Are SIMI, Bajrang Dal two sides of same coin?

Are SIMI, Bajrang Dal two sides of same coin?
CNN-IBN <_blank>

Thu, Sep 18, 2008
The spate of attacks on Christians and churches continues in the
BJP-ruled states of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Coastal districts of Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada, Chikmagalur and Udupi
are tense after 14 churches were attacked on Sunday, allegedly by the
activists of Hindu outfit Bajrang Dal.

On Wednesday, a mob attacked a church and statue of St Mary in Kolar in
south Karnataka, taking the number of attacks to 19 in the past one
month. Security has been stepped up following the incident. Police say
the situation is tense but under control.

Last month Orissa too witnessed a similar flare up. Christians were
attacked in the Kandhamal district and 24 people died in the communal
clashes that followed.

As the Government considers bringing in tougher measures to deal with
terror, CNN-IBN debates if Hindu outfits like Bajrang Dal could be
compared with Islamist terror groups like the banned Students Islamic
Movement of India (SIMI).

To debate the controversial issue on Face the Nation were the President
of Indian Christian Voice, Dr Abraham Mathai; and BJP leader Gopal
Prasad Sinha.

Abraham Mathai kickstarted the debate and strongly argued the Bajrang
Dal was terrorising minorities in the state. Mathai and also hinted at
state complicity.

“The state is talking about SIMI activists being in hiding and here we
have the Bajrang Dal people openly admitting to having done this. How
can you differentiate between the two? Should SIMI be banned just
because they are Muslims?” he asked.

Mathai quoted incidents of Bajrang Dal activists being caught in the
act. “In Nanded, they were caught making bombs and even confessed to
having dressed as Muslims,” he alleged.

But Gopal Prasad Sinha lashed back and said it was unfair to compare
Bajrang Dal with SIMI. “It’s a well-established fact that SIMI is an
anti-national force, is part of Lashkar-e-Toiba, al-Qaeda and is
responsible for blasts across the country,” he said.

Sinha also defended Bajrang Dal’s action as a “reaction to a planned
mischief to convert people in Karnataka”.

“I don’t support the violence of Bajrang Dal but how do we react to
these things,” he asked arguing while Bajrang Dal had an ideology, SIMI
was destroying the idea of India.

“SIMI is an international force, a part of an international terror
group,” he said.

Mathai retorted and said SIMI and Bajrang Dal shared the same underlying
ideology.

“Bajrang Dal activists have killed 50 Indians in Orissa — they
haven’t killed Pakistanis, Bangaladeshis or others. Is that not
anti-national? Just because they are from a majority community and have
the backing of a political party, should they be spared?” he asked.

But the Bajrang Dal has also been accused of distributing tridents,
bringing down the Babri Masjid and has been compared with the Nazis.

In fact, senior BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee said he was ashamed of
the group’s activities. However, Sinha dismissed these arguments as
exaggerated public reaction.

As regards forcible conversions, Mathai argued there has been no
conviction despite there being the draconian anti-conversion laws in
place in five states.

“Because they have failed, they are trying miserably hard,” Mathai said,
adding, if conversions gave someone respect and dignity, they were not
wrong.

Book Review: Hindutva: Treason and Terrorism

Book Review
Strong feelings strongly expressedBook Review
Strong feelings strongly expressed

[Order this book online]
<http://www.milligazette.com/MG_Online_Store/index.htm>

Here is a book that forcefully warns against the possible consequences
of allowing Sangh fascism to ride back to power

Title:Hindutva: Treason and Terrorism
Author: I K Shukla
ISBN 81-7221-026-4
Year: 2005
Pages: 181 p/b
Price: Rs 130 / Euro 10 / US$ 15 Order Now
<http://www.milligazette.com/MG_Online_Store/index.htm>
Publishers: Pharos Media & Publishing Pvt Ltd, D-84 Abul Fazl Enclave-I,
Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025; info@pharosmedia.com

Reviewed by Mohd. Zeyaul Haque

Every sensible human being is appalled by murder and mayhem, hate and
hooliganism. The Sangh combine has honed these into an art form, so
finely orchestrated and balanced that even the murder of Mahatma Gandhi
looks rather normal. Narendra Modi of Gujarat presents the 2002 pogrom
as some kind of a revolutionary upheaval inspired by the noblest of
ideas.
There are litterateurs and sundry writers in Gujarat who take the idea
further and sublimate it into a great act of catharsis. Naturally, we
need somebody to restore perspective and put things where they belong.
It is here that IK Shukla comes charging in, astride a white steed,
wielding a mighty ex-calibre, so to say.

The most noticeable aspect of Shukla’s work is the sense of moral
outrage at what the Sangh has been up to over the last several decades.
The Sangh has not been demonising only the religious minorities (mainly
Christians and Muslims), but liberals, Marxists and common Indians of
every denomination and political leaning. The Sangh is a microscopic
minority that masquerades as the representative of all Hindus, which it
is not.

To quote Shukla, “the saffron minority, like all fascist formations
in history, resorts to massive vandalism and violence on a regular
basis. Sowing division and discord, therefore, is essential to its
unholy project, entailing social disruption and endangering national
security”.

Shukla is one of the few people who fights against the Sangh on their
own turf. The Sangh sets a great store by its “nationalist”
credentials. But Shukla says they are downright anti-national. Inspired
by nasty men like Hitler, Mussolini and their more recent clones like
Austria’s Gaider and France’s Le Pen, the Sangh has got to be
brutal. One of its mascots, Parveen Togadia, publicly boasts that he
worships Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W.
Bush. Why? Because in his view, they are the greatest foes of Muslims.
That makes Shukla remark that the Sangh has always been inspired by and
subservient to foreigners.

He makes the point clear by ferreting out Atal Behari Vajpayee’s
mafinama (apology) to the British government in 1942. To secure his
release, several patriots were betrayed and thrown behind bars. That is
a stigma that would not go away, whatever the Sangh does. Shukla rightly
calls Vajpayee a police informer.

The book is a collection of articles written around and after the
Gujarat carnage of 2002. The last articles were written after the
BJP-led NDA was booted out of power from the Centre. Shukla lampoons and
lambasts the neo-fascists relentlessly. Finding prose inadequate to
attack the adversary, he resorts to limerick at a couple of places. He
does not take kindly to Shushma Swaraj threatening to shave her head,
don white sari (even though she is not a widow) and eat roasted gram, if
Sonia Gandhi became prime minister. He challenges her to go ahead and
commit suicide.

In his limerick, taking poetic licence, he turns Shushma into Sush Maa
and Uma Bharti becomes Um Abharti. Incidentally, Abharti (un-Indian) is
the antonym of Bharti (Indian). Shukla is convinced that the Sangh
nationalism is phoney.
It is interesting reading. Well-produced and low-priced, it is virtually
a loot at Rs 130. «

———————————————-

Read some of Shuklaji’s article ..

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/ik_shukla/index.htm
<http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/ik_shukla/index.htm>

*
Save Narmada April 17, 2006
<http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/ik_shukla/narmada170406.htm>
*
Saffronazis Stalking India: Terrorism on the March March 04, 2006
<http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/ik_shukla/saffronaziz_india040406.ht\
m>
*
The Colony of Martinets And Mannequins Nov 23, 2005
<http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/ik_shukla/colony_martinets231105.htm\
>
*
The Modi Factor and Massacres of the Innocent I K Shukla Nov 02, 2005
<http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/ram_puniyani/initiatives.htm>
*
The Hindu Terrorists
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/27161> Sep 24, 2005
*
Hindutva Fascism and Holocausts in the Making
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/27119> Sep 23, 2005
*
Barbarians Blast Bangladesh
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/26188> Aug 20, 2005
*
Humayun: “No” To Oblivion
<http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/ik_shukla/humayun_azad280505.htm>
Jun 12, 2005

Incidents of anti-Christian violence

ORISSA ANTI CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE UPDATE 25th August 2008

1. NUN REPORTED BURNT ALIVE: A Christian woman, possibly a nun,
was reported burnt alive on 25th August 2008 by a group of Vishwa
Hindu Parishad mob which stormed the orphanage she ran in the
district of Bargarh (Orissa). Police Superintendent Ashok Biswall
has told this to news reporters. A priest who was at the orphanage
was also badly hurt and is now being treated in hospital for
multiple burns.

2. NUN RAPED: A young Catholic Nun of the Cuttack Bhubaneswar
diocese working Jan Vikas Kendra, the Social Service Centre at
Nuagaon in Kandhamal was reportedly gang raped on 24th August 2008
by groups of Hindutva extremists before the building itself was
destroyed.

3. SENIOR PRIEST AND NUN INJURED: Fr Thomas, director of the
Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Kanjimendi, less than a kilometer away
from the Social Service Centre, and another Nun were injured when
the centre was attacked. They were taken to the police station in a
disheveled state as the armed mob bayed for their blood. The
Pastoral centre was then set afire.

4. BALLIGUDA CHURCH BUILDINGS DESTROYED AGAIN: On 24th August
2008 evening lynch mobs at the block headquarters of Balliguda, in
the very heart of Kandhamal district, which had seen much violence
between 24th and 26th December 2007, attacked and destroyed a
Presbytery, convent and hostel damaging the properties.

5. The mobs in Balliguda caught hold of two boys of the
Catholic hostel and tonsured their heads.

6. PHULBANI CHURCH DAMAGED: On 25th august 2008 morning
followers of the late Lakshmanananda Saraswati damaged the Catholic
Church in Phulbani, the district headquarter town.

7. MOTHER TERESA BROTHERS ASHRAM ATTACKED: mobs attacked the
Mother Teresa Brothers’ residence and hospital in Srasanada,
destroyed once before and rebuilt two months ago, and beat up the
patients. Fundamentalists have targeted Priests, religious and also
the Faithful in Pobingia also.

8. BHUBANESWAR BISHOP’S HOUSE ATTACKED: On the morning of 25th
August 2008, violent mobs made several attempts to enter the
compounds of Catholic Church and Archbishop’s house in the heart of
the Capital of the State of Orissa. They could not enter because of
the police presence. They threw stones at the guesthouse of
Archbishop’s House, damaging windows.

9. DUBURI PARISH; Another group of fundamentalists entered
presbytery in Duburi parish, managed by the SVDs and destroyed and
damaged property. Two priests of the parish are missing.

10. Mr. Jamaj Pariccha, Director of Gramya Pragati, is attacked
and his property, vehicle etc. damaged, burnt and looted.

11. A Baptist Church in Akamra Jila in Bhubaneswar is also
damaged.

12. Christian institutions like St. Arnold’s School (Kalinga
Bihar), AND NISWASS report some damage.

13. BOUDH DISTRICT [Adjoining Kandhamal]: Fundamentalists enter
the Catholic parish church and destroy property. People are fleeing
to safer places. But nothing seems safe.

14. Muniguda Catholic Fathers and Nuns’ residence have been
damaged.

15. Sambalpur HM Sister’s residence (Ainthapalli) has suffered
damage.

16. Padanpur: One priest is attacked and admitted to a hospital.
Hostel boys and the in charge have moved away from the place.

17. Madhupur Catholic Church currently under attack.

18. SMALL CHURCHES: Attempted violence on small churches in
various districts, including Padampur, Sambalpur near GM College,
Talsera, Dangsoroda, Narayanipatara, Muniguda, Tummiibandh,
Tangrapada, Phulbani, Balliguda, Kalingia, Chakapad, Srasanranda.

19. VILLAGE CHRISTIAN HOUSES ATTACKED: Houses attacked on forest
hamlets of Balliguda, Kanjamandi Nuaguam (K. Nuaguam), Tiangia (G.
Udayagiri), Padangiri, Tikabali.

20. KALAHANDI DISTRICT: houses burnt even though the district is
more than 300 kilometers from the place where Swami Lakshmanananda
was killed.

21. Pastor Sikandar Singh of the Pentecostal Mission beaten up
and his house burnt in Bhawanipatna.

22. Kharihar: 3 Christian shops were looted and burnt. Pastor
Alok Das and Pastor I M Senapati beaten up.

23. Aampani: Pastor David Diamond Pahar, Pastor Pravin Ship,
Pastor Pradhan and Pastor Barik beaten up and chased away with their
families.

24. Naktikani: Mob surrounds village to attack Christians. The
government has sent forces, it is reported.

[This list is compiled with assistance from Archbishop's House,
Bhubaneswar and other sources]

Orissa: Hindu extremists burn one nun alive, rape another

08/25/2008 16:52

by Nirmala Carvalho

Bubaneshwar (AsiaNews) – A Catholic nun was burnt alive by a group
of Hindu fundamentalists who stormed the orphanage she ran in the
district of Bargarh (Orissa), this according to Police
Superintendent Ashok Biswall. A priest who was at the orphanage was
also badly hurt and is now being treated in hospital for multiple
burns. Another nun from Bubaneshwar’s Social Centre was gang raped
by groups of Hindu extremists before the building housing the
facility was set on fire. Sources also told AsiaNews that elsewhere
one priest was wounded and two other were abducted. The list of
violent anti-Christian acts is thus getting longer.
For the past two days the state of Orissa (north-east India) has
been racked by violence following the assassination of radical Hindu
leader Swami Laxanananda Saraswati.

Churches, community and pastoral centres, convents and orphanages
have been attacked yesterday and today by mobs shouting “Kill the
Christians; destroy their institutions.”

Tensions in the state are in fact still running high. The Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) has planned demonstrations for today and
tomorrow. Gangs of Hindu fanatics from the VHP as well as Sangh
Parivar are roaming roads and villages, setting up road blocks,
sending their own members on raids of plunder and violence.

According to firsthand accounts the archdiocese’s social centre was
attacked and torched. Before that the attackers raped Sister Meena,
a nun working at the centre.

The local pastoral centre, which has escaped destruction in last
December’s violence, is now a total wreck. Father Thomas, who ran
the facility, is in hospital with serious head injuries.

Speaking to AsiaNews Fr Ajay Singh also said that a nun was burnt
alive in an orphanage she ran in the district of Bargarh.

Elsewhere Sisters of Mother Teresa have been attacked by stone-
throwing Hindu militants with one seriously injured.

All Christian institutions are now in danger because mobs of Hindu
radicals are roaming the streets, breaking down doors and smashing
windows, including in some cases Christian homes. Many priests and
nuns have had to escape.

In Bubaneshwar Hindu militants stoned the Archbishop’s residence,
but did not dare invade the place because of police presence.

In Phulbani the parish church and the home of local clergy were
attacked and set on fire. All local priests fled and found refuge in
the homes of some of members of the local congregation.

The youth hostel that houses students who study in Phulbani has also
been torched.

Some missionaries of Charity who were attending a health course in
Brahamanigoan were blocked for hours in the village.

Elsewhere nuns left their convent finding shelter in some school
buildings

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13056&size=A

Hindutva activists killed while making bombs in Kanpur

Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:20 am (PDT)
Hindutva activists killed while making bombs in Kanpur

By TwoCircles.net news desk,

Kanpur: A powerful explosion killed two people believed to be Hindutva
activists in a mixed colony of Kanpur. The powerful explosion destroyed the
door and walls of the room where it occurred on Sunday.

Rajiv alias Piyush Mishra (25) and Bhupinder Singh (32) are among the dead,
they both are reported to be Bajrang Dal members.

Police found eleven live bombs, and enough material to make nine additional
bombs, seven timer devices, and batteries. Ammonium nitrate and potassium
nitrate was also recovered from there.

*TwoCircles.net* spoke to SSP of Kanpur Ashok Kumar Singh who said that the
police arrived within an hour of the explosion and pulled out two youths.
They were rushed to the hospital but declared dead on arrival.
read more:
http://www.twocircles.net/2008aug25/hindutva_activists_killed_while_making_bombs_kanpur.html