Hate speech: SC rap in case stemming from ‘anti-love jihad’ rallies will sting Shinde-Fadnavis govt

The fact that CM Eknath Shinde and Fadnavis got only a few months’ headstart before being hit by the next set of elections – BMC, Assembly, Lok Sabha – seems to be setting the agenda for their government.

The rap from the Supreme Court now over the anti-love jihad rallies which are gaining currency and stridency across the state – with leaders of the BJP in attendance – comes against this backdrop. Hearing a plea seeking contempt proceedings against the Maharashtra Police for not restraining the “inflammatory” speeches at these rallies, the Supreme Court this week said that hate speech “is happening because the State is impotent, State is powerless, State doesn’t act in time”, and will stop “the moment politics and religion are segregated”.

As Home Minister, this was in a way direct criticism of Fadnavis, and the BJP’s bid to sweep it under the carpet by saying the Court was talking generally rather than specifically about the state may not get him off the hook.

Between November 2022 and March 2023, more than 50 such love jihad rallies have been held in Maharashtra, gradually shifting their message from trying to prevent “conversion” of Hindu girls allegedly through marriage to “land jihad”, against “illegal encroachment” including for construction of mosques by Muslim organisations.

Maulana Azad Vichar Manch president Hussain Dalwai says that ahead of a Mumbai rally on January 29, they had sent a delegation to the state police commissioner. “We urged the CM and Deputy CM to stop these hate speeches… Unfortunately, we did not see it translating into action… We then repeatedly appealed to Muslim organisations not to react. Our priority was to ensure communal harmony.”

Fadnavis has tried to defend the seeming passivity of his police force, saying: “There are growing instances of girls of one community trapped into marriage by boys of other communities and then exploited. If anybody had asked me about live jihad five years ago, I would have dismissed it as nonsense. But such instances brought to our notice show it is a fact. And worse, it is leading to tension in villages.”

What might allow the Shinde-Fadnavis government to eventually get away is the Opposition’s failure to put it on the mat on this issue, including during the recent Budget Session. They were seen as acting too cautiously, given the apparent support among the public for these rallies, and the compulsions of the Uddhav Shiv Sena in their midst.

After the Supreme Court rap, the Opposition seems to have finally discovered its voice. NCP leader Ajit Pawar slammed the Shinde-Fadnavis government saying the Court had called it “impotent”. “It has never happened that Maharashtra has been subjected to such shame. It is a failure of the government.”

Congress Maharashtra chief Nana Patole sought the resignations of Shinde and Fadnavis, calling the Court observations “a big slap on the government’s face”.

A senior BJP functionary said the party is not unduly worried about the Supreme Court’s remarks. “Government and politics are two different things. What the Court said was within its jurisdiction… But as a political party, why should we stop rallies that are drawing public support?”

The BJP leader also underlined that what Fadnavis said was right. “The apex court’s observations were for all states. These were not directed at Maharashtra.”