Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Tyagi to surrender in court on Friday
Dehradun, Sep 1: Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Narayan Tyagi has said he will surrender in a Haridwar court on Friday, and claimed in a video that his life is in danger and he may be killed in a suicide attack.
Tyagi, called Waseem Rizvi before his conversion to Hinduism, was granted an interim bail for three months on medical grounds in the Dharma Sansad case by the Supreme Court on May 17.
The apex court turned down his application for the extension of his bail on Monday and asked him to surrender on September 2. "I will surrender in the CJM's court here on Friday," Tyagi told PTI on Thursday.
He also expressed apprehensions that he could be killed in a suicide attack by Muslim fundamentalists.
Earlier in a video clip, Tyagi said his life is in danger and he may be killed in a suicide attack.
Some criminals from Haridwar's Jwalapur had plans to behead him when he was in jail but did not succeed because of strict prison rules, he said in the video that surfaced on Wednesday.
However, Tyagi said he does not worry about the threat to his life as he has faith in the sanatan dharma and will fight for it till his last breath.
He said minorities in India have more freedom than the majority, so they can speak against Hindu gods and goddesses using Article 19 of the Constitution as a "shield". "Whereas even allusions by us to what is written in their religious books is considered a hate speech," Tyagi said.
On the charges levelled against him, he said they are all false.
"False charges of crimes which I did not commit were slapped against me. I am the victim of a conspiracy hatched by Mullahs," he alleged.
Describing his return to Hinduism as "ghar wapsi", Tyagi said he never regretted his conversion to the religion.
"I am in the sanatan dharma and will remain in it till my last breath," he said.
However, he said he regretted that he was not treated the way a long-lost relative is treated after he returns home.
Citing caste divisions among the Hindus as their Achilles heel, he said "Islamic jihad" or terrorism cannot be fought unless believers in the sanatan dharma are united.
"If believers in the sanatan dharma were united, they would not have been ruled by foreign invaders for a thousand years," Tyagi said in the video message.
He said daughters of India were taken to Afghanistan and sold off like commodities at a square named Dukhtaran-e-Hind but but the divisions among Hindus did not let them speak against this atrocity.
"Secularism does not mean bearing with atrocities silently," he said.
Tyagi said he is in depression and there is no certainty of his life. He said he has written a book summing up what he has gained and lost in life, which may get published after he is no more.
Tyagi was the first to be arrested in January this year in connection with the Haridwar Dharma Sansad where highly provocative speeches were allegedly made against Islam and its practitioners.
The Dharma Sansad was held in December last year.
His name is among more than 10 accused, including the controversial priest of the Dasna temple near Ghaziabad, Yati Narasinghananada.
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Slovakia's Prime Minister wounded in shooting
Bratislava (Slovakia), May 15: Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon and taken to hospital.
Reports on TA3, a Slovakian TV station, said that Fico, 59, was hit in the stomach after four shots were fired outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova, some 150 kilometers northeast of the capital, where the leader was meeting with supporters. A suspect has been detained, it said.
Police sealed off the scene, and Fico was taken to a hospital in Banska Bystrica.
The shooting in Slovakia comes three weeks ahead of crucial European Parliament elections, in which populist and hard-right parties in the 27-nation bloc appear poised to make gains.
Deputy speaker of parliament Lubos Blaha confirmed the incident during a session of Slovakia's Parliament and adjourned it until further notice, the Slovak TASR news agency said.
Slovakia's major opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, canceled a planned protest against a controversial government plan to overhaul public broadcasting that they say would give the government full control of public radio and television.
“We absolutely and strongly condemn violence and today's shooting of Premier Robert Fico" said Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka. “At the same time we call on all politicians to refrain from any expressions and steps which could contribute to further increasing the tension.”
President Zuzana Caputova condemned “a brutal and ruthless” attack on the premier.
“I'm shocked,” Caputova said. “I wish Robert Fico a lot of strength in this critical moment and a quick recovery from this attack.”
Fico, a third-time premier, and his leftist Smer, or Direction, party, won Slovakia's Sept. 30 parliamentary elections, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message.
Critics worried Slovakia under Fico would abandon the country's pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico's policies.
Condemnations of political violence quickly came from leaders across Europe, although no motive for the attack was immediately apparent.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned what she described as a “vile attack.”
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called the incident “shocking,” adding “I wish the premier to get well soon. We cannot tolerate violence, there's no place for it in society.” The Czech Republic and Slovakia formed Czechoslovakia till 1992.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on the social media network X: “Shocking news from Slovakia. Robert, my thoughts are with you in this very difficult moment.”
