Trouble For Harsh Mander? A Video Of An Inflammatory Speech Delivered by Him During Anti-CAA Protest Shown To SC Judges

A viral video of a speech delivered by activist Harsh Mander, a former member of Sonia Gandhi’s UPA era National Advisory Council (NAC), has landed him in trouble with the highest court of the land.

In an inflammatory speech caught on tape, Mander is seen and heard inciting a frenzied mob of anti-CAA protestors in Jamia by saying that “the future of this country will not be decided in either the Supreme Court or the Parliament, but it will be decided on streets of this country.”

In the video, Mander is also seen and heard accusing the Supreme Court of failing to protect humanity and secularism in matter like Ayodhya and Kashmir.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta produced transcripts of his speech after which the Supreme Court refused to hear Mander’s petition.

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by Mander against the alleged hate speech by BJP leaders in Delhi. The judges asked him to clarify if he had made remarks against the top court.

“Many have violated the majesty of law. Are you also one of them? Chief Justice of India SA Bobde asked Mander’s lawyer Karuna Nundy as the Supreme Court made it clear that he won’t be heard today.

Cornered in the court, Nundy in response sought time to verify the video which was met by a prompt retort by Mehta who said that it is strange that Mander on one hand wants time to verify his own speech but on the other hand is demanding immediate FIRs against others.

A controversial activist who is known to enjoy proximity to interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Mander previously worked in the Indian Administrative Service, serving in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for almost two decades.

He was the Additional Collector of Indore during 1984 anti-Sikh riots after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Indore, along with Jabalpur and Bilaspur, were the worst affected cities in Madhya Pradesh during the riots as Congress workers went on a rampage targeting the Sikh community.

After 22 years in service, Mander officially quit the IAS claiming that he was troubled by the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat

Mander was handpicked as a member of National Advisory Council by the council President Sonia Gandhi in June 2010.

Mander currently serves as the director at the Centre for Equity Studies, a ‘think tank’ founded by him that claims to focuses on public policy for the poor.

Mander courted huge controversy for funding the ‘thinktank’ through a grant by a Church backed organisation DanChurch Aid, an entity directly connected to Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mander's other funder, Partnership Foundation, runs homes in India called "Missionary Sisters Servants of Holy Spirit"

Mander is also an advisory board member of Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros. It operates as the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for, according to its own claims, justice, democratic governance, and human rights.