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News Desk: At least six people, including a former spokesman of India’s governing right-wing party, are in police custody over anti-Muslim slogans raised in the capital.
A protest, organised on Sunday by former BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, to demand the “scrapping of India’s colonial-era laws” turned into a demonstration against Muslims.
A mob of more than 100 people called for violence against the minority community at Jantar Mantar, a Mughal-era observatory that is a popular protest site.
Videos purportedly from the event showed a mob saying Muslims were “pigs” and calling for the “mass slaying” of the minority, which constitutes about 14 percent of India’s 1.35 billion population.
Among the slogans raised at the event were “Jab mulle kaate jayenge, wo Ram Ram chillayenge” and “Hindustan mein rahna hoga, to Jai Shri Ram kehna hoga”
On Monday night, Upadhyay and four others were “detained for questioning”, according to a Delhi police spokesman. A sixth person was detained on Tuesday. The police had initially filed charges against “unknown persons” behind the event.
