New Delhi: The signboard of Delhi-based India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) was Sunday defaced by members of Hindu Sena, a right-wing group, against its alleged “support” for the terror attacks in France recently.
A poster saying “Jihadi Terrorist Islamic Centre” was pasted on across the signboard in New Delhi. Photos of the incident have been widely circulated online.
RW outfit Hindu Sena pasted "Jihadi Terrorist Islamic Center" posters on the board of Islamic Cultural Center,Delhi. pic.twitter.com/ZeqNvpZARh
— Md Asif Khan (@imMAK02) November 1, 2020
“Our Hindu Sena workers did this. They felt angry about how so many in India are openly supporting terror attacks. People here are coming out on the streets in thousands and defending those jihadis,” Vishnu Gupta, president of the Hindu Sena, told ThePrint.
Gupta added that he referred to the protests that took place in Bhopal and Mumbai, last week, against French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments defending the right to publish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.
Police at the Tughlak Road police station which has jurisdiction for the area, said it was “looking into the matter”.
“We are trying to look into the matter. We are still investigating,” Surendra (who goes by his first name), head constable at the Tughlak Road police station, told ThePrint.
Arif Siddiqui, public relations officer at IICC, said he heard about the incident through social media. “I am not in Delhi right now. Once I return, I will try and find out more. I have just heard about this from social media and journalists,” he told ThePrint.
A knife-wielding man had last week reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” and killed three people at a church in the French city of Nice. On 16 October, a school teacher was beheaded in Paris for showing his students cartoons of the Prophet during a lesson on free speech.
Following these terror attacks, Macron had Friday said that Islam was in crisis. He also spoke about defending France’s secular values against “Islamist radicalism”, a comment that triggered protests in different parts of the world.
Also read: Not just Macron’s politics, it’s France’s brand of secularism that always clashed with Islam
Silent support by IICC: Hindu Sena
Gupta defended the vandalism, saying it was his “free speech”.
“We have not broken anything, or caused any harm. We just pasted a sign on top of the existing one,” he added.
The Hindu Sena president also said that the IICC should have come out with a condemnation of the France terror attack. “I am being told that IICC is a very reputed organisation, with renowned people associated with it. Why then has it still not come out with a condemnation of the terror attack? This is silent support,” he said.
IICC was founded in 1984 and hosts conferences, talks, and cultural programmes in its premises. It is also famous for its restaurant, a popular spot for diners in Delhi.
The centre’s reception desk said when officials from the centre went to check the board Sunday evening, it had been removed. The centre, it added, will cooperate in case of an investigation.
Also read: Muslim world faces divide after Erdogan takes on France for its crackdown on radical Islam
The Print’s staff has stopped publishing my comments as they, not all but the “woke” ones amongst them, are quite uncomfortable with my observations.
It’s nice. Awesome action. I appreciate it. Hope more of such will follow
The Print & pseudo-secular liberal gang must be ecstatic to publish this article.
All terrorist sympathizers should be publicly mocked and shamed.
Really stupid people do they believe they can counter the GHAZWA E HIND mentallity with some defacing.
HINDUS believe in education and science and prosperity and don’t believe in conversion.