By Aditya Menon
“Throw away 25 percent of Indian Muslims”, “Make India a Hindu Rashtra”, “mass conversion” and “mass deportation” of Muslims – these were some of the demands made at the ‘Sanatan Rashtra Shankhnad Mahotsav‘, organised by the Sanatan Sanstha at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam on 13-14 December.
The Quint had broken the story about hate speeches given at the event as well as the fact that it was backed by the Union Ministry of Culture and Delhi’s Tourism Ministry.
Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Shripad Naik and Sanjay Seth, and Delhi’s tourism minister Kapil Mishra even spoke at the event.
As a follow-up, we filed a query under the Right to Information Act with both the concerned ministries as to whether they had given funds for conducting the event.
We found that the Union Culture Ministry gave Rs 63 lakh to Sanatan Sanstha. This is what the ministry said in its response.
We are yet to receive a response from Delhi’s tourism ministry.
Here are some of the hate comments made at the event
“25% Muslims in India presently are infiltrators. They are Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Afghanis. Bring NRC and remove them from India.” – Suresh Chavhanke, Sudarshan TV chief
“There needs to be a cap on Muslim population.” – Suresh Chavhanke
“Can’t Muslims be made to convert to Hinduism for fear of the government.” – Ashwini Upadhyay, BJP leader
“If every Hindu converts one person, we will be able to achieve our target.” – Ashwini Upadhyay
“There are so many businessmen here. They can easily make their employees convert.” – Ashwini Upadhyay
This story was originally published in thequint.com. Read the full story here.