RSS leader calls for protesters to be shot after India’s youth uprising
Remarks target student movement that inflicted one of Narendra Modi government's biggest political setbacks by forcing education minister's resignation
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A senior ideologue of the Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has sparked outrage after calling for police to shoot student protesters “at point-blank range” during demonstrations that recently forced the resignation of India’s education minister following a month-long nationwide youth uprising.
T.G. Mohandas, a prominent RSS commentator from the southern state of Kerala, made the remarks during an interview on the YouTube channel Pathrika.
He said that if he were in authority, he would impose a curfew around New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site, order demonstrators to disperse three times and then instruct police to open fire.
“If I were in charge, I would impose curfew within a four-square-kilometre radius of Jantar Mantar. I would ask people to disperse three times. Then I would shoot,” Mohandas said, adding that some protesters would die while others would lose their limbs before authorities collected the bodies.
He went on to describe the protesters as “criminals,” claiming they would commit murder and rape if security forces were withdrawn from the demonstration site.
In another remark widely condemned as misogynistic, he alleged that women participating in the protests were “rape-loving women,” specifically targeting those associated with left-wing, secular and Dalit groups.
The remarks came after India witnessed its largest youth-led protests in years, with tens of thousands of students demonstrating in New Delhi and other cities over repeated examination paper leaks, unemployment and what protesters described as the government’s failure to reform the education system.
The movement ended after the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, one of the protesters’ principal demands, making it one of the most significant public setbacks for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government since it returned to power.
Mohandas is a longtime RSS ideologue who previously headed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Intellectual Cell in Kerala and has held senior positions in organizations affiliated with the Hindu nationalist movement.
The RSS, the ideological parent of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, has frequently been accused by human rights groups of fostering anti-minority and majoritarian rhetoric.
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
