Hours after an attempted attack on Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai by a now-suspended lawyer inside the Supreme Court, video clips and social media posts have surfaced alleging that Hindu right-wing YouTubers and commentators openly discussed and appeared to encourage violence against the Chief Justice a week before the incident.
The videos, shared and amplified on X (formerly Twitter) and other platforms, name influencers Ajeet (Ajit) Bharti, Kaushlesh Rai, and OpIndia editor Anupam Singh as participants in the conversation.
In one video, Kaushlesh Rai is heard making remarks that critics say amount to incitement.
During the conversation, Kaushlesh says, “I’m a Gandhian. I don’t support violence. If I did, I would have said, ‘Look, if Gavai ji gets into a fight, he lives in the courthouse, and there are Hindu lawyers there. At least one Hindu lawyer should grab Gavai ji’s head and hit him hard against the wall, so that it breaks into two pieces. But I don’t support violence at all.’”
He went on to say, “Oct 2nd is coming. What Godse did is beyond your capability, but you can become Gandhi. What is the max punishment for spitting in Gavai’s face under the IPC? Not more than six months? It’s nothing more than that. Hindus can’t even do this?”
Ajit Bharti had also suggested surrounding Justice Gavai’s car.
At one point, Kaushlesh Rai is reported to have made hypothetical comments about physically attacking the judge, while framing himself as “non-violent.”
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
