NEWSCAN
Sainiks attack Saudi mission in Delhi...
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large group of Shiv Sainiks led by the local leader, Jai Bhagwan Goel attack the Saudi embassy in New Delhi on April 8, breaking doors and windows and damaging cars parked in the premises. Police arrested three of them on the spot. It later appeared that the Sainiks� real target was the embassy of the United Arab Emirates as their protest was triggered by the burial on death of a Hindu in Dubai instead of his cremation according to Hindu rites.UAE officials in Delhi later explained that since Dubai lacks cremation facilities, the relatives of the deceased were told either to take the body to the cremation ground in neighbouring Sharjah or to bury the body in Dubai. The police seized copies of a memorandum (addressed to the UAE ambassador) from the demonstrators at the Saudi embassy demanding that Hindus be allowed to burn their dead bodies in the UAE, instead of burying them.
... and disrupt Ghulam Ali�s concert in Mumbai
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round 100 Shiv Sainiks barged into the Centaur Hotel at Juhu in Mumbai on the night of April 19 and forced the stoppage midway of a ghazal programme by popular Pakistani singer, Ghulam Ali. One of the demonstrators grabbed the mike and urged the audience not to patronise the singer from across the border. "No Indian singer has so far been welcomed to Pakistan and so we shall not allow any Pakistani singer to sing in India", he said. Before the police could rush to the trouble spot, the programme came to an abrupt end amidst shouts of "Shiv Sena Zindabad".Later, unmindful of the criticism over the disruption of the programme, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray�s nephew, Udhav Thackeray, reiterated that till such time as Indian singers are welcomed in Pakistan, his party would continue to oppose performances by Pakistani artistes in India. Incidentally, on the invitation of the Indian embassy in Pakistan, classical singer, Pandit Jasraj, performed before rapturous audiences in Islamabad and Lahore a few months ago.
Around the same time, singing before an equally receptive audience at his fourth concert in Ahmedabad, Ghulam Ali had said, " Let us look at it as a cultural exchange between India and Pakistan. Artistes are like cultural ambassadors who bridge the chasm and bring people closer". A few weeks earlier, the Sena supremo had castigated his �friend� Dilip Kumar for crossing the border to receive the country�s highest award for a civilian � Nishan�e�Pakistan.
Language before religion
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uring the evening mass on Good Friday, a group of Kannada�speaking Christians attempted to disrupt a mass being conducted in Tamil at a Roman Catholic Church in the working class locality of Yashwantpur in north Bangalore. The disrupters arrested by the police included non-Christian champions of Kannada language. Later, the Kannada�speaking Christians and non�Christian champions of the language demanded action against the Tamil�speaking archbishop of the diocese alleging he had incited goons to beat the protesters.The continuing Kannada�Tamil row in parts of Karnataka has made its way into the Churches in Bangalore for nearly a decade now. The Protestant churches have managed to resolve the conflict by offering church services in more than one language in mixed localities. The Roman Christian denomination, however, has been slow to follow suit with the result that Kannadigas are unhappy in areas where they have a sizable presence but the mass is in Tamil.
Similarly, in other areas, Tamils are unhappy. Interestingly, some members of the Christian community say that the language row is a mere mask for the far deeper conflict over who controls church property. It is estimated that church and institutions related to it control property worth nearly Rs.3,500 crore.
No more �langar� food on dining tables
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he Akal Takht, the supreme spiritual seat of Sikhs, appears to have woken up to a number of community practices which it considers to be against the Sikh maryada (code of conduct). Last month, it issued a diktat prohibiting Sikhs anywhere in the world from organising or attending marriages in a hotel or a hall.On April 20, the Akal Takht Jathedar, Bhai Ranjit Singh, issued a fresh hukumnama (edict) directing the Sikh community in India and abroad not to hold any guru ka langar on dining tables. Devotees have also been restrained from wearing shoes while preparing or serving the langar.
Addressing a press conference in Amritsar, the jathedar said that the edict follows complaints received from several community members in the USA and Canada. May 29, Guru Arjun Dev�s martyrdom day, has been set as the deadline after which violators of the edict will be dealt with severely.
Tension over stolen Ambedkar bust in Goa
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ast year, the Shiv Sena�BJP coalition government in Maharashtra had to face heavy public castigation for the way the Mumbai police mishandled Dalit agitation following the garlanding of a statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar with footwear at Ramabai Nagar in the metropolis. In Goa now, the BJP and the Maharashtra Gomantak Party are trying to extract political capital out of the ruling Congress government�s mishandling of an incident of desecration of a statue of Dr. Ambedkar in Panaji.A brass bust of the revered Dalit leader was found missing from its pedestal at Ambedkar Park, Panaji, four months ago. The broken parts of the bust were later found with a scrap dealer soon thereafter who claimed he had bought it from three scavengers. For the Pratap Singh Rane led�government, four months have not been sufficient time to have the statue reinstalled. This pushed over 150 followers of Babasaheb to go on an indefinite hunger fast in mid�April.
Opposition leaders joined in the hunger fast to show their protest against the government�s lethargy. The government has said the delay was entirely because of necessary official procedures but the protestors have threatened a full�fledged satyagraha with the support of one lakh people from Maharashtra and Goa unless the bust is reinstalled quickly.
Karnataka HC upholds ban on book
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he Karnataka hig court on April 16 upheld the decision of the state government in confiscating and banning Dr. P. V. Narayana�s controversial book, Dharma Karana, which had created a storm in the state last year, including in the state assembly. A three�member bench ruled that the petitioners had not made out any ground to convince the court that the ban on the book was not just and proper.Published in 1995, the book was selected for the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award but outraged followers of Basaweswara felt the book portrayed his sister Akka Nagamma as a woman of loose character. "Even if there is some dispute about Channa-basawes-wara�s father, the author, under the guise of giving plausible explanation, denigrates the character of his mother Akka Nagamma and virtually calls Channabasweswara a bastard," the court observed.
It ruled that if the author changed the offending passages and if the government was satisfied with it, the ban could be lifted. The petitioners had pleaded that in proscribing the book, the government had failed to apply its mind and acted in a way that was untenable, unjust and wholly unjustified. A lone legislator with marxist convictions was the only one to defend the author�s freedom of expression in the heated debate in the assembly before the book was banned.
Andhra cops sacked for excesses
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n mid�April, Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandra Babu Naidu, personally announced the immediate dismissal of nine police and four excise constables to silence public outrage at two separate incidents of gangrape and one case of a person being torched to death. The gangrape incidents happened in Mahboob-nagar and Karimnagar districts, while a youth, Fareed Khan, was burnt to death by three policemen in Shamsherganj in Hyderabad city.The last incident could have led to an ugly situation in the communally- sensitive state capital but for the fact that all the three constables and the police informer allegedly behind the gory killing of Khan were also Muslims. The mob attack on the Shamshergunj police station following his death and allegation of rape by his sister�in�law was sufficient indication to the government that the situation could go out of hand unless drastic action was taken immediately.
While announcing the dismissals the chief minister warned that errant policemen would be severely dealt with to ensure discipline.
Dalits protest attack for voting BJP
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large group of Dalits took to the streets of Patna on March 31 to protest against the brutal assault on several members of their community, allegedly by Yadavs, for having voted in favour of the BJP candidate in the repoll for the Patna Lok Sabha constituency. Later, the demonstrators ghe-raoed the police station in Buddha colony in the Paswan tola locality protesting against police inaction while they were attacked by supporters of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal. According to news reports, the Dalit vote was a major factor in the BJP�s winning the seat.Land for 1984 riot victims
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bout 200 families whose properties were burnt destroyed during the 1984 anti�Sikh riots in Delhi were given plots of land by the department of slums of the Delhi government. The families which have been living in Tilak Vihar and had formed an association called �Tilak Vihar Dunga Peedit Society� were given land in sector 22, Rohini, The Hindustan Times reported on April 15.