Hindutva activist behind film on Kanhaiya Lal killing

Last week, Udaipur Police arrested two people for allegedly issuing a call to boycott a movie on the 2022 beheading of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli. This week, Maulana Arshad Madani, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president and principal of Darul Uloom Deoband, said he had filed petitions in the Delhi, Maharashtra, and Gujarat High Courts seeking a stay on the July 11 release of the Udaipur Files; the Supreme Court on Wednesday, however, refused to stay its release.
Amid calls for a boycott and promotions online, as the Udaipur Files hurtles towards a controversy, the man behind the Vijay Raaz-starrer is its producer Amit Jani, who is known to plant himself at the centre of contentious issues. Jani first hit the headlines in July 2012, when he led three other members of his outfit to vandalise the statue of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati at Lucknow’s Ambedkar Park with a hammer.
Jani had demanded in a press conference hours earlier that the Samajwadi Party (SP)-led state government remove Mayawati’s statues, following up on the party’s electoral promise. Else, he threatened, his Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena, modelled after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and founded around 2010, would do the needful. The outfit took inspiration from the regional identity politics of the MNS.

List of transgressions

A native of Meerut in UP, the 44-year-old was also booked in February 2012 for showing black flags to then Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
In May 2016, he was arrested for allegedly threatening then JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid. He was accused of planting a loaded gun and a letter threatening to behead the two JNU students in a bus.
In April 2017, in the backdrop of some students allegedly supporting the Pakistani cricket team, he allegedly put up hoardings on the Delhi-Dehradun highway asking Kashmiris to “leave the state or face consequences”. He was subsequently arrested.
That July, he was booked in another case for allegedly calling for SP leader Azam Khan’s tongue to be cut off for his controversial remarks about security personnel. In October 2017, the UP Police arrested him for sharing a modified image of the Taj Mahal with saffron flags on the dome and its minarets, on social media, and also giving a call for a gathering of saffron and Hindu organisations at the Taj Mahal.
In December 2018, following the BJP’s loss in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, his outfit was booked for allegedly putting up “Yogi versus Modi” hoardings in Lucknow, highlighting “Jumlebaazi” vs Yogi’s “Hindutva brand.”
In February 2019, following the Pulwama terror attack, he put up a sign, “Kashmiris not allowed”, at his Noida hotel. However, the poster was removed by the time police reached, and OYO, the hospitality chain of leased and franchised hotels, said it had delisted the hotel.
Ironically, while Jani has made a movie on the Udaipur murder, he had announced a 2019 Lok Sabha ticket for Shambhulal Regar, who, in December 2017, hacked migrant labourer Mohammad Afrazul Khan in a similar manner in Rajsamand and then burnt the body. Like the Udaipur case, Regar too recorded a video of the incident that went viral.
In 2017, Jani floated the Shivpal Yadav Youth Brigade, named after SP president Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle. Shivpal, who eventually floated the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) following differences with Akhilesh, made Jani the president of his party’s youth wing in November 2019. More recently, Jani also launched a “Hindu Action Force”.
In his affidavit for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections, Jani listed 14 pending cases against him in Meerut, Delhi, Amroha, Lucknow, Agra, and Rampur. These included cases for vandalising a Shiv Sena office in Meerut in 2010, the vandalism of the Mayawati statue, dowry harassment, looting, and threatening a doctor.
As the release of the Udaipur Files draws closer, Jani has claimed he is receiving death threats on social media for the movie, which also has music by singer Kailash Kher.

Objections to movie’s release

“The film’s trailer includes the controversial statement by Nupur Sharma, which not only worsened the communal atmosphere across the country but also tarnished the country’s image at the international level and negatively impacted our friendly relations with other countries,” said Arshad Madani.
On June 28, 2022, two persons — Mohammad Riyaz and Ghouse Mohammad — posed as customers and hacked to death Kanhaiya Lal Teli at his shop in Udaipur over a post shared by him on social media in support of Sharma, a BJP spokesperson who was suspended for her objectionable remarks about the Prophet during a live television debate.
On Monday, SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi said in the Maharashtra Assembly that releasing the movie may lead to a law-and-order situation and demanded a prohibition on it. He also moved a Private Member’s Bill against those spreading division, insult or violence in the name of religion.
Earlier, the Congress and the BJP had traded barbs over the issue in Rajasthan, with former CM Ashok Gehlot attacking the government, saying that “even after three years of trial, the culprits have not been punished in a case of such a clear nature”.
Meanwhile, as the Teli family awaits justice, they have backed the movie and also accompanied Jani to press conferences, temple visits, and meetings with religious leaders and politicians.