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India, Dec. 24 -- When I saw the horrific hate clips from Haridwar, my first instinct was to "not platform them". There's always the worry that by talking about something and giving it air time, even if it is to condemn it, you are amplifying its message.
My initial instinct was wrong.
We live in an age where a stand-up comic was sent to jail for a joke he did not crack at the performance he was arrested from - I am speaking of Munawar Faruqui - and in staggering contrast, men who openly call for armed violence against Muslims were able to host what appeared to be a conclave of hate without any interruption.
For anyone who has missed it, speeches at Haridwar's "Dharam Sansad" invoked Nathuram Godse, called for genocide against India's Muslims, and held up Myanmar as an example to emulate. Among those who attended it and called for a "Bhagwa constitution" was Ashwini Upadhyaya, a lawyer and former spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi, who was arrested on hate speech charges for an event at the Capital's Jantar Mantar.
What we may have once dismissed as the bigoted rantings of...