Hindutva influencer issues ultimatum: ‘Let's attack the Christians on 1st March’

In a video that went viral in the state of Chhattisgarh, Aadesh Soni calls on thousands of Hindu nationalists to target Christian women and ‘erase all traces of their faith from the region’. The bishop of Raipur tells AsiaNews: ‘The local government is silent, if anything happens we will hold them responsible’.

Raipur (AsiaNews) - Attacking, raping women and killing Christians in the villages of Bishrampur, Ganeshpur and Jhanakpur, in Chhattisgarh, accusing them of ‘brainwashing children’ through conversions. This is the ‘programme’ that Aaadesh Soni, a local leader of Hindu nationalists and social media influencer, sets out in a video that has gone viral. He even indicates a date: 1 March 2025, the day on which ‘at least 50,000 people will mobilise’ to ‘target Christian families, execute their leaders and erase all traces of their faith from the region’.

The video - still online on his Meta profile and viewed by over 30 thousand people - shows a speech given by Aaadesh Soni during an assembly of Hindutva supporters. In his speech he also repeated a hateful statement against Christians made in January by Swami Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati in front of a Hindu council held in Prayagraj: ‘Kill those who kill cows without sparing anyone. Don't ask for the death penalty for them, but act yourself without waiting for the law’. “I have the support of the administration - added Aaadesh Soni - that's enough for me”.

Commenting on these disturbing words, Msgr. Victor Henry Thakur, Archbishop of Raipur, told AsiaNews: ‘Now that Aadesh Soni's hate speech has gone viral, if there is any incident or attack in that area, it will not be an accident, but rather a clear indication that the administration has not only failed, but has allowed something to happen. In this case the government of Chhattisgarh will be fully responsible. So far the government has done nothing against Aadesh Soni.

The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has written to the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai, expressing ‘deep concern’ and calling for action in view of 1 March. The NBCC particularly condemned the comments about women and children, calling them deeply disturbing and a threat to communal harmony.