December 22, 2006

Youth stabbed with a trident in MP

(NDTV.com)
Youth stabbed with a trident in MP

Kumar Shakti Shekhar, Sameer Khan

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 (Khandwa):

The tridents (trishuls) being distributed by the Bajrang Dal in the name of defending Hindu religion are being used as weapons to attack people and threaten communal harmony.

A youth stabbed another in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa district on Monday with a trident.

Rustam Khan, who is now in hospital, was stabbed in the back by Chandan, who attacked him after an argument.

Chain of events

The quarrel began when Rustam asked Chandan why he was sitting near his house for hours.

After this, the two got into a heated argument and Chandan went away only to return with a few friends, brandishing a trident.

Chandan then stabbed Rustam in the back. "Three or four youths attacked me and stabbed me in the back with a trident," says Rustum.

Incidentally, the trident that Chandan used to attack Rustam was one of the over 2,000 tridents distributed that morning by the Bajrang Dal in a 'Trishul Diksha' programme in Khandwa.

Attempt to murder

And Chandan, who is now in custody, accepts he bought the trident at the Bajrang Dal's ceremony.

"I had bought the trident for Rs 70 in the trident distribution ceremony. I used the trident in the crime," admits Chandan.

At the trishul distribution ceremony, even young boys were handed out tridents while the administration looked the other way.

The Khandwa police have registered an FIR against Chandan under Section 307 of the IPC for attempt to murder.

But surprisingly they are denying that Rustam was attacked with a trident. "In the first FIR, it was stated that the accused had attacked with a knife. I do not know how the knife was later changed to a trident," said K D Parashar, SP, Khandwa.

The incident points to the fact that events like the Bajrang Dal's 'Trishul Diksha' ceremony only add to the risks of an already vulnerable peace being shattered.

December 17, 2006

Bajrang Dal targets young couples

http://www.rxpgnews.com/
Bajrang Dal targets young couples again
Dec 17, 2006 - 11:08:06 PM

Bhopal, Dec 17 - Activists of the Bajrang Dal have warned young couples here against meeting in public places or be ready to be punished.

Resorting to so-called moral policing, Bajrang Dal members raided Manuabhan Ki Tekri - a picnic spot here - that also has a Jain temple within its premises and made young couples do sit-ups for indulging in actions against the 'culture of our country'.

Though the incident took place Thursday, it came to light Saturday when a regional news channel showed clips of couples being subjected to 'punishment'.

The Bajrang Dal has now warned of intensifying their movement against what they call 'obscenity'.

'Bajrang Dal will not tolerate any obscenity at places of religious importance. We took action after we found them in a compromising position and we will continue to take action against such activities,' Vishal Purohit, a Bajrang Dal leader, told IANS.

The hardline Hindu group, however, says it was forced to resort to extreme action since the police had failed to check such 'indecent' acts.

'We were compelled to take the law into our hands after police took no steps against our complaints regarding obscenity in public places. We once again urge that police personnel be deployed at religious shrines to curb the display of such obscenity,' Purohit said.

Said Superintendent of Police A.K. Singh: 'No one has made any complaint in this connection. We will act if we get a complaint from anyone.'

In the past few years, Bajrang Dal has disrupted Valentine's Day celebrations by vandalising gift shops and burning hundreds of cards.

December 10, 2006

campaign aimed at warning Muslim boys against ‘luring’ Hindu girls

(Ahmedabad Newsline
December 10, 2006)


Bajrang Dal rally takes violent turn
Express News Service

Ahmedabad, December 9: THE Sahjanand College incident has become the entry-ticket into colleges that fundamentalists in the city have been waiting for, with the issue reverberating through other colleges.

Workers of Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini roughed up students at Gujarat College during their launch of a ‘Chetavni Abhiyan’ (warning campaign) led by Ahmedabad Bajrang Dal president Babu Bajarangi on Saturday.

The campaign aimed at warning Muslim boys against ‘luring’ Hindu girls, was launched following a complaint lodged by Prinicipal of Sahjanand College that some Muslim boys had been had been harassing female students outside the college campus.

Students say members of the group began beating up students after asking about their religions. Asking not to be named, a first year student says, ‘‘We were sitting in the parking lot when some people entered the campus, wielding hockey sticks. They started asking questions about our religion and started hitting us.’’

General Secretary of the college Virendra Chauhan, among those beaten up by the activists, says, ‘‘After asking for identification, they hit us without explaining their actions’’. Principal Y M Dalal adds that they have sought police protection although the situation is currently under control.

Ellisbridge police officials have visited the college twice so far, but say complaints are yet to be registered.

Earlier, Babu Bajarangi said Muslim boys have established their hold over most college campuses in the city and were out to ‘‘lure’’ hindu girls from college campuses. ‘‘Parents are unaware of how their girls are being cheated and defiled,’’ he said.

December 09, 2006

VHP workers thrash young couples

ibnlive.com
December 09, 2006 at 20:23

VHP workers thrash young couples
MORAL POLICE: The workers were armed with hockey sticks and lathis and thrashed the young men.

Ahmedabad: After the Meerut Police carried out Operation Majnu to crack-down on pesky eveteasers, it was the VHP's turn to moral police the society.

VHP and Bajrang Dal activists misbehaved with young couples and beat up boys in a park in Ahmedabad.

The party workers alleged that some boys were "harassing girls" and thus they decided to teach them a lesson.

Among the VHP workers were some girls as well. The workers were armed with hockey sticks and lathis and thrashed the young men.

The girls said that they wanted to weed the society of men who used girls for their own means.

The Ahmedabad police were nowhere to be seen and the VHP activists were law unto themselves for quite some time.

Says a girl who was beaten up, "When I tried to stop them, they hit me four times with stick. I hope no other girl is treated like this."

The man behind the lathicharge is said to be Bajrang Dal activist Babu Bajrangi.

"We have not taken the law into our hands. We just want to teach girls how to live decently," was all Babu Bajrangi had to say.

Bajrangi is accused of one of the deadliest massacres during the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Naroda Patia massacre.

July 13, 2006

VHP, Bajrang Dal men ransack Surat mosque

(The Times of India)

VHP, Bajrang Dal men ransack Surat mosque
[ 13 Jul, 2006 2331hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

SURAT: VHP and Bajrang Dal men went on a rampage in a mosque in a sensitive area of the city on Thursday, ostensibly to protest against the terror attacks in Mumbai.

VHP and Bajrang Dal attacked the mosque at 5.30 pm. Activists of right-wing groups, who tapping the sense of outrage in this diamond centre over the death of several of its residents in Mumbai, entered the mosque and broke tubelights in the prayer area.

Angry mobs also tried to snatch the mike from the muezzin as he tried to call Muslims for prayers. Earlier, VHP men gathered outside the mosque had demanded over a blaring mobile public address system that the mosque administration not use loudspeakers during azaan as it was hindering their meeting. Some mobsters in the mosque also tried to blow the fuse at the power mains to disrupt electricity supply.

Police claim the situation is under control as no one had turned up at the mosque and there evening namaaz was yet to start. "We were concerned as the area is sensitive and such incidents can lead to trouble.

As a precaution, we have placed a police checkpost and are trying to identify culprits," said DCP (Zone-3) V Chandarshekhar.

Police said a few meteres away in Rustampura, BJP had also burnt an effigy of the Student's Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

VHP spokesperson Utkarsh Patel claimed, "We had requested the mosque authorities to tone down their loudspeakers, but they refused.

It was when they resorted to stone pelting that some of our members ransacked their place." Asked whether VHP had taken police permission, Patel said, "We do not take permission in such cases."

June 15, 2006

BJP wisdom: Life term for killing a cow; no Ba Ba Black Sheep

Indian Express
June 14, 2006

BJP wisdom: Life term for killing a cow; no Ba Ba Black Sheep
Milind Ghatwai


Madhya Pradesh set to amend law on cow slaughter; nursery rhymes in school textbooks out to ‘reduce Western influence’

BHOPAL, JUNE 13:As Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan moves to rewrite predecessor Uma Bharati’s law against cow slaughter by handing offenders 14-years in jail as against the current maximum of three years, his Education Minister Narottam Mishra has rewritten the primary school syllabi, dropping popular nursery rhymes like Twinkle, twinkle little star and Ba ba black sheep to “reduce Western influence” on children.

Chouhan’s government, it’s learnt, plans to introduce a Bill this July to amend the law against cow slaughter. A decision to the effect was taken at a meeting attended by Chouhan, officials of the Law and Animal Husbandry departments and the State Board for Protection of Cows.

The minimum fine will be Rs 5,000 and the maximum could depend on the number of cows slaughtered. The Madhya Pradesh Govansh Vadh Pratishedh Adhiniyam, 2004, provides for a maximum punishment of three years or a fine of Rs 10,000.

Dr S N Nigam, Deputy Director of MP Gopalan Evam Samvardhan Board who attended the meeting, told The Indian Express that if the proposed amendment takes place, the jail term could go up to 14 years.

In BJP-ruled states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, cow slaughter punishment can invite a maximum of ten years and seven years in jail respectively.

The MP government also plans to change the law on movement of cows. The existing law, which deals with vehicular transportation of cows, is helpless when offenders get away by making the cows walk within and across the state borders. Now, a permit will be required from district authorities before the cows can be moved.

Meanwhile, Chouhan’s government has replaced six popular nursery rhymes like Twinkle, twinkle little star and Ba ba black sheep with Indian rhymes in the Class I English textbook. Education Minister Narottam Mishra said there was “no need” to continue with English rhymes when there were Indian rhymes around to infuse “a sense of patriotism”.

June 11, 2006

BJP leaders booked in J&K for incitement to kill

The Navhind Times
June 11, 2006

BJP leaders booked in J&K

PTI

Jammu, June 10: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Mr Vinay Katiyar and Mr Sahib Singh Verma were today booked by the Jammu and Kashmir police for inciting communal passion by announcing monetary rewards to civilians killing militants even as the saffron party sought to defend them saying they were echoing popular sentiments.

A first information report has been registered against them for “making provocative statements” and “inciting communal passions” under section 123-A and 153-A Ranbir Penal Code in Nowabad police station here, the deputy inspector-general of police, Mr Niaz Mehmood, told PTI.

The BJP general-secretary, Mr Katiyar and the party vice-president, Mr Verma on Thursday had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh each for any civilian for killing a militant and Rs 2 lakh for a civilian’s family if he laid down his life fighting militants.

Mr Katiyar, a former chief of Bajrang Dal, is incharge of the ongoing ‘satyagraha’ in Jammu against the killing of Hindus in Doda and Udhampur.

Maintaining that he was not aware of the details of the FIR, the party spokesman, Mr Prakash Javadekar, who is in Jammu, said legal experts would respond to it.

“The BJP is against the common man taking to arms. It does not believe in anyone taking the law in his hands. The leaders were only echoing the general sentiments of the people in the region who have been witness to the government’s failure in tackling militancy. Perhaps they had in mind the village defence committees created and armed by the government to fight terrorists,” he said.

Following party chief, Mr Rajnath Singh’s ‘directive’, Mr Javadekar had yesterday `clarified’ that the leaders were propagating a government scheme.

The Congress party, People’s Democratic Party and the National Conference have condemned the BJP leaders’ call saying it would further vitiate the situation in the militancy-hit state.

March 14, 2006

Saffron Police at Temples

The Statesman
March 14, 2006

Saffron security

BHUBANESWAR, March 13— The VHP and Bajrang Dal will form small groups of local youths to assist local police in providing security to temples and hindu maths, VHP leader, Mr Subash Chauhan said, adding that it was time to build their own security network. As a step in this direction, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal will engage and train local youths to guard temples and keep watch at railway stations and airports, he said.
The VHP leader specified Puri Jagannath Temple, Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneswar, Samaleswari Temple, Sambalpur, Cuttack Chandi Mandir and Konark temple as first priority of the Surakshya Samitis which will be formed. “Subsequently we shall try to cover all major places of worships and maaths in the state,” he said. — SNS

February 23, 2006

Hindu Law Board offers money to eliminate M F Hussain

Rediff.com

(see google cache of the paage from Rediff
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:DvVN5cjNE5MJ:www.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/23mf.htm+husain+%22bharat+mata%22+chop+off&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1)

Home > News > PTI

Hindu Law Board offers Rs 51 cr for killing M F Hussain

February 23, 2006 01:05 IST

The Hindu Personal Law Board on Wednesday announced a Rs 51 crore reward for eliminating artist M F Hussain. Meanwhile, a Congress minority cell leader offered Rs 11 lakh to any 'patriot' to chop off the painter's hands for hurting Hindu sentiments.

"Anyone who kills Hussain for making obscene paintings of goddess Sarswati and Bharat Mata, the Danish cartoonist, those in the German company printing pictures of Ram and Krishna on tissue paper and the French filmmaker desecrating Lord Shiva will be given Rs 51 crore in cash," Ashok Pandey, board president, said in a statement in Lucknow.

"Peace will not prevail on earth unless such people are eliminated," he added.

Madhya Pradesh Congress committee minority cell vice-chairman Akthar Baig, in a statement in Indore, said the painter had 'played with the sentiments of the people and tried to disrupt communal harmony in the past by painting nude pictures of Hindu gods and goddess and now of Bharat Mata'.

It would be in the 'interest of the nation if a patriot will chop off his hands. I will give that person Rs 11 lakh', he said.

Baig asked the government to take back all the honours bestowed on the noted painter and declare him a 'traitor'. In an Indore court, Baig had earlier filed a petition against Bollywood actor Dharmendra's purported second marriage to Hema Malini.

February 22, 2006

P.T. Usha, Geet, Srinath on RSS panel for Golwalkar

The Deccan Chronicle

P.T. Usha, Geet, Srinath on RSS panel


New Delhi, Feb. 22: Former queen of the Indian track P.T. Usha, former vigilance commissioner N. Vittal, former billiards world champion Geet Sethi, former cricketer Javagal Srinath and ace shooter Jaspal Rana are among the prominent members of the 122-strong Guru Golwalkar Birth Centenary Celebrations Committee formed by the RSS.
While former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is one of the leading members, the RSS did not include Mr L.K. Advani in the committee. The committee will organise “Hindu rallies to promote social harmony” and hold public hearings along the lines of “jan adalats” in various localities to “expose corrupt people”. The campaign for “mass awareness” will begin from February 24.
Noted dancer Sonal Mansingh and violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman, Mohan veena creator Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also figure in the list. Sharing places with them are RSS general secretary Mohan Bhagwat and VHP president Ashok Singhal.
The committee will chalk out a year-long mass awareness campaign to propagate the “ideas and vision of Guruji”. In an article in the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, the chairman of the committee, Swami Satyamitranand Giri of Bharatmata Mandir, Hardwar, spelt out the programme: “Hindu rallies will be organised at the block level across the nation. Meetings of caste and religious leaders will be held to promote social harmony. Seminars and lectures will also be organised to propagate the ideas and vision of Guruji.” Another task is to make drug addicts “leave drugs”. Though Mr Advani is not included in the list, he will be among the leaders to participate at the inaugural function in Nagpur on February 24.