Lucknow: Hindu Raksha Dal president Pinki Chaudhary has triggered outrage after making inflammatory remarks against Darul Uloom Deoband, one of India's most prominent Islamic seminaries, and calling for its demolition by the Uttar Pradesh government.
The controversial comments were made after Chaudhary visited the family of a youth named Surya, who was recently killed in the Khoda area of Ghaziabad. Speaking to the media afterwards, he alleged that anti-Hindu conspiracies were being planned from Darul Uloom and urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to use bulldozers to raze the institution.
Chaudhary did not stop at targeting the seminary. He expanded his demands to include the demolition of mosques and madrasas across the country, claiming that such measures were necessary to address issues he linked to communal tensions and crimes against Hindus. His remarks have been widely criticised as hate speech directed against Muslims and Islamic institutions.
Videos of the statements, circulated widely on social media and reported by news agency IANS, have sparked strong reactions from activists and members of the public. Critics argue that the comments seek to stigmatise an entire religious community by portraying its educational and religious institutions as centres of criminal activity without evidence.
The remarks have also renewed concerns over the growing use of bulldozer rhetoric in political discourse, particularly when directed at minority communities. Opponents say such calls encourage collective blame and deepen social divisions rather than address specific crimes through legal and constitutional means.
As the video continues to circulate online, demands for action against the hate speech have intensified. The controversy has once again highlighted the increasingly polarised nature of public discourse, with critics warning that inflammatory statements targeting religious institutions risk fuelling further communal tensions across the country.