5 Ex Armed Forces Chiefs Write To President, PM On Haridwar Hate Speeches

“We cannot allow such incitement to violence together with public expressions of hate,” the letter said.

Five former chiefs of staff of the armed forces and over a hundred other people including veterans, bureaucrats, and prominent citizens have written to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding “open call of the genocide of Indian Muslims” at various events, most recently in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar and Delhi. The letter also mentions targeting of other minorities like Christians, Dalits, and Sikhs.

The letter made a reference to the current situation on our borders warning that such calls for violence can cause disharmony internally, and also embolden external forces.

“Any breach of peace and harmony within the nation will embolden inimical external forces. The unity and cohesiveness of our men and women in uniform, including the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Police Forces, will be seriously affected by allowing such blatant calls for violence against one or the other community in our diverse and plural society,” it said.

Making a direct reference to the “Dharma Sansad” in Haridwar where direct calls for violence against Muslims were made, it said, “We are seriously perturbed by the content of speeches made during a 3-day religious conclave called a Dharma Sansad, of Hindu Sadhus and other leaders, held at Haridwar between 17-19 December 2021. There were repeated calls for establishing a Hindu Rashtra and, if required, picking up weapons and killing of India’s Muslims in the name of protecting Hinduism,” the letter said.

The letter also mentions an event in Delhi when a large number of persons gathered in Delhi and publicly took an oath resolving to make India a Hindu nation, by fighting and killing if necessary. “More such seditious meetings are being organised in other places,” it said.

“We cannot allow such incitement to violence together with public expressions of hate – which not only constitute serious breaches of internal security but which could also tear apart the social fabric of our nation. One speaker made a call to the army and police to pick up weapons and participate in the cleanliness drive (safai abhiyan). This amounts to asking the army to participate in the genocide of our own citizens, and is condemnable and unacceptable,” it added

Seventy-six advocates of the Supreme Court had also written to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, asking the Supreme Court to take suo moto cognisance of the calls to violence. 

Naming a list of people who had given the call, the advocates had written that in absence of police action, “Urgent judicial intervention is required to prevent such events that seem to have become the order of the day”.

The conclave in Haridwar was organised by Yati Narasimhanand, a religious leader who has been accused in the past of inciting violence with his incendiary speeches

Read the letter here

 31 December, 2021ToShri Ramnath Kovind President of IndiaShri Narendra Modi Prime Minister of IndiaOPEN STATEMENT ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCEDear Mr President, and Mr Prime Minister,We, the undersigned, are writing to you about recent events in Haridwar, Delhi and elsewhere, openly calling for a genocide of Indian Muslims. Inaddition, other minorities – Christians, Dalits and Sikhs are also being targeted.India’s Armed Forces, the Army, Navy & Air Force, together with CAPFs and Police, are responsible for National Security – external and internal,respectively. All of the above have sworn to uphold India’s Constitution and our secular values.We are seriously perturbed by the content of speeches made during a 3 day religious conclave called a Dharma Sansad, of Hindu Sadhus and otherleaders, held at Haridwar between 17-19 December 2021. There were repeated calls for establishing a Hindu Rashtra and, if required, picking upweapons and killing of India’s Muslims in the name of protecting Hinduism.At about the same time, a large number of persons gathered in Delhi and publicly took an oath resolving to make India a Hindu nation, by fighting andkilling if necessary, and more such seditious meetings are being organised in other places.Regardless of which persons or parties initiated calls for such genocide, Government of India and the Judiciary, at the highest level, need to take urgentaction. We cannot allow such incitement to violence together with public expressions of hate – which not only constitute serious breaches of internalsecurity, but which could also tear apart the social fabric of our nation. One speaker made a call to the army and police to pick up weapons and participate in the cleanliness drive (safai abhiyan). This amounts to asking the army to participate in genocide of our own citizens, and is condemnableand unacceptable.In view of the current situation on our borders, any breach of peace and harmony within the Nation will embolden inimical external forces. The unityand cohesiveness of our men and women in uniform, including the CAPFs and Police Forces, will be seriously affected by allowing such blatant callsfor violence against one or the other community in our diverse and plural society.We therefore call upon the Government, Parliament and the Supreme Court, to act with urgency to protect the integrity and security of our country. TheConstitution provides for the free practice of religion across faiths. We strongly deplore such polarisation in the name of religion. We urge you, MrPresident and Mr Prime Minister, to take immediate steps to curb such attempts, and urge you to condemn such incitement to violence in no uncertainterms.We also take this opportunity to urge leaders of all political parties to condemn these calls for what is tantamount to genocide of Muslims. They mustrestrain their own cadres and thereby set examples of their commitment to Secularism, Fraternity and Justice for all.It is in the National Interest that all parties should refrain from using religion in politics and pledge to uphold our Constitution and the wellbeing of our people – thus ensuring both National and Human Security for all.Copy toJustice N. V. Ramana, Hon’ble Chief Justice of IndiaShri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Chairman of the Rajya SabhaShri Om Birla, Speaker of the Lok SabhaShri Amit Shah, Minister of Home AffairsShri Rajnath Singh, Minister of DefencePresidents Bhartiya Janta Party, Congress Party, AITC, BSP, Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), CPI, AAP, DMK, AIDMK, Akali Dal, NCP, YSR Congress,Shiv Sena, TRS, TDP and others with representation in Parliament and State Assemblies.Gen MM Naravane, PVSM, AVSM, SM, ADC, Chief of the Army Staff.Admiral R. Hari Kumar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff.Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC, Chief of the Air Staff.Shri Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor SIGNATORIES:Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM (Retd), Former Chief of Naval Staff.Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat (Retd), Former Chief of Naval Staff.Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM AVSM,VrC, VSM (Retd), Former Chief of Naval Staff.Admiral RK Dhowan, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, (Retd), Former Chief of Naval Staff. Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, (Retd), Former Chief of Air Staff.Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, Former Vice Chief of the Army Staff.Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh (Retd), Former FOC in C, Western Naval Command.Vice Admiral Raman Prem Suthan, (Retd), Former Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral D B Kapila, PVSM,AVSM, VSMLt Gen RK Nanavatty, (Retd).Lt Gen KS Rao, PVSM, SC, SM, (Retd).Air Marshal TRJ Osman (Retd).Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar (Retd).Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani (Retd).Air Marshal SK Bhan (Retd).Maj Gen SG Vombatkere, VSM (Retd).Maj Gen Rajendra Prakash, VSM, (Retd).Maj Gen TK Kaul, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, (Retd).Maj Gen MS Kandal, (Retd).Rear Admiral Alan O’Leary, (Retd).AVM Kapil Kak (Retd).Brig VHM Prasad (Retd)Brig Amardeep SinghCommodore Lokesh Batra (Retd), Transparency Campaigner.Commodore Ranjit B Rai, Writer and Researcher.Capt S Prabhala, VSM (Retd), INCol Pavan Nair, VSM (Retd).Col K Ramachandran, (Retd).Col Shashi Thomas (Retd)Col Manmohan Singh (Retd)Lt Col Johnson M Thomas (Retd).Commander Suryajit Singh Kandal, IN (Retd).MG Devasahayam (Ex Maj). IAS.Maj Priyadarshi Chowdhury, SC (Retd).Aruna Roy, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Village.Rajmohan Gandhi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Najeeb Jung, Former Lt Governor, Delhi.Julio Ribeiro, IPS (Retd)Lalita Ramdas, Educator and Activist.Tara Murali, Concerned Citizen.Bharti Sinha, Founder, Citizen’s Forum India.Binu George, Citizen’s Forum India.Asha Hans, Academic.GN Devy, President Rashtra Seva Dal.Meena Gupta, IAS.Binu Mathew, Journalist. Sundar Burra, IAS (Retd).Gita Hariharan, Writer.Deb Mukharji, IFS (Retd).Madhu Bhaduri, Former Ambassador. Niloufer Bhagwat, VP Indian Association of Lawyers.Aruna Rodrigues, Lead petitioner SC PIL, GMO Moratorium. Navrekha Sharma, IFS (Retd).Gopal Pillai, CCG.Sharad Chandra Behar, CCGF Colaso – IAS retd CCGAshok Chowdury – All India Union of Forest Working PeopleSuresh K Goel, Former DG ICCR and Secretary MEA.Trilochan Singh, IAS retd CCG Narendra Singh Sisodia, IAS (retd)Prabhu Gate, IAS (retd)PT Krishnan, CCG.Subodh Lal, CCG.Anna Dani, CCG.AK Srivastav, CCG.KP Fabian, IFS, CCGDr Meeran Chadha Borwankar, DGP (Retd), IPS.Indira Jaisingh, Senior Advocate.Prakash N Shah, Convenor, Movement for Secular Democracy, Editor, Nrikshak Dr SS Soodan, President Indian Doctors for Peace and Development.Dr Arun Mitra, Senior VP Indian Doctors for Peace and Development.Dr Shakeel Ur Rehman, General Secretary Indian Doctors for Peace and Development.Anand Grover, Senior Advocate.Ram Punyani, CSSS, Mumbai.Teesta Setalvad, Citizens for Justice and Peace.Jayati Ghosh, New Delhi.Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker.SP Ambrose, IAS (Retd). CCG.Mazher Hussain, Social Activist, Hyderabad.Sabina Basha, Retired IT professional.Sudipta Sengupta, Retired Professor, Jadavpur University.Sushant Singh, Actor.T M Krishna, Musician and Author  Nagarjuna G., Retired Professor, HBCSE, TIFR.Rev J. Bavani Rajan, Research Scholar Rajni Bakshi, Journalist, Founder Ahimsa Conversations.Ramesh Chand, Concerned Citizen. Indeera Chand, Concerned Citizen.Rebecca Kurian, Concerned Citizen.Kamal Kant Jaswal IAS, former secy, CCG.Raju Rajgopal, Hindus for Human Rights.Ramani Venkatesan, IAS (Retd).Dr Zafrul-Islam Khan, Former Chairman Delhi Minorities Commission.Pradeep K Deb, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary to GOI.Wajahat Habibullah, Former CIC.Deepak Sanan, CCG.Hindal Tyabji, IAS (Retd).Aditi Mehta, IAS, (Retd).TR Raghunandan, IAS, (Retd).Masroor Hasan Siddiqui, Advocate, Delhi High Court, SEHAR Foundation NC Saxena, Former Secretary Planning Commission.Dr Rukmani B Nair, Professor Emerita, Linguistics and English.Bina Agarwal, Economist.Zia Us Salam, Associate Editor, The Hindu. Nasreen Fazalbhoy, Academic.TK Banerji, Former Defence Secretary. Najid Husain, concerned citizenV.P. Raja (IAS retd) Nareshwar Dayal, IFS (Retd).Gourisankar Ghosh, CCG.Sujatha Singh, IFS, (Retd).Ravi Nitesh, Social Activist, New Delhi.Primila Lewis, Writer and Educator.Gurjit Singh Cheema, IAS (Retd).Mohd Zubair Saifi, Concerned CitizenZiya Salam, Associate Editor, The HinduSukla Sen, Peace Activist.Vickram Crishna, Researcher Anita Dighe, Concerned Citizen, NOIDA.Sami Uddin. Concerned CitizenPamela Philipose, JournalistAchin Vanaik, Author and Academic.Poile Sengupta, Author.Abhijit Sengupta, IAS (Retd).Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor, Kashmir TimesAli Ahmed, Strategic affairs commentator Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Secretary, Global Media Education Council, Former Pro VC, Adamas University and former Dean of Symbiosis and AmityuniversitiesRimmi Vaghela, Research Scholar, Ahmedabad Amit Kumar, Independent Researcher, Delhi Solidarity GroupSwarna Rajagopalan, Researcher and Peace Educator, ChennaiSubhash Gatade, Writer and Activist, New Socialist InitiativeGeeta Seshu, Co-editor, Free Speech CollectiveSanjay Barbora, Concerned CitizenC. Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, ‘The India Forum’Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, founder AnhadD. 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Saraf, Former Principal District & Sessions JudgeSamvartha ‘Sahil’, Freelance writer, Manipal, KarnatakaSushobha Barve, Social and Peace activist working in J&K Rohin Verma, Independent journalist and author Pravin Sawhney, Editor, Force newsmagazineMeera Sanghamitra, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)Aakar Patel, Chair Amnesty International IndiaA.C. Michael, Former Member of Delhi Minorities Commission and