Massive public anger erupted following the raising of controversial slogans during a festival in Rajasthan yesterday (9 October).

The slogan, “Gustakh-E-Rasool ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda, sar tan se juda” ("There is only one punishment for speaking against the Prophet and that is beheading”), was raised in Eid-Milan-Un-Nabi celebrations, resulting in public fury, and at least one arrest.

The festive day marked the birthday of Islam’s founder Prophet Mohammed.

Videos of the sloganeering were shared by journalists on social media.

Locals reportedly gave a complaint to Pipad Police Station in Jodhpur district, alleging attempt to disturb communal harmony. The complaint mentioned a suspect named Roshan Ali and his group of 10-15 people.

The police have reportedly arrested Roshan Ali. Pipad is considered a communally sensitive area.

Blasphemy Killing In Rajasthan This Year

In June this year, a Hindu man named Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded and killed in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district by two Muslim men who later released a video owning up to the crime as a ‘just punishment’ for blasphemy of Mohammed.

Kanhaiya Lal ran a tailoring shop in Udaipur’s Dhan Mandi market. The killers, who sported skull caps, entered the shop posing as customers and stabbed him with knives, all the while making a video of it.

In a video released later, the killers said that they killed Kanhaiya for a social media post supportive of former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

The killing was preceded by several street rallies by Muslims across the country chanting the same "sar tan se juda" slogan, besides “Labbaik Ya Rasool-Allah” (Here I am at your service, O Messenger of Allah).

Slogan Imported From Pakistan

The slogan, popularised by clerics in Pakistan including Khadim Hussain Rizvi, has been repeatedly heard on Indian streets and social media users in India since at least 2015, when Uttar Pradesh resident Kamlesh Tiwari was accused of blasphemy for making some remarks on Mohammed.

Tiwari was promptly put in jail. However, street rallies asking for his beheading through this slogan were organised in various states. Months after he was released from bail, Tiwari was killed by two Muslim men from Gujarat’s Surat in October 2019.

The killers told the police that they wanted to behead Tiwari and shoot a video of it to circulate in public, but their plan did not work out entirely.

The men stabbed Tiwari and also pumped bullets into him by entering his office in Lucknow posing as his well-wishers.