Mangaluru: The Hindu Janajagrathi Samiti held a press meet at the Press Club, Urwa here on December 16.
Speaking to the mediapersons, Vijay Kumar, a member of Hindu Janajagrathi Samiti said, “Dr Zakir Naik is a religious speaker but is a controversial figure as he insults the Hindu religion and Hindu gods. He is so provocative that the apex court in the United Kingdom had banned his speeches. Till date, he has not apologized for any insults. There are several criminal cases registered against him for provocative speeches delivered in Udupi, Brahmavar, Byndoor, Malpe, Siddapur and Mangaluru. Now, SKSM with the government’s support wants to invite him to deliver a speech on 2 January 2016.”
He further said that all the Hindu organizations condemned this move and there were reasons for them to do so. “Zakir Naik is involved in activities that promote terrorism,” he said. An organization named Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) trains students to take up terrorism. In the name of Islamic studies in Iran, students are taken to Pakistan and trained. “When the police raided Indian Mujahideen hideout in connection with 2008 Mumbai blasts, they found videos of Zakir Naik supporting Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban,” he said.
“Terrorist Headley also has Zakir Naik in his contact list,” said Vijay. In 2003, Al-Qaeda invited Zakir Naik to deliver a speech. The accused in 2006 Mumbai blasts used to visit the office of IRF regularly. “This proves Zakir Naik’s involvement in terror activities,” he added.
Speaking about television channel ‘Peace TV’ which is owned by Zakir Naik, Vijay said that Peace TV was one among the eleven channels featured in the Lok Sabha ban list. The channel is banned in Kerala where the Muslim populous is high. There was also an incident when Pune had fined a broadcaster Rs 3 lakh for airing the channel. The channel however is not banned in Karnataka. “On Ganesh Utsav, Peace TV insulted Shiva, Ganesh and Parvati. There is also no respect to the nation as the channel says Vande Mataram should not be sung by Hindus as well,” he added.
The government is aware of such activities. There was unrest in the peaceful region of Dakshina Kannada when Prashanth Poojary was killed and Tipu Jayanti was to be celebrated. Now, before the city has yet to calm down from the recent unrest, the government is encouraging Zakir Naik. If any untoward incident takes place due to Zakir Naik’s speech, then the government alone is to be blamed,” said Vijay.
He further said that Zakir Naik should not come to the city. Hindu groups have already submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard and the HJS will stage a protest on December 22.
Dharmendra, state spokesperson of Akila Bharatha Hindu Mahasabha; Hindu leader Kumar Malemar; Prabhakar Padiyar, HJS member were also present.
Free speech is the bedrock of all democratic societies, but hate speech MUST be banned no matter who it is.
Who decides if a speech is hate speech or not? The Abrahamic religions consider all other Gods as ‘false gods’. Is it a hate speech? Free speech has only one limitation – it shouldn’t issue a threat or promote physical violence.
lo kallo baath…yahi yak bakhi tha ek ache scholar ko ban karaneme thulehuaw hai…. I think these people are afraid that most of the good and open minded Hindus may accept Islam once they listen Dr. Zakir Naik speech as well as his logic, even many atheist accepted Islam… I didn’t see in any of his video that he insults other religion and provoke other. He preaches his findings in a logical way and he invite people to accept truth and right path….it can be done in any religion, if you are following your religion confidently without any blind faith… Read more »
I think these people are afraid that most of the good and open minded Hindus may accept Islam once they listen Dr. Zakir Naik speech as well as his logic, even many atheist accepted Islam – SAM
There you go. You have used a religion (peaceful at the outset that is!) with logic in the same sentence.
Zakir Naik never give hate speeches and he never talk about any religion, He just compare Islam with other religion and he show the real mirror to the people. In USA and Mumbai many are converted to Islam after hearing his speeches..it is true he show the right path, now the days Hinduism is in danger many are converting to other religion, so RSS, BJP, BD, goondas preventing people from reality by banning his entry to Mangalore.
I’m not an expert on Abrahamic faiths, but even if they do consider other Gods as false Gods then this is their opinion, and as all in a democratic societies everyone has the right to his or her opinion. But inciting people to commit acts of violence in any way shape or form is called hate speech. For example in a you tube video when Zakir was asked a question on Bin Laden he replied ” I do not know bin Laden, neither have I met ever him, but if he is terrorising George Bush who is a greatest terrorist… Read more »