Provocative slogans in Amethi Muharram procession? Probe launched

Police in Amethi have launched an investigation after a video of 'provocative slogans' being raised during a Muharram procession went viral on social media, officials said on Monday, 15 July.

According to the police, the incident took place on Sunday, 14 July, when a procession was taken out in the Musafirkhana area. As the procession passed the Musafirkhana police station, some youths allegedly raised provocative slogans, the police said.

The video of the incident has gone viral on social media.

The matter is under investigation and strict action will be taken against those responsible, said SP (superintendent of police) Anup Kumar Singh.

Meanwhile, Peethadheeshwar Mouni Maharaj of Babuganj Sagara Ashram strongly condemned the sloganeering and urged Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to take immediate action, saying such acts create disintegration, tension and disturb communal harmony in the society.

Per the videos shared (largely by dissidents) online, the youth seem to be sloganeering in two parts: (1) for their right to live in Hindustan ('Hindustan mein rehna hai'), which can of course be read as an answer to the many netizens who call for Muslims who disagree with the current dispensation (or with anything, really) to ship out to Pakistan; and (2) the right to raise their voice in mourning for the martyred religious leader Husayn/Husain ibn Ali, in whose honour Muharram is observed.

While said critics — and the police — seem bent on interpreting this as a threat to all non-Muslims to also join the 'Ya Hussain' processional chant if they want to continue to live in India, the videos don't seem to actually bear this out.

We'll let you judge for yourself. But we can hardly deny the slogan is reminiscent of a popular BJP-RSS workers' slogan of 'Hindustan/Bharat mein rehna hai, Jai Shri Ram kehna hai' — which in turn leaves some of us wondering who exactly the sloganeers were, for we are also reminded here of the infamous 'tukde-tukde' slogan that turned out to be a right-wing set-up.

With PTI inputs