Hate videos & street attacks: How Hindutva groups are targeting Sikhs in Jammu
Aditya Menon
| Updated on: 30 August 2017, 17:45 IST
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The largely
cordial relations between Hindus and Sikhs in Jammu have come under
strain of late due to the increasing assertiveness of Hindutva forces in
the area.
The latest instance is a series of virulently anti-Sikh videos by a woman named Sakshi Bhardwaj that have gone viral on social media.
The videos are highly provocative as Bhardwaj makes derogatory
remarks about Sikh gurus and the Sikh community. She calls Sikhs
"hypocrites" and "anti-national". In another video, she refers to the
community as "women who have long hair and wear bangles".
The latest instance is a series of virulently anti-Sikh videos by a woman named Sakshi Bhardwaj that have gone viral on social media.
Who is behind the anti-Sikh videos?
The Sikh community in Jammu protested against the derogatory videos and filed an FIR with the police, urging it to take action against Bhardwaj.Bhardwaj has since gone into hiding and some of the pages from which she posted the videos have also gone missing.
Bhardwaj's background doesn't seem to be clear. It seems that her purported website (covertwires.com) and her various social media properties are being handled by more than one person.
In a Twitter account in her name, Bhardwaj claims to be from Udhampur, a "Hindutvawadi" ,"idolater" and "ex-JNU-ite". Another, older video doing the rounds, shows Bhardwaj attending a seminar by a right wing speaker Rajeev Malhotra and identifying herself as a student at the Centre for Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
A Facebook account also existed in her name but now has been deleted. A brief look at her posts clearly show that she is a Hindutva supporter with views that are mostly pro-RSS and pro-BJP. However, she had criticised PM Modi when he spoke against Gau Rakshaks last year.
Sources in the local police say that Bhardwaj wouldn't dare to post such incendiary videos without the backing of a political outfit. However, they say that it is possible that she is being backed by an outfit that is "more radical than the BJP/RSS".
Sources in the police as well as the Jammu BJP say that the anti-Sikh hatred on social media emanating from the city could be the work of a local Shiv Sena unit.
