It is wrong to use term 'Hindu terrorists': BJP

‘Hindu terrorism’ leaves BJP sore

Rajesh Sinha

Friday, October 24, 2008  17:35 IST

Yahswant objects to linking terror & religion

NEW DELHI: Unsettled by reports alleging the involvement of some Hindu outfits in terror attacks, the BJP has modified its response on the issue.

While the party initially denied any involvement and said that this was a conspiracy to defame “nationalist” organisations, on Friday, BJP vice-president Yashwant Sinha took a more liberal approach and said terrorism is terrorism and it is wrong to link terror with any religion.

Sinha said it was wrong to use the term “Hindu terrorists” for the alleged extremists arrested on charges of being involved in the Malegaon blasts. “Some sections are trying to malign the majority community. BJP has objections with the term Hindu terrorists, which is wrong. Nobody is saying that the law must not take its course. No one can say that. A terrorist is a terrorist irrespective of his caste or religion,” Sinha said at a press meet here on Friday.  more 

Malegaon blas:Rashtriya Jagran Manch memebrs under custody

Front Page    
The Hindu October 25, 2008
Malegaon blast; three remanded to custody

Rahi Gaikwad

Booked under sections of the Explosives Act

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Accused reportedly started Rashtriya Jagran Manch

The police recovered some mobile phones

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MUMBAI: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested three persons on Thursday in connection with the Malegaon blast of September 29, ATS chief Hemant Karkare told journalists here on Friday.

The accused have been identified as Pragnya Singh Chandrapal Singh, 38, Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra, 36, and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu, 42. They were produced before the Nashik Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court, which remanded them to police custody till November 3.

The motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Pragnya. “All efforts were taken to hide the ownership of the vehicle. The registration number was bogus and they tried to efface the engine and the chassis numbers.”

Pragnya is a sadhvi, who took ‘sanyas’ in 2007, after which she took on the alias Poorna Chetananandgiri. Originally from Madhya Pradesh, she shifted to Surat with her family a few years ago. However, she had no fixed location. Since she had chosen the religious path, she toured various places doing bhraman. She founded the Jai Vande Mataram Jan Kalyan Samiti in 2002. Investigators have recovered pamphlets of this organisation.

Mr. Karkare said the accused reportedly started the Rashtriya Jagran Manch. The police are probing the links of the Samiti and the Manch to Hindu religious organisations.  

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Hindu outfit behind Malegaon blast?

IANS

Thursday, October 23, 2008  21:48 IST

MUMBAI: The Hindu Jagran Manch, a Hindu group, is suspected to be involved in the Sep 29 bomb blast in the communally sensitive Maharashtra town of Malegaon, sources in the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) said on Thursday.

While ATS officers were not willing to comment on record, sources close to investigation said the motorcycle in which the bomb was kept belonged to a man named Padma Singh, who has taken the name of Sadhvi Purna Chetananand and is working for a spiritual organisation in Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Padma Singh earlier used to be an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), and is presently associated with the Hindu Jagran Manch, an outfit of Sanatan Sabha, an obscure organisation based in Panvel near Mumbai.

The Sanatan Sabha was allegedly involved in three low-intensity bomb blasts in Thane, Vashi and Panvel near Mumbai earlier this year and the ATS is all set to file a charge sheet against its key members in the blasts, the sources added.

While ABVP’s state unit general secretary Shrirang Kulkarni, Sanatan Sabha spokesperson Abhay Vartak and BJP state unit president Nitin Gadkari were quick to deny the "mischievous and highly motivated allegations", state ATS chief Hemant Karkare was not available for comment. source

Bajrang Dal Convenor, Prakash Sharma, is all venom and fire in an interview with SHOBHITA NAITHANI

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 42, Dated Oct 25, 2008

CURRENT AFFAIRS   in cold blood

‘What is more dangerous, AK-47 or trishul?’

An unrepentant Bajrang Dal Convenor, Prakash Sharma, is all venom and fire in an interview with SHOBHITA NAITHANI

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Bajrang Dal and Taliban: Two sides of the same coin

British good Samaritan shot dead by Taliban in Afghanistan for being Christian

By OLINKA KOSTER and JEROME STARKEY in Mail Online
Last updated at 1:55 AM on 21st October 2008

• Comments (103)
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Gunned down: Gayle Williams, who was shot dead in Kabul, Afghanistan

A British woman who was working to better the lives of disabled children in Afghanistan has been shot dead by Taliban gunmen because she was working for a Christian organisation.

Gayle Williams, 34, was walking to work in Kabul when she was gunned down by two men on a motorbike.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing, saying its leaders had ordered the murder of Miss Williams because she was spreading the Christian message.

But the British-registered charity she worked for, SERVE Afghanistan, said this was a ' convenient excuse' for a 'completely opportunistic' killing.

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D N Murthy general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Bajrangdal violence

The Rediff Interview/D N Murthy, VHP general secretary'Calling Bajrang Dal's action as terrorism is utter nonsense'

You call the incidents in Karnataka as violence. A few glass panes were broken and you call that terrorism. In Karnataka not a single person was injured. What are these people talking about? It is ridiculous. Glass panes of cinema theatres are broken due to certain disputes. Can you call this terrorism? Did the Union government react in this manner? The people are just protesting against those indulging in forcible conversion. That is all.
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Bajrang Dal and terrorism?  Whoever says this has no common sense. There are so many terror attacks in the country in which so many innocent lives have been lost. The security agencies are unable to nab the real culprits who always manage to give the slip. As I said earlier, in Karnataka not a single person was injured and you call the Bajrang Dal's actions as terrorism. It is utter nonsense.

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Yes, the loyalties do shift. But I would also like to add that everyone has a right to practice a religion. But nobody has the right to convert. If a conversion is based on an ideological acceptance of a new way of life, it is fine. But conversions in large numbers or mass conversions are deplorable. I can understand when an educated man converts. He can think and decide for himself what each religion has to offer. Why are missionaries targeting slum-dwellers and tribals? What can these people understand 


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Fourth World War against terrorism by pursuing truth and justice

LifeLine: faith and Spirituality