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Mahant Naval Kishore Das is Mahamandaleshwar (a title denoting a superior monk) of Ramayani tradition and a Hindu militant organization Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) member.
As a member of VHP, he promotes the idea of Hindu supremacy and believes in the concept of ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (Hindu nation).
Trying to superimpose the monolithic Hindu identity on Muslims, he once said that Lord Hanuman, a Hindu deity is the ancestor of Muslims. He added that Muslims should own their ancestry and lineage.
Das had been at the forefront of the Ram Mandir movement in the 90s, which led to the demolition of Babri Masjid, followed by pan-India anti-Muslim riots.
He has been equally enthusiastic about demanding a Ram Temple to be built at Babri Masjid’s site. Inciting Hindus to violence, he said in a public gathering,
“Balidaan lenge bhi aur zaroorat padi to denge bhi, koi maa ka lal nahi rok sakta. (We shall kill and be killed if need be, no one can stop us).”
He regularly indulges in fear-mongering seeking to stir up Hindu sentiments against Muslims and talks of Akhand Bharat (United India ), Sanatan, and Vedic tradition and culture.
His fondness for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is no secret. He charts eulogies praising Yogi Adityanath, the extremist monk and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. According to Das, Yogi is an innocent monk who is performing a ‘religious duty’ by serving as the state’s Chief Minister.
Peddling the hoax of religious conversion, he claims that India had been a country of Hindus and that religious conversion has taken place in India by force and fraud. “Now Hindu saints are conducting ‘Ghar wapsi’ programs where erstwhile Hindus are returning back to their original religion that is Hinduism.”
According to his Islamophobic understanding, in Hinduism, women are respected and revered, whereas, in Islam, they face ‘Halala’ and ‘talaq’ and are treated as commodities. So, Muslims are returning to Hinduism and rejecting Islam.
At a VHP rally in 2022, Mahant Naval Kishore Das urged Hindus to bear arms and conduct a genocide of Muslims.
According to India Today, he said, “Get guns. Get licenses. If you don’t get a license, don’t worry. Those who come to kill you, do they have licenses? So why do you need a license?” He declared, “If we all come together, even the Delhi Police Commissioner will offer us tea and let us do what we want.”