The Kerala BJP has contradicted the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's justification of the arrest of two Keralite Catholic nuns, stating they were not involved in human trafficking or forced conversion attempts and promising to help them.
On the issue of whether chapters related to the first Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Keshav Baliram Hedgewar are being removed in Karnataka, he said India is a land of diversity.
The arrest of two Catholic nuns from Kerala in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion has ignited a political controversy, with opposition parties criticizing the arrest and the Chief Minister defending the police action.
The members of the Hindu right wing bodies said if the show is not cancelled, they will hold a protest against it.
Two Union Ministers visited the family of a 23-year-old woman in Kothamangalam who allegedly took her own life due to harassment by her lover. The family is demanding an NIA probe into the incident, alleging forced religious conversion.
The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday demanded a ban on Bajrang Dal in the wake of attacks on churches and missionaries in Orissa and Karnataka, saying when there is a ban on SIMI the same action can be taken against the saffron outfit.
Posters with the message "Free Gaza, Free Palestine" and calls to boycott Israeli goods were found in the Narauli town of Sambhal district in Uttar Pradesh, India. Police are investigating the incident based on CCTV footage and information gathered from shop owners. The posters emerged following Israel's offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel in October 2023.
Members of Hindu right-wing outfits allegedly created ruckus at a mausoleum in Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh, demanding permission to offer prayers and claiming a temple had previously existed at the site. The incident has led to heightened security and political reactions.
Four people, allegedly associated with the Bajrang Dal have been arrested in connection with the assault on two persons at Nargund in Gadag district, one of whom succumbed to injuries.
According to the police, some Bajrang Dal members had visited the gym, located in the Ayodhya Nagar area of Bhopal, and raised questions over the presence of Muslim trainers at the facility.
BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that the arrest of two nuns in Chhattisgarh was due to a 'misunderstanding' and that they will be released on bail soon. He met with Archbishop of Trichur Andrews Thazhath to brief him that the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister have assured the nuns would be released on bail.
Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma announced plans for a new anti-conversion law following the arrest of two nuns from Kerala on charges related to religious conversion and human trafficking. The announcement comes amid political tensions and accusations of wrongful arrest.
Two more persons were arrested in the Bajrang Dal activist murder case in Shivamogga, where district authorities have extended the prohibitory orders till Friday.
The arms training camp of Bajrang Dal has triggered a war of words among political parties in Uttar Pradesh with Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati expressing concern over Governor Ram Naik's support to the "illegal exercise" and Samajwadi Party accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of whipping up communal frezy with an eye on state assembly polls.
"The findings of National Commission for Minorities and National Women's Commission on communal violence in Karnataka have established the diabolical role of Bajrang Dal. Dal leaders have openly claimed responsibility for attacks on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka," Paswan said accusing it of espousing a divisive agenda.
Bajrang Dal Karnataka unit convener Mahendra Kumar was arrested in Mangalore on Friday night.He has been held under Sections 153 A and 120 B. The police have taken suo motu congnisance in this case. The Bajrang Dal has been allegedly responsible for the wave of violence that rocked Mangalore recently. Kumar has been in the news for speaking out against forcible conversions.
The Nagpur violence may have been prevented had the police considered the dangerous potential of the VHP/Bajrang Dal's demonstration; had they immediately stopped the burning of the chaddar and arrested the demonstrators; and had they fanned out to counter the rumours that spread among Muslims, observes Jyoti Punwani.
The demand for imposing a ban on Sangh Parivar outfits Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishas on Monday gained momentum with the Congress saying these organisations were a "suitable case" for such action. "Bajrang Dal is a suitable case for ban... Also the VHP," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said in Delhi.
Members of the right-wing outfit burn PK posters.
Two men were found charred to death in a car in Haryana's Bhiwani district Thursday after they were allegedly abducted from Bharatpur district in Rajasthan by men said to be cow vigilantes.
Photographs of the saffron cadres brandishing rifles, swords and even lathis (sticks) in the camps in some Bajrang Dal-managed schools had gone viral on social media and news channels.
Violence erupted in central Nagpur on Monday with stones hurled at police amid rumours that the holy book of a community was burnt during an agitation by a right-wing body for the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb, officials said.
The film, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, is a satirical take on godmen and superstitions.
The screening of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer My Name is Khan was stopped in two major cities of Orissa following protest by the Bajrang Dal even as fans enjoyed the film amid tight security at other places.
In a volteface, the Bajrang Dal has said it is not averse to Valentine's Day as long as the youths behaved decently on that occasion.
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.
Normal life was paralysed in Assam during a 12-hour-long state-wide bandh led by the Bajrang Dal and supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and several other organisations demanding action against the All India United Democratic Front and its leader Badaruddin Ajmal for alleged links with 'jihadi forces in Bangladesh'.
National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has suggested a ban on Bajrang Dal may not be sustainable and refused to term the Sangh Parivar outfit and SIMI as two sides of the same coin, leaving Railway Minister Lalu Prasad peeved and prompting the BJP to speak of another disconnect between the NSA and the government.
Bajrang Dal on Wednesday warned youths against celebrating Valentine's Day. "We have asked the city police commissioner not to grant any special permission for Valentine's Day celebrations. We also appeal to managements of resorts and pubs not to organise special programmes to celebrate the occasion," Bajrang Dal's city president Vinod Kumar said.
The saffron outfit accused the two of distancing the party from Hindutva ideology.
Taking cognisance of unlawful activities being carried out by Bajrang Dal in Ayodhya on May 10, the Faizabad police has lodged an FIR against 50 activists and office bearers of the saffron outfit for disturbing peace, law and order and communal harmony, Faizabad SSP Mohit Gupta said.
A Bangladeshi national, Azizul Nizanul Rahman, was arrested in Mumbai for staying illegally in India. Police are investigating if he was involved in the March 17 violence in Nagpur. Rahman, a daily wage labourer, admitted to obtaining an Aadhaar card using forged documents. Police are analyzing his mobile phone location and have shared information with Nagpur authorities.
Deposing before district and sessions judge M N Patnaik, investigating officer Joginder Nayak said he had found no link between the Bajrang Dal and the 18 persons chargesheeted in the case.
Members of the Bajrang Dal on Saturday celebrated the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Though United Progressive Alliance parties have already voiced their support to the government if it banned Bajrang Dal, leaders from Biju Janata Dal, Bharatiya janata Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha evaded a direct reply to questions from media persons on the issue, as they came out of the National Integration Council meeting in New Delhi.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale has voiced his opposition to the demand for demolition of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's grave in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, saying its removal will not serve any purpose. Athawale said that since Aurangzeb was buried there, his tomb should remain undisturbed. The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar administration has barred Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote from entering the district from March 16 to April 5 amid calls from some outfits to remove Aurangzeb's grave. Security has been heightened around the site and visitors are being checked thoroughly.
'The new Waqf bill sows the seed for conflict in every town and village of India.'
Muthu-ur-Rehman, a journalist who was arrested in connection with the recently busted assassination plot in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, was assigned to kill a Bajrang Dal leader in Hubli, according to confessional statements of the accused.According to their statements, the journalist and six others were assigned to kill Bajrang Dal leader Gany Jartakar, as they believed that he had become a threat to the Muslim community.
The current situation in Kerala politics is perhaps best described as a case of the state's traditional two front politics now seeing a third front (the BJP) muscling in with the potential outcome being either a messy three front affair or a renewed endorsement of the two front pattern but with one of the old fronts compromised or quashed, observes Shyam G Menon.
Two first information reports were registered by the police at Siyana police station in Bulandshahr -- one over cow slaughter and the other on the mob violence in which a village man was also killed.
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