During a Virat Hindu Sammelan, Nitesh Rane, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, delivered an anti-Muslim hate speech in which he referred to Muslims as “green snakes,” alleged they have encroached on land and made Hindus unsafe, and spread the conspiracy theories of “love jihad” and “land jihad.” He urged Hindus to verify the identity of street vendors as potential “Bangladeshi” or “Rohingya” infiltrators, claimed that money spent at Muslim-owned businesses funds “jihad” through zakat, and called for Hindus to only buy from other Hindus.