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NEWS: Countrywide protest on March 3 against ban on VHP
To: SCI <soc-culture-indian@cs.utexas.edu>
Countrywide protest on March 3 against ban on VHP
From: Rajiv Varma <rvarma@ccaix.jsums.edu>
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 05:13:36 -0600 (CST)
From rvarma@ccaix.jsums.edu Sat Feb 25 06: 07:06 1995
HEADLINE: Countrywide protest on March 3 against ban on VHP
Byline: Decisions of Virat Sant Sammelan, Prayag
Photos: Shri Ashok Singhal, The saints gathered at the session
Organiser, Feb. 12, 1995, p 7. Special Organiser Representative
Reports:
NEW DELHI: The re-imposition of the immoral and redundant ban on
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has been rendering a yeoman's service
to the Society in India and abroad, has deeply hurt the Hindu
psyche. The
society, barring a handful of secular fundamentalists, has
perceived it as yet another sinister move aimed at the Muslim vote
bank at the cost of national interest.
The ban is in line with the Congress Govt.'s apologetic stand on
the Nadwa incident when the Prime Minister ordered action against
senior police and intelligence officers for raiding a Muslim
Institute at Lucknow on a definite information that foreign spies
were hiding there. Not only the Govt. did not proceed against
those who had given shelter to foreign agents, but those
apprehended by the intelligence agencies from within the Nadwa
Institute were also set free.
The politically perverse and legally untenable ban (the Parishad
has decided to challenge its legality) will prove costly to the
ruling party, electorally as well as otherwise. For one thing, it
has sent strong
signals among the Hindus that the Rao Govt. is out to play the
tune of hindu-baiters and is trying to Islamise the Indian polity.
The Muslims too do not appear to be impressed by the Govt.'s
belated action. Their perception, as voiced by the Urdu media and
political leadership of the community, is that the ban, like the
earlier one, will not affect the
Parishad nor will it hinder its activities.
The sants and religious leaders assembled at Allahbad for the
Ardh-Kumbha did not take kindly to it. A Virat Sant Sammelan held
on the occasion at Prayag, which was attended by several lakh
devotees and top Hindu
religious leaders of various sects and maths, adopted a strongly
worded resolution condemning the ban and decided to launch a
movement all over the country to support the demand for lifting
this anti-Hindu ban.
The ban may prove a blessing in disguise for the BJP. Several
thousand religious leaders and hindu activists have decided to
spread out in Gujarat and Maharashtra -- where forces of Hindutva
are strong enough to defeat the anti-Hindu parties like the
Congress and the JD to educate the voters on the need to defeat
these anti-Hindu parties and to vote for Hindu-friendly parties
committed to the liberation of Ayodhya and construction of Sri Ram
temple at the garbha-griha. The anti-Congress wave sweeping the
country is bound to gather momentum because of aggressive
campaigning by religious leaders. These leaders have decided
to run a parallel campaign and not to address public rallies
organised by any political party. The model code of conduct for
political parties does not apply to them as they do not belong to
any party as such.
Reports from Gujarat suggest that Parishad activists have already
fanned out to rural areas of the State to carry forward their
educational campaign. The parishad has branches in 4,100 villages
in Gujarat, it is
learnt.
The Virat Sant Sammelan has also decided to organise protest
rallies upto block level all over the country on March 3 to
register their opposition to the ban on the VHP. the decisions of
the Sammelan and tone and tenor of speeches delivered by highly
respected religious leaders show that the banned organisation has
the sympathy and support of an over-whelming
majority of Hindu religious leaders and sants.
A Jan Jagaran Week will be observed from April 9 to educate the
masses on major issues facing the society like misuse of caste in
politics and social disharmony caused by casteist parties, Govt.'s
policy of
globalisation and the need to strengthen the spirit of Swadeshi,
and the Islamisation of the polity leading to the ban on the
Parishad.
The Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Manch and the sants associated with the
movement have resolved to take out Ekatmata Yatras in October,
1995 to spread the
message of social harmony and to mobilise the people on the
Ayodhya issue. The infirmities in the Supreme Court judgement on
Ayodhya will be discussed at length during these yatras and the
Government's game-plan to
prolong litigation on the Ayodhya will be exposed.
Shri Ashok Singhal, Secretary General of the banned VHP, says a
Dharma Sansad will be held in the last week of October to take
stock of the Situation and chalk out the future course of action.
If the Govt. did not relent, the leadership of Ayodhya movement
may launch yet another struggle to achieve the mission of building
a grand temple at Ayodhya
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