'Exterminate them': BJP Karnataka leader stirs communal tension with provocative remarks against Muslim community

A leader of India's ruling party, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), has come under the for his provocative comments on the Muslim community and spoke of exterminating them. A case has been filed against the leader named Manikanta Narendra Rathod.

The 30-year-old posted a video on the social media platform Facebook, where he was seen making communal comments that would disrupt the harmony. As the video went viral, it led to public outrage in the Kalaburagi district, police said.

In the video, Rathod can be seen making provocative remarks, he was allegedly asking for a complete extermination of the Muslim community and also urged to kill those accused of 'Love Jihad' within 8 days.

He was seen speaking Lambani, a language spoken in the tribal region and doesn't have a script of its own. Rathod also said if the police had not come in 15 minutes in Kalaburagi, it would have been a massacre of Muslims.

On social media, his video has received a lot of backlash, and people have asked for the leader's immediate arrest. Following Syed Aleem Ilahi's complaint, an FIR was registered at the Central Police Station (CEN Station).

Ilahi took to X, to write, "BJP Chitapur MLA Candidate Manikanta Narendra Rathod has once again crossed all limits of hate and provocation. In a shocking video, he openly threatens the Muslim community, blames the entire community for individual crimes, and calls for mass violence, even saying Muslims should be “finished from the root. He further threatens that “on Bakrid, there will be more human corpses than goats” if his demands are not met.

He added, "This is not just a statement, it is a clear incitement to genocide. It’s not politics anymore. It’s hate propaganda and terrorism in the name of politics."

Kalaburagi Commissioner of Police Sharanappa S D said they are investigating the matter.