Allahabad HC gags reporting on Yogi’s hate speech: Here are 4 times he spewed venom

What would a state government want to do with a case in which the prime accused is the chief minister? If you are thinking on the lines of “getting the case dropped”, the Uttar Pradesh government appears to be trying hard to prove you right.

In January 2007, Raj Kumar Agrahari's killing had triggered a fortnight of communal clashes in Gorakhpur. The Allahabad High Court is presently hearing an appeal for prosecuting UP CM Yogi Adityanath in connection with those clashes. Adityanath allegedly gave hate speeches just a day after Agrahari's death, inciting people to avenge the killing.

In May 2017, Adityanath's government informed the High Court that it had refused sanction for prosecuting him. The refusal also pertained to appeal for prosecution against four other accused named in the FIR, including BJP MLA from Gorakhpur Radhamohan Das Agarwal and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Shiv Pratap Shukla.

The refusal was eventually challenged and the court is now hearing the application. The state government meanwhile is making efforts to the shield the case from public attention. It had appealed to the High Court to bar the media from reporting on proceedings of the case and the court has recently agreed to the government's plea.

A two-judge bench of the court gave an order on November 7, barring publishing of media reports on the proceedings until the judgment is delivered. In its appeal, the state government had pointed out to the court that observations were being “reported out of context and very often misquoted”.

“Earlier also, this fact was brought to our notice when we orally directed not to publish any misleading reports”, the order also said.

It is unfortunate that media coverage of the proceedings have been blocked, given the nature of the case. Adityanath is known for his fiery speeches in support of the Hindutva agenda. He is also well-known for his support for the 'ghar-wapsi' programme of forced conversions of Muslims to Hinduism.

He is known to have been present on platforms from where diabolical ideas like raping dead Muslim women have been proposed. The court's gag order has given an opportunity to revisit some of Adityanath's speeches, recordings of which can be easily seen on YouTube. Here are some of them:

"Ek ke badle 100"

In this speech from 2008, Adityanath can be heard giving inflammatory slogans like “Jahaan ho Bajrang Bali, wahaan na aaye koi Ali, Wali” (If you take Bajrang Bali's name, no Ali or Wali will come near you).

This speech appears to be from BJP's campaign for Azamgarh by-poll in 2008. Adityanath, then Gorakhpur MP, can be heard canvassing for BJP's candidate, Ramakant Yadav.

He also mentions during the speech that it is unfortunate that Azamgarh's identity is associated with characters like “Ghazni, Aurangzeb, Babar...Azam, Abu Azmi, Abu Salem ...Dawood ki najayaz aulaaden (illegitimate offspring of Dawood)”.

He also speaks against Hindu girls getting married to Muslim boys and says his campaign is to make Hindu boys marry 100 Muslim girls for every Hindu girl who marries a Muslim boy.

"Ek ke badle 10"

This is purportedly the contentious speech from 2007 that Adityanath gave in Gorakhpur, urging Hindus to avenge the killing of Agrahari.

He can clearly be heard slamming the district administration, calling it biased and urging people to take law into their own hands.

He openly threatens that even if one Hindu is murdered, “we” will not go to the police to lodge FIRs but will get 10 others killed.

He further threatened that he will not allow any tazia procession to be carried out in the region.

“Will install Gauri-Ganesh idols in every Masjid”

This video is a news report from February 2015, in which Adityanath is speaking at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad event. Telling people that Varanasi's Gyanvaapi mosque taunts Hindus, he asks the government to allow them to install idols of Hindu gods in every mosque in the country.

“Who will stop us from building the Ram Temple”

This is also a news report, from June 2016, in which Adityanath is seen promising the construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. He also boasts proudly about the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, saying when people couldn't stop us from demolishing the structure, who will stop us from the temple?