in 1948 because he was considered sympathetic toward Muslims during the partition of the Indian subcontinent by British colonialists into India and Pakistan.
The city police arrested Kalicharan Maharaj in central Madhya Pradesh state for allegedly promoting hatred between religious groups in a speech earlier this week, an Indian news agency cited police officer Prashant Agrawal as saying.
124A–Sedition
153 (A)–Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race..
295 (A)–malicious acts to outrage religious feelings..
505 (1)B–Cause fear or alarm to public where any person may be induced to commit offence against State or public tranquility.. pic.twitter.com/g2ZqOfrGmm— Shams Ur Rehman Alavi شمس (@indscribe) December 30, 2021
According to Indian media, Maharaj said “Gandhi destroyed the country; salutations to Nathuram Godse, who killed him.” He will be formally charged in court after the police complete an investigation. If convicted, he can be jailed for up to five years.
Attacks by Hindu hard-liners against Muslims and other minorities have intensified after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.
The opposition is also demanding the arrest of several saffron-robed Hindu religious leaders for making highly provocative speeches against Muslims at a closed-door religious parliament, known as Dharam Sansad.
Police in Uttarakhand state, which is ruled by Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said they were questioning suspects. No arrests have been made.
