FILLING IN AN INFORMATION GAP
The Hindutva terror groups linked with a series of bomb blasts in Muslim shrines and other places Rajasthan and Maharashtra terror have also killed Christian activists and targeted evangelistic work in the tribal belt of India.
Police investigators have traced the murder of Malwa Christian leader Pyar Singh Ninama to hit men of the terror gangs responsible for bombing the world famous Ajmer Sharif shrine.
According to news reports this morning in the New Delhi edition of Mail Today and Rediff, the Malwa region in western Madhya Pradesh is a focal point and recruiting ground of this terror group which also has as its members retired and serving officers of the Indian Army, who may have sourced the explosives used by the group.
This is the first time official information has come about the network which so far was presumed to be working against Muslims alone.
The following is the text of the Rediff illuminating report: published July 12, 2010:
Most names figuring in the investigations of the 2007 bomb blasts in Ajmer, at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid, and in Malegaon hail from Madhya Pradesh's Malwa region. Rediff.com's Krishnakumar Padmanabhan traces the common thread that could have brought these men together.
What started as minor skirmishes between two groups vying for power seven years ago in a small Madhya Pradesh cantonment town was the beginning of the phenomenon that is now spoken about as Hindu terrorism.
Recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad made a string of arrests from in and around Indore and established that the 2007 bomb blasts in Ajmer and Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid were the handiwork of the same group of people.
At least three of the accused in the bomb blast case were charged with the murder of a tribal leader from the Congress party in 2003.
As like-minded men began coming together and plotting heinous attacks, the Madhya Pradesh establishment turned a blind eye. Investigators now say the perpetrators found haven in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, as they wreaked havoc in other parts of the country.
In 2003, towards the end of Digvijay Singh's tenure as chief minister in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party had strengthened its hold in its traditional areas — the party base, the minorities, and the Adivasis.
In Malwa's tribal belt, Pyar Singh Ninama, a local tribal strongman, was the party's face among the Adivasi population. Around that time, accusations began to trickle that Christian missionaries were stepping up efforts to get more Adivasis into their fold. Around that time a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Sunil Joshi, was 'sent' as the Mhow pracharak from Gujarat, where it was said the heat was on him following the 2002 riots.
In Mhow -- an acronym for Military Headquarters of War -- the Sangh Parivar was virtually a family. The most active among them were Lokesh Sharma, his cousin Jitender Sharma -- from the RSS and Bajrang Dal respectively -- and Devendra Pandya, who were working to spread Hinduism in adjoining tribal areas.
On the other hand, Ninama, a converted Christian, was seen as nudging his fellow tribals towards Christianity. The two groups were soon at loggerheads and in one of the ensuing clashes, Pandey's choti (tuft) was allegedly cut off. In apparent revenge, three people including Ninama and his son, were brutally killed.
Cases were filed against Lokesh Sharma, Sunil Joshi, Ramesh Sharma, a businessman from neighbouring Pithampur, and 10 others. While most of them are still in jail and the case is before the court, Lokesh Sharma and Joshi were never caught. Here is where the seeds of what is now seen as Hindu terror were sown.
Investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Anti-Terror Squads of Rajasthan and Maharashtra have revealed that the lynchpin was Sunil Joshi, who was murdered in December 2007. Lokesh Sharma is accused of planting the bomb in Ajmer.
Locals say soon after the Ninama murder case, Joshi's stock rose among hotheaded youngsters.
In the assembly election that followed a couple of months after Ninama's murder, the Congress party was voted out, and the Bharatiya Janata Party [ ] came to power.
Around this time, some local residents claim Joshi and Lokesh Sharma began to be seen in public quite often.
"Digvijay Singh had often spoken about how the violent activities of the Hindu groups was fast turning to 'terrorism'. He said he had evidence that they were gaining bomb-making capabilities. But then he was voted out at a crucial juncture," says Manohar Limbodia, a veteran journalist.
With what was seen as a friendly BJP government, Joshi began to operate quite openly, mobilising support.
"Joshiji was someone who would say one death from our side should be avenged with five from the other side. The youngsters liked him and his approach a lot," a Bajrang Dal activist in Mhow recalls, speaking on condition that he would not be identified for this report.
As it was becoming evident that Joshi was going down an aggressive path, the RSS publicly distanced itself from him.
"Though the RSS distanced itself from the likes of Joshi, we could see that he had the support from within the organisation and also local BJP leaders. Joshi and his group could not have operated without strong support," a businessman, familiar with the Sangh Parivar in Dewas, where Joshi was murdered, says, again speaking on condition that he would not be identified for this report.
Soon after the Ninama murder case, the police defused a bomb at the venue of a Muslim congregation in Ghansipura, Bhopal, which they now allege was planted by the same group behind the terror attacks.
It was an improvised device with explosive material stuffed in metal pipes, connected to a mobile phone. The bomb was set to explode when the mobile rang, but the police defused it in time.
Had that bomb exploded it would have been the first attack of Hindu terror in the country.
How did those who came together in Mhow establish contact with foot soldiers like Ramji Kalasangra (who allegedly made the bombs used in the Ajmer and Mecca Masjid attacks) and Sandeep Dange (who is alleged to have 'facilitated' the others in executing the blasts) on the one hand and alleged masterminds like Colonel Prasad Purohit and sadhvi Pragya Thakur on the other hand?
"The RSS has many organisations," says Deepak Joshi, son of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kailash Joshi and the BJP legislator from Hatpipliya, Dewas. "There are also different kinds of people. First, there are the RSS members. Then there are people who might be involved in the RSS's activities without being members. Then, there are people from sister organisations like the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), Bajrang Dal, etc. Finally, there are people who believe in the ideology but are not associated in any way with any organisation. There are about five or six RSS events in a year where all the four kinds of people come together. Since they are all from the region and had extremist leanings, that is how these people must have met."
Explaining how various people could have gotten to know each other, he says he had met Pragya Thakur about 10 times. "She has sat in the exact place where you are sitting. The connection between her and me is that we are both from the ABVP. She was very aggressive from those days, and I did not make any efforts to know her better," he adds.
But he shies away from dubbing the phenomenon as Hindu terrorism.
"It is not organised to begin with," he says, "And it does not have the sanction or approval of an organisation like the RSS."
He accepts that the likes of Sunil Joshi did have support at the local level.
"When the police said Sunil Joshi was in hiding, I had met him at an event. He told me he was being framed," says the BJP MLA. "In small places, it is not difficult to meet and get to know people. In Madhya Pradesh, a lot of BJP politicians owe their career to the RSS. And some of them may have shared beliefs with people like Sunil Joshi. In the end, such politicians end up using these people for their personal gains."
How did the Malwa region become the hotbed for Hindu terror?
The Malwa region is predominantly tribal. Indore, which is the biggest city in the region, does not have much of an Adivasi presence. But Dhar is 75 percent Adivasi, Jhabua is nearly 100 percent Adivasi. Balwani, Khargon and Khandwa are 50 percent Adivasi.
The Hindus form the second biggest community. They comprise Malis from Rajasthan, Jats, Thakurs, Baniyas and Brahmins.
"More than the composition, the reason the region has been the hotbed of radical Hinduism is because of the leaders," says Limbodia. "Nagpur may be the seat of power for the RSS, but Malwa is the front. RSS stalwarts like Khushabhau Thakre, Pyarelal Khandelwal and Suresh Soni hailed from the Malwa region and shaped the RSS philosophy. That way, this region is the cradle of the RSS."
"It is not just Hindu terror," says Kamil Seher, a hotel owner in Pithampur, an industrial area. "The Pithampur-Dhar region was the base for SIMI [ ]. They used to train there. Before that, the Dawood Ibrahim gang used to be active here. Now the Maoists are also entering this region. Why, some time ago, even an LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) soldier was arrested from a Pithampur factory, where he was working as a gunman for the owner."
"If you are working in a factory, and you bring in someone from your village to stay with you, how would we know if he is a criminal or not?" asks Seher.
He alleges that though the likes of SIMI leader Safdar Nagori were arrested, those who were pumping money and were the brains of the outlawed organisation got away.
"If with an organisation like SIMI, money power and clout could work, how will anyone be able to get close to the top of the Hindu terror hierarchy, if it exists?" he asks.
While the official RSS line is that those arrested are not part of the organisation, it is reported to be helping the accused's families and has arranged for lawyers to fight their cases.
"The RSS arranged for lawyers in Ajmer and Hyderabad to take up my brother's case," confirms Jitender Sharma, Lokesh Sharma's cousin. "I am thankful to the organisation. But at the same time I understand why they want to distance themselves in public. There is a Congress government at the Centre, and all the three states where the terror charges have been filed are also ruled by the Congress, which wants to link the RSS with terrorism. For the Congress, the RSS is the biggest enemy, not the BJP. They want to finish off the RSS."
Jitender's version of what happened is different.
"I was with the Bajrang Dal and Lokesh was with the RSS. Under Digvijay Singh, Hinduism was under attack. So we tried to get a case filed against him. But it is not easy to get the police to file a first information report against the state's chief minister. So we indulged in chakka jams (blockades), and jail bharo protests on a small scale. The state police had marked us from that time. There were a lot of small cases (filed) against us. But we are not people who will get into hardcore criminal activities. At the most we would have stoned a few shops during bandhs," he says.
Though he does not criticise the RSS, Jitender does not have the same feelings about the BJP and its local leaders.
"Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is the BJP MLA for Mhow, has done nothing. He used Lokesh during elections and after that has turned a blind eye," he alleges.
Jitender is now fighting a lone battle to save his cousin.
"First he was implicated in the Ninama murder case. He lost five years of his life hiding from the police. Only last year he got married and his son was born this year. But he hasn't been able to see his son. We are poor people and now his family is struggling to make ends meet and also spend on the legal proceedings."
Though others do not buy the witch hunt theory, they agreed that the Congress party being in power at the Centre and the three states involved is the prime reason the case is moving at this pace.
"These people first surfaced in 2003," says journalist Manohar Limbodia. "After a few failed attempts, they executed their first attack in 2007. Wasn't four years enough for the state police to act? In fact, had any party but the BJP been in power in Madhya Pradesh, you might not be talking about a phenomenon called Hindu terror today."
"Even before the Ajmer blasts, they all met in a temple in Bhopal. What did the police do? After the blasts too, the Vasundhara Raje government (in Rajasthan) did not do anything," says Naveen Mali, a businessman and community leader in Mhow. "Only after (Congress Chief Minister) Ashok Gehlot [ ] took over did things start moving. True, it smacks of politics, but then something happened and something had to be done."
The Dewas-Indore belt was home for those accused in the terror cases.
"They thought they would be safe as long as they could strike in other states and hide here. They thought they were untouchable. They never expected the police from other states to come looking for them," says Limbodia.
Though Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare blew the lid off the Hindu terror phenomenon when he cracked the Malegaon blast case, it is the Rajasthan ATS, with its sweeps into border towns and midnight arrests, that has struck terror in the hearts of those hiding in the region.
"The Rajasthan ATS comes and picks up people for questioning and drops them back whenever it wants to. The local police is clueless. They come to know only when the Rajasthan ATS informs them as a formality about who they are taking away with them. Sometimes they don't even do that," says Seher about the arrests that the neighbouring state's police have made in Pithampur.
"The Shivraj Singh Chauhan government (in Madhya Pradesh) is not very strong," says Jitender Sharma. "In Gujarat, (Chief Minister) Narendra Modi ] doesn't allow the ATS to touch anyone. But here, the ATS from other states walk in freely and pick up whoever they want to whenever they want."
Showing posts with label Madhya Pradesh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Madhya Pradesh. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Sangh Agenda in Education
GITA IN SCHOOLS
Madhya Pradesh CM wants Gita in school curricula
Hemender Sharma / CNN-IBN
Published on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 09:11
Shivraj Chouhan declared that his govt was contemplating introducing the Gita in schools.
Bhopal: First it was sun worship and yoga in government schools and now the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made it a mission to introduce the Bhagavad Gita in school curricula.
“I had met swami Arganad and there this thought had come why not introduce the Bhagwad Gita as a moral science subject. I am very seriously contemplating on this,” said Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Proponents call it an inspired plan. Chouhan critics call it yet another step by the BJP to saffronise schools.
"The Shivraj Singh led government wants to do everything that will annoy the minorities. That is their aim,” said Congress MLA Arif Aqueel.
Students feel that they may not be old enough understand all that the Gita teaches, but they certainly seem to be mirroring the government's enthusiasm.
Chauhan himself defends the move saying "Any Good thing that can be there in any human being is written in the Bhagwad Gita”.
But Chouhan will find it hard to answer the counter point from Congress MLA Arif Aqueel.
“I don't have any problem with introduction of the Bhagwad Gita but than why not the Quran, the Bible or the Guru Grant Sahib?,” said Arif Aqueel, Congress MLA.
The Chief Minister though assures that the Gita will not be introduced in syllabus in haste. But it’s surely a move that will please RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, who recently announced in Bhopal, that non-Hindus cannot be Indians.
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Vivek Joyti Mar 9, 2010
Ekal Kumbh Resolves To Reach One Lakh Tribal Villages
from savarkar vinayak
date Tue, Mar 9, 2010
A massive Ekal Kumbh organized by Ekal Vidyalayas was inaugurated by the Sarsanghchalak of the RSS Shri Mohan Bhagwat in Delhi on October 30. More than 12,000 vanvasis & girivasis (Forest & Mountain dwellers) of Ekal Vidyalayas assembled in Swarna Jayanti Park of Rohini in North west Delhi. Vanvasis from almost all the states of India participated in the three day conclave.
Started in 1988 from Jharkhand, the Ekal Vidyalaya Movement has made its presence in 27110 villages of 22 states of India. Presently. 7,78,965 students are getting their education through these schools. With the objective of making India ‘Sikshit, swasthya and samridh’ (literate, healthy and prosperous), the Ekal Vidyalaya has also undertaken the responsibility of imparting education for health care, community development and promoting village folk for constructive activities.
The three day conclave formally concluded with the address of Sadhvi Ritambhara on the first of November with the resolve to reach out to one lakh tribal villages. A grand exhibition depicting real India living in rural and forest areas was also inaugurated by the Yoga guru Baba Ram Dev on 29th October evening. Many NRIs also participated in the conference hosted by the Bharat Lok Siksha Parishad, Delhi. All the sessions were organized and conducted by vanvasi volunteers exclusively.
Eight townships were setup in the 24 acres of land in Swarna Jayanti Park. A common conference hall, grand exhibition hall, reception booth, health centre and office etc. occupied another 20 acres of the park area. Speaking on the occasion Shri Mohan Bhagwat appreciated the work being done by Ekal Volunteers in providing education in the remote areas of India. He said, “It is only education that would make the country great. In fact, through Ekal Vidyalayas, we are not only running schools but trying to make India of our dreams”. Addressing the gathering Baba Ramdev described the Ekal Movement as Master Plan for country’s integrated development “The body of human being is nothing but a temple and Ekal Vidyalaya is nothing but worship of the God”, he added. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) President Shri Ashok Singhal expressed his concern saying that the benefits of Independence have not reached the villages whereas 60 percent of national resources should have reached there.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
A Christian bother narrates the attack on Presentation Sisters in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India by Hindutva militants
Subject:
On Thursday the 15th of May, 2008, at 6.30 in the evening, Marie Selvum, a second year Novice in Pratishta Niketan, the Novitiate of the Presentation Sisters, went out to the gate to close it. There were two young men on a motorcycle there, who asked, "Is this a church ?" She said it wasn't. They politely said their is that sos, but entered the gate. Marie decided to make for the front door and close it ; but they were faster. They barged in to the Novitiate. She realised then that there were two more motorcycles behind them, and a Maruti van, and she noticed that the men in them were young, well dressed, with mobiles and other indications that they were of a class higher than that of the local villagers. They had cricket bats and hockey sticks, and some were picking up stones from around.
When they had a sufficient number of men inside, they demanded that she call all those in the house, downstairs. She knew that Sr. Rose, assistant to the Novice Mistress, was upstairs, in the computer room. She made her way upstairs. A man followed her. He demanded that Sr. Rose go down immediately. Sr. Rose coolly told him to go down : she would make her way down. He turned around, and grabbed two Novices around the shoulders, Marie and Josie. As they neared the head of the stairs, Josie found a way of wriggling out of his grasp, and made off. Sr. Rose told her, and others, to lock themselves in rooms. But though they were all terrified, they were transfixed by the cries of Marie, who had been grabbed now by the hair, and forced downstairs. She was unable to do anything else but cry, "Bhaiyya ! Please don't do this !" When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he forced her into the community room, which had a TV, a bookshelf, and some chairs and tables. She realised that he wanted to bolt the door, and so she hung on to it. He smashed the door - it was made of wire gauze - but she clung to it, and sank to the floor. He dragged her by the ankles and swung her around. She continued imploring him with the same words, "Bhaiyya ! Please don't !" .
At that stage another young man, who had been giving orders around to the mob, told him to leave her, and concentrate on smashing things. He complied immediately. They smashed the TV, knocked down the bookshelf, smashed the furniture and all the glass in the windows.
Meanwhile, Sr. Sylvia, the Novice Mistress, who was in the farm, figured that all the noise was not just from the "Sammelan" across the road, and wasn't the result of the wind slamming furniture around (which it had been doing for some days). She came in to the house by the front door, to find a mob of around 50 people howling slogans at the gate, and when she entered the house she found people smashing every single window, light switch and light bulb they could find. She continually asked, "Who are you ?" "What do you want ?" "Why are you doing this ?" and asked them to stop. The only response she got was further destruction. One boy, who seemed to be the leader, said, "We are Hindus. We want you out of this place".
Then, as suddenly as they had come, they were gone.
The Sisters found that their telephone line had been cut (in this day and age, they had resisted getting a mobile connection), so Sr. Sylvia took a back route to the village and called people. Before she got back to the Novitiate, the Police had arrived. I was in the process of taking Gussy to Habibganj Station for his train to
I rejoiced that Marie and Josie were being asked to recount the events again and again for everybody who came. And there were some calls (on borrowed cell phones) from their own Sisters, in
I was glad that I could do that for them. Otherwise there was really nothing I did. It was a time when I could actually experience the duty of being brother, which has sometimes nothing to do with doing, just being there. It was a powerful experience for Shivaji, too, because the Novices knew him better, and they were able to break down and cry when he was present. That was a long night, because the Sisters had to make statements, and First Information Reports, and eventually go to the Police Station, and it was past 12.30 when all were able to retire. I think most were able to sleep. Next morning they were able to make jokes about shouts and cries that they had heard from one another's beds. I thought it was a good sign.
But now the procession began. All day long, more and more people came in, some of them simple people who came to express their solidarity, but many of them officious officials, one more policeman, from one more department, one from the CID, one from the CBI, then the first of the politicians, who could smell an opportunity to be in front of the cameras.
At this stage it was not helping the young Sisters in the focus of the events to live their lives. So I agreed with the Sisters that none of them would speak to anybody, but anybody. They were able to go upstairs, and do some ordinary things, like having class, and prayer, and help with cooking meals
And each well-wisher was invited to look at the rooms where the damage had been done. And if he wished to speak to the people who were actually involved, he got a gentle but firm no. Of course, the poor fish would fall into the trap of asking the next question, "What was the reason for this behaviour ? Was it about land ? Or was it about conversions ?", and it served him right. Because then he got the full barrage of unbridled rhetoric and oratory (no, no, not a little chapel) salted with irony and spiced with sarcasm, and points which they had better ponder on, because the next listener was going to get the same dose.
They were reminded that this remains a democracy, and a vibrant, healthy democracy at that. If people had any problems, they were welcome, and they knew that they were welcome, to talk to the Sisters. If they had any complaints, the Police were alive and well. And if they had a case, they could move the Courts. The country was aware that the Christians were the first to acknowledge guilt when they were guilty. (Shamed nodding of heads). And the fact that not one, not one, case of conversion has ever been brought to light, was offered to them in the soft, gentle tone of voice usually employed by the punter who senses victory on the last lap.
It was suggested to them that 20 young men who needed cricket bats and hockey sticks and a back-up force of 50 slogan shouting people in order to attack 11 defenceless women should really be given awards for bravery, if they would come forward and give their names. Such bravery is required for our armed forces. The right place for them should be on the front lines of Ladakh and Siachen, defending our country.
But, of course, (and they had to admit) they could hardly be real Indians, if they could stoop so low as to treat women that way. In fact, they were the antithesis of all that the Hindu religion advocates.
It was information to them that the Sisters were helping the children of the most destitute in the nearby villages with their school work, giving them tuition where they needed it. And they were invited to ponder the possibility that therein lay the problem for those wearing fancy clothes and carrying mobiles - maybe they could not countenance the fact that the next generation would be educated, and no longer subject to the same exploitation that had made them destitute in the first place !
There was some satisfaction in being able to make these suggestions to a captive audience ; but one of the most moving experiences was to see their Provincial, Sr. Pushpam, and two members of the PLT, arrive from Delhi, after 13 hours in a car ; and to see the greetings they exchanged. I knew that healing would come of it. My work was done. The bike ride back gave me a chance to marvel at the gifts hidden in these horrible events.
Sr. Sylvia I think it was who prevented the driver from darting into the fray. If so, it was one manifestation of the Providence Who is our inheritance, and theirs too, our Sisters. Sr. Rose wanted to let the dogs out, but thought better of it. I am convinced that if the dogs had been available, the rowdies would not have had the same qualms about violence - and, having tasted blood, who knows what might have transpired. But the most striking epiphany was when Marie continually looked her captor in the eye and called him, "Bhaiyya", and, according to her own description, every time she did that, he looked at her and lost some of his fire. I found it hard not to think of "Jesus of Nazareth" - "I am He" - and they fell to the ground. I wonder how that young chap manages to look in the mirror these days : does he think of the girl who called him her brother while he treated her like that ? Is he able to look his own sister in the eye ? Is it possible something will yet happen to him ? Kingdom may yet come of it.
I must admit that I was amused at a very serious moment. On Thursday night, (well, 12.40 Friday morning) Sr. Sylvia led the night prayer, and I was privileged to be present. She started by asking us to pray for peace, to allow ourselves to be penetrated by peace. Then she invited us to send the vibrations of that peace to those who had entered our house that day.
And the song we sang was "Om Shanti Om", in the original Sanskrit. The reason I was amused was the thought that the brash young man had had the effrontery to declare himself to be a Hindu. If he could only have been present that night !
Not one iota of violence did our Sisters offer during the entire episode. Right now our own Novices are contemplating the enormity of this fact. When I started writing this, I had intended to email it today the 17th, but the Internet refused to cooperate. This evening we had satsang, which normally takes about an hour. Today we were there for a little over two hours. Our reflections were nearly all around the experiences of our Sisters, and the feelings generated in us, their brothers. I was so proud of them, of the strength of their feelings, and their willingness to share them, and to delve into memories of similar events - some of which astounded me. I think I have seen Kingdom come.
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