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Togadia, members of the Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal, the central organising secretaries, the chairman<br />
of Ram Janambhommi Nyas and the convenor of the Ram Mandir Uchchadhikar Samiti are among those<br />
ex pected to participate in the five-day meeting. (Times of India 11.6.04)<br />
14 th June<br />
RSS rushes to Modi’s defence (26)<br />
NAGPUR, JUNE 13: ATAL Behari Vajpayee's Manali remarks on the Gu jarat riots have predictably<br />
rubbed the Sangh patriarch the wrong way. In what clearly looks like a virtual en dorsement of 'Vajpayee<br />
al lergy' in the RSS and a har binger of a possible anti-Vajpayee campaign within the Sangh Parivar,<br />
Sarsanghchalak K.S. Sudershan said, "Some people, who call themselves modern, liberal and<br />
broad-minded have been endeavouring to keep the Gujarat riots alive." "Our former PM says Gujarat riots<br />
were a reason for the BJP's defeat. How is it then that the BJP didn't lose in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan<br />
and Chattisgarh," Sudershan asked, addressing a gathering of RSS volun teers at the concluding ceremony<br />
of their all-India camp in Nagpur on Sunday. "The so-called liberal people, including English<br />
newspapers and electronic media, kept on discussing the reaction and totally sidelines the reason for<br />
riots, that is the Godhra incident," Suder shan added, The RSS chief virtually defended the Modi government,<br />
saying that only 60-70 towns and villages out of the total 18,000 were affected by riots. "As soon as<br />
the Army was called in, the riots were controlled within three days. Muharram and school exam inations<br />
went off peacefully," he said and claimed that the rioters included people even from the Congress. (<strong>Indian</strong><br />
Express 14.6.04)<br />
15 th June<br />
Venkaiah plays knight to Modi, Atal rebuffed (26)<br />
New Delhi: Gujarat CM Narendra Modi seems to have won this round. On Monday, BJP president M<br />
Venkaiah Naidu delivered an unequivocal snub to for mer PM and party patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee by<br />
stat ing that there was no "pro posal" to replace Modi and that the Gujarat 'issue' was not on the agenda for<br />
the June 23-24 Mumbai national executive. Even if there was concern that Modi's autocratic style was<br />
hurting the BJP's inter est, the CM's detractors may now find it more difficult to have their way. Any<br />
pressure brought to bear on Modi to quit would be seen as a vindi cation of the BJP's critics, who have<br />
argued that Modi had not acted to stop the riots. When senior BJP leaders met on Monday morning to<br />
take a view of Vajpayee's re marks that Modi ought to have been removed and that the Gujarat riots<br />
extracted an electoral price from the party, the mood was one of exasperation tinged with bemusement.<br />
No one present could figure out exactly why the ex-PM has decided to speak on Gu jarat and Modi now.<br />
(Times of India 15.6.04)<br />
Sainiks attack Girlfriend (26)<br />
Lucknow/Mumbai, June 14: Angry right-wing protesters went on a rampage in Varanasi and Mumbai on<br />
Monday to protest against the screening of Karan Razdan's Girlfriend, a film that deals with lesbianism. In<br />
Varanasi, a group of about 100 youths, under the banner of the Kranti Shiv Sena, arrived at the Sajan<br />
cinema around noon and began breaking the film's hoardings. The protesters tore the posters and<br />
banners of Girlfriend, set effi gies of the film's protagonists on fire, damaged the glass panes of the movie<br />
hall and tore off publicity material of the film. In a carbon-copy protest in Mumbai, a group of 100 activists<br />
of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, the Shiv Sena's student wing, tore posters and raised slogans outside<br />
Premier theatre, located at Dadar in central Mumbai, forcing it to suspend the screening of the matinee<br />
show. (Asian Age 15.6.04)<br />
16th June<br />
VHP brass slams Vajpayee for Modi comments (26)<br />
New Delhi: Coming out in support of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)<br />
leaders Ashok Singhal and Vishnu Hari Dalmiya on Tuesday, launched a sharp attack on former Prime<br />
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for "wrong ly" blaming Gujarat riots for BJP's poll debacle and suggested the<br />
party go for a change in leadership as both Vajpayee and L K Ad-vani have "failed." Dalmiya said people<br />
had rejected the idea of one per son "always ruling" and sug gested there should be a "re tirement age" for<br />
politicians. Defending Modi, he said Vajpayee had been "contra dicted" by his own party on Gujarat<br />
comments, the first time such a thing had hap pened in the party. This was seen as a hint to Vajpayee to<br />
lay off Parivar matters by VHP which has for long been scorning Vaj payee for his stance. The only
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