The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday protested the 'naming' of a renovated garden in Mumbai after Tipu Sultan, claiming that the 18th century Mysore ruler persecuted Hindus and his name was unacceptable for a public facility.
The central committee of the banned Communist Party of India - Maoist had decided to eliminate Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmananda Saraswati as he was opposing them in Kandhamal, according to the confessions of an arrested Maoist commander, who was allegedly involved in the killing in August last year.P Rama Rao alias Uday, arrested on April 20 from Raygada district, told interrogators that he was part of the 16-member Maoist team that gunned down Saraswati.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia, who was summoned by the Special Investigation Team for questioning in a 2002 Gujarat riot case, failed to appear on Monday before the Supreme Court-constituted agency in Ahmedabad.
Singhal was arrested from Karsevakpuram, the VHP's central office, when he came out to attend the VHP's programme.
Political observers feel that Kodnani's arrest will help the Bharatiya Janata Party project a more 'secular and fair' image.
Raising anti-Taliban slogans, Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir blocked roads for hours and burnt tyres during a bandh on Tuesday to protest the recent killing of two members of the community in Pakistan's restive tribal belt and demanded concrete steps for ensuring the safety of minorities in that country.
The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday issued notice to state minister Maya Kodnani on an application filed by the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team for cancellation of her anticipatory bail in the 2002 Naroda Patia riot case.
The Supreme Court today decided to hear a petition seeking laying down of guidelines for preventing communal violence like the Kandhamal riots in Orissa in which the Christian community was targeted after the assassination of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader.
The VHP leaders presented a memorandum to the President, seeking an immediate ban on the conversion activities of Christian missionaries and foreign funds to these organisations. They also demanded a thorough scrutiny of the accounts of these Christian missionaries and urged the President to ensure that no foreigner is allowed to practice religious conversion in the country.
Three days after she was declared as an absconder, Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani was on Thursday granted anticipatory bail by a local court in some post-Godhra riot cases of 2002 being probed afresh by a Supreme Court. appointed Special Investigating Team.
Dubbing the explosion in Varanasi as "a heinous act of Jehadi terrorism", Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday demanded the holy city of Kashi be accorded the status of a "protected heritage site" and entry of non-Hindus into it be banned.
Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao had no knowledge of the plan to demolish Babri Masjid and he believed in the assurance given by top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders concerning the march to Ayodhya in 1992 by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and security at the disputed site, Rao's former media adviser PVRK Prasad said on Sunday.
Sonal Shah, the first Indian-American to be inducted in United States President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, has formally renounced her affiliation with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has been accused of fomenting violence against Muslims and Christians in India.Shah, former member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has said if she could have anticipated the outfit's role in the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat, she would have never associated with its US branch.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said a response was expected from the Modi government to the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 30 CRPF personnel were killed.
Vedanti warned that the Hindus would march to New Delhi and give a befitting reply if Karunanidhi did not withdraw his utterances on Lord Ram by November 20.
The decision comes after a meeting between VHP president Ashok Singhal and Modi earlier in the day. The VHP had demanded that the demolition drive against temple be immediately stopped
The Pope had made remarks while receiving India's envoy.
Protesting the government's decision to go ahead with the Sethusamudram project, the Sangh Parivar and its affiliated organisations on Wednesday staged road blockades at various places in Mumbai and Delhi.
"We will not fire a single bullet on Ram bhakts. They will be allowed to perform their pujas peacefully," he told reporters in New Delhi before leaving for Lucknow.
When his attention was drawn to the statements of Biju Patnaik, Sharad Yadav and other prominent leaders who have described Bajrang Dal as a violent organization, Prasad said that there was ideological difference but BJP does not agree with that perception.
Kamruddin Nagori, brother of Students Islamic Movement of India chief Safdar Nagori, has revealed that some leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were on the hit-list of the banned outfit.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Thursday appealed to Indians to boycott Chinese goods in view of the 'repeated' incursions by the neighbouring country along the Line of Actual Control. "We appeal to people to boycott Chinese toys, edibles and electronics and other material in our country as China is daily violating our territory on the ground and in the air in Ladakh and North-East," said VHP president Ramakant Dubey.
The VHP has said that this survey must not lead to reservations in the Armed Forces.
Protesters torched 24 houses in Kandhamal on Saturday as the death toll in the week-long communal violence rose to 14, with the recovery of two more bodies in the Orissa district.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was headed for the curfew-bound district to review the situation in the affected areas and the Ashram at Jalespeta, where Vishwa Hindu Parishad Laxamanada Saraswati was gunned down along with three others on August 23, leading to the violence.
At least two persons were killed and two injured when police opened fire on Tuesday to disperse a mob attacked places of worships, prayer halls, houses and shops at Barakhama in Orissa's Kandhamal district rocked by violence in the wake of the killing of a VHP leader.
The relief camp at Tiangia under 'G' Udayagiri block housing 500 people, was the last one to be closed on Friday, Kandhamal District Magistrate Krishna Kumar told PTI over the phone. Altogether 25,000 people were housed in over 15 relief camps during the violence in the aftermath of the killing of senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008, Kumar said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday questioned the Centre's assertion before the Supreme Court that Lord Ram himself had destroyed the Ram Setu (Adam's bridge) and said it was a distortion of history."Nowhere in the Kamba Ramayan is it mentioned that Lord Ram destroyed the bridge. It is to appease Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whose party is a partner in UPA, that Centre is doing such things," VHP president Ashok Singhal said.
Advani met RSS chief K Sudarshan and VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Parveen Togadia to discuss current political situation in the country. At least 15 top leaders of the RSS and the VHP were also present.
It also concurred with the high court order that the confessional statement of the accused were not admissible under law.
Fresh violence erupted in Indore on Friday, leading to the imposition of curfew in the entire city, a day after four persons were killed in clashes during the Bharatiya Janata Party Vishwa Hindu Parishad sponsored bandh against the revocation of land to Amarnath shrine board.
In the first conviction ten months after riots rocked the Kandhamal district in Orissa, a tribal leader has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment by a local court in Phulbani on charge of setting ablaze a house of a man belonging to a minority community.
VHP international president Ashok Singhal told reporters in Chennai on Thursday that the meeting, to be held on June 15 and 16 at Haridwar, would also decide on a 'massive agitation' involving 50,000 people, in support of the Ram Sethu movement.
Kodnani is an accused in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya case. Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaideep Patel, another key accused in the Naroda Gam case behind bars, was also granted bail.
The CM flew to Allahabad on Saturday morning and reached the Triveni Sangam -- confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers -- to personally see the arrangements there.
Police said a case has been registered against the Hurriyat leader and others for preaching secessionism on Eid-ul-Azha at Sheedhi Chowk on Monday.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh top brass led by its general secretary Mohan Bhagwat on Monday met Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishenchand Advani
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