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October 2001
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October 2001
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Stop the ‘Talibanisation’ of India In July 2001, CC had launched a nationwide campaign, demanding action against the Bajrang Dal and the VHP who are blatantly militarising Indian society through arms’ training camps conducted in different parts of the country. The campaign has received widespread support, with doyens of the political, social and corporate world backing it. Weeks before the ban on SIMI (see accompanying article on the issue), the director generals of police of two important states, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, had made a case for a simultaneous ban on SIMI and Bajrang Dal to the Centre. While the response of the government to the ban on Bajrang Dal, given it’s paternal and filial loyalties to the outfit was expected, the crudity of Union home minister, LK Advani’s brazen partisanship needs to be put on record. Laughing off the demand as "a joke", he said there was no proof that the outfit was involved in any anti–national or terrorist activities. "Nobody has so far come with any evidence suggesting that it is involved in terrorist and anti-national activities or has engineered bomb blasts or secessionist movement".(The Times of India, September 30). Our independently gathered reports from both Rajasthan and Gujarat reinforce our demand for action under criminal law against the blatant militarisation of Indian society. Information collected by CC from the intelligence wing of the state police of both Rajasthan and Gujarat reveals a unique way that the BD has found to arm its cadres — trishul diksha abhiyaan! Cleverly taking cover of the fact that in law the trishul is treated as a religious symbol, over 30,000 implements that are actually four–inch sharp Rampuri knives with a trishul shaped metal wires on either side (and which can actually kill) have already been distributed to their cadres in Gujarat. In nearby, Rajasthan too, over 15,000 such implements have been distributed. Arms training camps have been held by the outfit since 1996 and their intentions made clear through previous and more recent utterances of their leaders. Why does the administration, given the background of the events that the nation witnessed on December 6, 1992, not act and take stern pre–emptive measures? "Bajrang Dal has decided to train 25,000 volunteers in "Awadh Prant" to help in construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya next year, state Bajrang Dal convenor Ramesh Dixit said on August 14. (The Times of India, August 14). "Speaking to newsmen, Dixit said they are intending to train three lakh such volunteers who were likely to play an important role in the temple construction to be started after March 12 next year." In criminal law and jurisprudence, antecedents of groups and individuals play an important role in detection of crimes, preventive arrests and hauling those concerned before courts of law. The irony here is the antecedents are well known, the intentions are being brazenly articulated. Why then the silence from the executive, administration and the police? Citizens need to demand clear answers. n
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