Nalin Kumar Kateel is a Hindu far-right politician from the southern state of Karnataka. He is a notorious Islamophobe and a staunch anti-Muslim hate monger. He peddles conspiracy theories against Muslim minorities.

His name came to light in 2017 after the brutal murder of an Imam at Choori in Kasargod town of Karnataka. Riyas Moulavi, Imam of the Muhyudheen mosque, was hacked to death by a group of people on March 20, 2017.

Kateel had made a provocative speech the preceding day asking the Hindus to avenge the death of a Hindu man named Suhas.

Kateel regularly spews anti-Muslim venom. In January 2023, while Speaking at the launch of ‘Booth Vijay Abhiyaan’ organized to prepare party cadres in constituencies of Mangaluru city for the forthcoming elections,  he said, “road, gutter, drain and other small issues, If the issue concerning your children’s lives — love jihad — has to be stopped, then we need the BJP (to form the government).”

Kateel asserted in February 2023 that the next assembly election in the state was all about “Tipu vs Savarkar.”

(Tipu Sultan was the Mysorean Muslim emperor who ruled in the 18th century and died fighting the British Colonizers. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva. He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu extremist organization. During his incarceration at the time of India’s freedom struggle, he wrote multiple mercy petitions to the British, begging for his life)

“We are the devotees of Rama and Anjaneya (Hanuman). We do the work of Anjaneya. We are not the children of Tipu Sultan. We are the ones who will drive home Tipu’s children,” Kateel asked the crowd. As the crowd cheered, Kateel asked, “I want to ask the people of Yalaburga – whether you worship Anjaneya or sing praises of Tipu Sultan. Won’t you drive away those singing praises of Tipu to the forest?”