HINDUTVA - Indian Social Institute

eports said the Shabri Seva Samiti, responsible for organising the Shabri Kumbh Mela, decided not to go
ahead with its plans to organise the Mela in January. Now there are plans to host one in 2018. However,
smaller meetings were organised to mark the event. Mr. Dhamale said the story of Shabari was being
used to give a twist to the religious importance to the area and there was no truth in it. The Sabha has
been opposing the Shabari Kumbh mela on the grounds that it was being used as communal propaganda
to “Hinduise or Brahminise” Adivasis. It was a religious programme which was against the so called
conversions in the Dangs area and the right-wing groups were spreading their influence into Nandurbar
as well, he said. In a memorandum submitted to the President, the Sabha also demanded that Adivasis
registered as Hindus in the Census must be changed to “adidharma.” It also demanded the
implementation of the forest rights act among other things. (The Hindu 25/2/12)
Centre points to news item citing pressure Karkare faced (26)
New Delhi, March 2, 2012: The Centre has brought to the notice of the Supreme Court a reported
statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat that the then head of Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra
Police, the late Hemant Karkare, had told him that he was being pressured to implicate Sangh activists in
the Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer Sharif and Mecca Masjid bomb blasts. Karkare died in the
26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Additional Solicitor-General Harin Rawal told a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu
and Anil R. Dave, who are hearing the Malegaon blast cases, that a news item had appeared on
Wednesday in a national daily in which Mr. Karkare was quoted as having told Mr. Bhagwat that “…he
was under pressure to implicate Right-wing outfits.” Mr. Bhagwat had claimed he was informed of this by
Karkare when he met the latter to seek cooperation in the investigation of these cases. Justice Dattu told
the ASG: “We have not come across the news item”. Acting on petitions filed by Malegaon blasts
accused, Lt-Col Prasad Srikant Purohit and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi, against the Bombay High Court
order allowing the NIA to interrogate them in custody, the Bench, on December 16, 2011, had stayed the
order. Now, it extended its interim order of stay till March 14 and adjourned the hearing till then. (The
Hindu 2/3/12)
VHP disrupts shooting of Osama film (25)
Activists of Right-wing organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), on Friday disrupted the
shooting of a film on Osama bin Laden in a market of Manimajra town here, protesting against the
hoisting of the Pakistani flag. Led by Vijay Singh Bhardwaj, the activists removed Pakistani flags and
Urdu sign boards on some shops to recreate the town of Abbottabad in Pakistan where Osama was killed
last year. The shooting of Kathryn Bigelow's film is being done in several parts of the City Beautiful,
including the bustling Sector 15 market, Punjab Engineering College and the surrounding areas. The
crew alleged that VHP activists hurled abuses and even manhandled them while demanding that they
cancel the shoot. The shooting was “cancelled” for the time being and the cameras removed. It is learnt
that the shooting resumed afterwards following a “compromise.” Mr. Bhardwaj said the depiction of
Chandigarh as a Pakistani city and display of the Pakistan flag was not acceptable. Some shopkeepers
also protested against the behaviour of “bouncers,” who were preventing customers from visiting their
establishments. Manimajra Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Shukla said the film director had
promised that the Pakistani flag would not be displayed during the shooting, after which the activists left.
No case has been registered, he added. (The Hindu 3/3/12)
Sangh’s pat of convenience for Singh (26)
New Delhi, March 4: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has unequivocally endorsed and welcomed
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s stand against anti-Kudankulam protesters and described it as
“unusually forthright and strong”. An editorial in the latest issue of the Organiser, the Sangh’s official
mouthpiece, claimed it was the first publication to spotlight the “devious” role played by the Church in
spearheading the protests against the stalled Tamil Nadu nuclear power plant. The reference was to two