Yati Ramswaroopanand Giri, a disciple of hate preacher Yati Narsinghanand and associated with Shiv Shakti Dham in Ghaziabad’s Dasna, has built a profile around inciting communal violence and spreading blatant anti-Muslim propaganda. On September 10, 2024, he addressed a press conference at the Dehradun Press Club, where he openly called for Hindus to arm themselves, citing imaginary threats of Muslim violence and invoking brutal, false imagery about Muslim atrocities in Bangladesh.

His speech, filled with dangerous provocations, was made in front of journalists and even tagged to top officials like Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh chief ministers on social media. Despite getting no traction online, the impact of his words offline was serious. The local police in Dalanwala filed an FIR suo motu, invoking Supreme Court guidelines against hate speech.

But the FIR didn’t stop him. Just days later, between September 14 and 18, at a religious gathering at Sagar Farmhouse in Ghaziabad, Ramswaroopanand repeated his calls for violence. He told a crowd to keep weapons at home and learn to use them, warning that “thousands of Muslims” would one day attack their homes. He positioned himself as a protector of Hindu women, invoking paranoia and hate, and asking the public to prepare for war under the garb of religion. Even though this was a religious procession of another seer, Acharya Arun Kaushik, Ramswaroopanand hijacked the platform for his poisonous messaging.

His history of hate isn’t new. In November 2023, he led a group of seers who wrote letters in blood to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, demanding a “jihad-free Uttarakhand.” He has used public platforms and social media to attack Muslims repeatedly. On X (formerly Twitter), he amplified anti-Muslim hate, including supporting the idea of burning Prophet Mohammad’s effigy in place of Ravana during Dussehra, a provocation originally made by his mentor Narsinghanand. He also posted videos calling for the cancellation of the India-Bangladesh cricket series, saying Bangladeshi Muslim players should not be welcomed in Uttar Pradesh.

Throughout his speeches, Ramswaroopanand has pushed wild, communal claims, accusing Muslims of raping and cooking women in Bangladesh and warning that the same fate awaits Hindus in Uttarakhand. Despite these repeated, incendiary outbursts, authorities have largely failed to act beyond symbolic FIRs.