Who is Yati Narsinghanand, Ghaziabad’s priest stopped by Delhi police over ‘hate speech’

Police intervened midway through a "mahapanchayat" over the recent religious violence in Haryana's Nuh that had been organized by the Hindu Sena and a few other fringe groups at News Delhi's Jantar Mantar. 

One of the speakers, Yati Narsinghanand, was accused of making "inflammatory speeches."

A police officer claims that despite requests from the authorities not to say anything about any particular religion, the organizers made divisive comments. They were then told to put an end to the event, according to news agency PTI.

The police gave "verbal permission" for speakers like Yati Narsinghanand, the contentious head priest of Ghaziabad's Dasna Devi temple, to speak, according to the event organizers. However, the authorities refused to grant authorization for the event to take place.

Yati Narsinghanand can be seen addressing the gathering in a video. “I want to tell one thing to Hindus: if your population continues to decline while the Muslim population increases, then the same thing that happened a thousand years ago in this country will happen again...”

Who is Yati Narsinghanand? 
Narsinghanand is no stranger to such problems. He has previously been arrested for making incendiary comments. In connection with the Haridwar hate speech case, Narsinghanand is currently out on bail.

The Dasna temple priest had previously been granted bail in a case involving hate speech, but he was still imprisoned in connection with other charges brought against him, including one under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for making offensive remarks about women and journalists.

Narasinghanand took part in the three-day Dharma Sansad religious gathering in December 2021, during which he was overheard advocating the use of force against Muslims.

The Hindu priest had later claimed that anyone who supports the Army, the politicians, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution will "die a dog's death" in an interview from last year.

After a video of the contentious right-wing leader abusing the nation's founding father went viral on social media last year, the Delhi Police filed a first information report (FIR) against the head priest of the Dasna Devi temple for allegedly making offensive remarks about Mahatma Gandhi.

The controversial preacher's hate speech was immediately put an end to as the Delhi Police moved fast to disperse the crowd. The Delhi Police has promised that legal action will be done in this case while they are currently looking into the video.

“You, the organisers, were asked not to say anything about any particular religion. Despite this you are not following it so this 'mahapanchayat' ends here,” the officer said.