VHP to launch campaign to protest Malegaon blast arrests

Kartik Krushna Chathurti

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday said it would launch a campaign to counter what it termed as the government’s conspiracy against ‘sadhus, sadhvis and sena’ (mendicants and military) and to express solidarity with those arrested for the Malegaon blast.

VHP joint secretary V. Abdeo said here that besides sit-in and demonstrations across the country, the VHP activists would send SMSes and e-mails abroad too to air solidarity with the people nabbed for their suspected involvement in the Sep 29 Malegaon blast that killed six.

Cautioning the state and the central governments against hurting the sentiments of the monks and the military, Abdeo told mediapersons here that the investigations into the Malegaon blast are nothing but "appeasement of the Muslim community".

On the arrests of Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, alias ‘Purnachetanandagiri’, Lt. Col. Prasad S. Purohit and Swami Amritanand alias Sudhakar Dwivedi and others, Abdeo alleged the arrests were "part of a well-thought out campaign to appease the Muslims prior to the elections".

He also accused the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of going allout to "please" the Congress-led governments at the state and the centre.

Abdeo claimed that Sadhvi Pragnya was picked up from her home Oct 10 but her arrest was shown as Oct 24. Similarly, Shivnarayan Kalsangra was picked up Oct 18 but shown as arrested Oct 24, Ajay Rahirkar was caught Oct 26 and arrested only Nov 3.

He said that after the Sadhvi, the ATS has now trained its guns on Swami Asimananda of Dangs region in Gujarat. "What is his fault? He has only prevented conversion of Hindus," he said.

Abdeo alleged that the accused are being "physically and mentally tortured in custody and the rights due to an accused in custody are not bestowed on them by the ATS".

Source : Indo-Asian News Service

Read Further

1. Hindu Genocide in Kashmir and Bangladesh
2. Achalpur Riots: Kashmir in Maharashtra