Subramanian Swamy’s book promotes religious hatred, Govt tells court

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Nov 03:  The government today argued in the Supreme Court against a leader of the ruling BJP, Subramanian Swamy, saying that a book written by him "promotes hatred between Hindus and Muslims in India."

 

In its strongly-worded affidavit, the home ministry said that Mr Swamy’s book "Terrorism in India" released in 2006 violates rules on hate speeches.

In the book, Mr Swamy "has made hate speech against the community of India...its theme, language, its innuendoes, the similes it employs ....it falls within the provision of hate speech."

Mr Swamy, a strong defender of the Modi government, said he would go to the Prime Minister and also speak to Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"I am surprised. Even the UPA government didn’t say anything about my book. It seems there is a conspiracy against me because of my popularity," he told NDTV.

Mr Swamy alleged that "someone from the party" might have got hold of an under-secretary to file the affidavit.

In June, the BJP leader had challenged the laws on hate speech, saying they violate the fundamental right to freedom of speech. Even today, he asserted that he would continue to challenge it in the apex court.

The home ministry’s affidavit opposed that petition and asked the Supreme Court to dismiss it.

This is not the first time the government has opposed Mr Swamy in the Supreme Court. Earlier, it asked the court to dismiss Mr Swamy’s petition challenging defamation laws.