A gruesome video is being circulated in poll-bound Gujarat that looks clearly aimed at inciting communal hatred in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
The video shows a skull cap-wearing "Muslim" man sitting on top of a severed head of a cow, hurling threats at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Modi, we will continue slaughtering your mother. This war will continue until you are finished," the man says in the video.
He then goes on to point in a threatening manner at the cow's tongue, nostrils and horns. "Look Modi, we have even removed the clothes of your mother," the man says pointing at the skinned body of the cow.
The clip, predictability, ends with the man putting his foot on the cow's severed head and shouting "Allahu Akbar".
The video seems to be either dramatised or fake. The "Muslim" man has a heavy Kashmiri accent and it is clear that the video isn't from Gujarat. The date or authenticity of the video isn't known either.
However it is being widely circulated on WhatsApp in Gujarat, particularly among Patidar groups.
"Yes the video is provocative and it made me angry. But I also know for what agenda it is being circulated," said Ravindra, an Ahmedabad-based Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) supporter.
"They (BJP) want to weave a story that Modi alone can save Hindus so that Patidars and other communties stop demanding their rights," he added.
He further said that those circulating such videos for political purposes are as much to blame as those who slaughter cows.
Recently another video surfaced in Gujarat which showed a Hindu family fearing for their daughter's safety as she passed through a Muslim locality at night.
Significantly, PAAS leader Hardik Patel tweeted on Tuesday on the issue of cow slaughter and the politics around it:
गाय की हत्या का किसी को अधिकार नहीं है. गाय की हत्या के नाम पर किसी की जान लेना भी गुनाह है. जिसने गाय की हत्या की है उसे जेल में डालो और जिसने गाय के नाम पर किसी और की हत्या की है उसे भी.
— Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) November 28, 2017
"Nobody has the right to kill cows. Taking someone's life in the name of cow slaughter is also a crime. Jail whoever has killed the cow as well as as who has killed someone else in the name of the cow," his tweet read.
In his rallies, the young leader has been claiming that the BJP would intensify the politics of "Hindu vs Muslim" to prevent communities from demanding justice.
Edited by Joyjeet Das