Raghvendra Pratap Singh, the party’s candidate from Dumariyaganj, used an intemperate language full of scorn and whimsical invectives against Muslims in a bid to woo voters in his favour in his speech.

NEW DELHI – A sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, seeking re-election in Uttar Pradesh stooped to a new low, all for a few votes. He is on record saying any Hindu who does not vote for him in the assembly elections has Muslim blood running in his veins. Video of his communally incendiary speech against Muslims has gone viral in the social media.

Alishan Jafri, a journalist, tweeted that Raghvendra Pratap Singh, the party’s candidate from Dumariyaganj, used an intemperate language against Muslims in a bid to woo voters in his favour. He took pains to translate key portions of the speech from local dialect interspersed with rural idioms.

“Any Hindu who doesn’t vote for me,” he proclaimed, “has Miyan (a pejorative for Muslims) blood in his veins. He’s a traitor. He is a bastard son of Jaichand (a Hindu king of medieval India much accursed as a “traitor”). He’s a sinner son of his father…I am warning you this time…traitors of Hindu religion will be destroyed.”

The speech is full of scorn and whimsical invectives he chose to deride Muslims, including the one where he vows to thrash the members of the minority community if they “insult Hindus and look at Hindu girls”.

Assuming Hindus to be victims of repression, he said, “Even after so many atrocities, if a Hindu goes over to the other side, he should not be able to show his face on the streets. Even after being warned once if you do not understand, then I will tell you who Raghavendra Singh is.”

Never miss the intimidation in his tone. “It doesn’t matter if you insult me or betray me, but if you try to humiliate our Hindu society, then I will ruin you,” he said.

Reportedly the speech was made on February 19.

Singh is also heard saying that “terrorism of Miyans has decreased since he took office”. He says Muslims who look at Hindu women would be sent to Pakistan.

“Listen Muslims, if any Hindu is insulted and if you look at any Hindu girl, then I’ll get you beaten so much and cut so much…that…,” he says amidst chants of Jai Shree Ram.

The police claimed it has taken cognisance of the speech as “inspector-in-charge of Dumariyaganj was directed to register the case under relevant sections.”

According to a report in The Wire, later an FIR was registered at Dumariyaganj police station against Singh, under sections 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs), 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation).

Samajwadi Party has fielded Saiyada Khatoon from Dumariyaganj seat where Muslims make up around 37% of the population.

Singh had targeted the Muslim community on February 11 too when he said: “Since I became an MLA, they (the Muslims) have stopped wearing skull caps. If you vote for me again, they will start wearing tilak.”