Saturday 6 December, 2008

Local Terrorists?


  • MNS, Sena attack north Indian Rly exam candidates: (Indianexpress..com)

MUMBAI, OCTOBER 19: Activists of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and later those of the Shiv Sena today attacked 17 railway board examination centres in suburban Mumbai, protesting “inadequate representation” to locals and chased away candidates from north India.

  • Fears of MNS backlash prompted 'Deshdrohi' ban (Expressindia.com)

Mumbai, November 13: Maharashtra government's two-month ban on 'Deshdrohi', the film reportedly based on north Indian migrants to Mumbai, comes after city police took into consideration the backlash from MNS and others if the film was allowed to be released in the present format.
"There has been criticism from various quarters, specially the north Indian leaders over the state's law and order situation in the backdrop of Raj Thackeray-led MNS' violent agitation against north Indians. Police did not want to take any chance," a senior Home Department official said.

  • MNS is like a terrorist organisation: Lalu (NDTV.com)
  • Gujarat violence (Wikipedia.org)

    In February 2002, while Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, violence broke out across the state claiming around 1000 lives. Independent estimates by human rights groups and NGOs place the figure higher to around 2000. The official estimate stated that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, 223 people were reported missing and 2,500 were injured.More than one hundred and fifty thousand people were displaced. Organisations such as Human Rights Watch criticised the Indian government for its failure to address the resulting humanitarian crisis. Overwhelming majority of the displaced were Muslims who had to flee their homes for refugee camps due to riots. The root cause of riots was attributed to the Godhra Train Burning incident in which 58 Hindu Kar Sevaks were burnt alive in a train carriage. The Banerjee committee, set up by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in September 2004, in its report submitted in 2005 had said the burning of S-6 coach of Sabarmati express on February 27, 2002 was an accident.

    Investigations, judicial and non-governmental
    Subsequent reports from Human Rights Watch and the national Human Rights Commission claimed that Modi and his ministers had a tacit, if not explicit, complicity in the riots. The report was quoted and expanded on by the United States State Department's country human rights reports for 2003. The National Human Rights Commission criticized the government, pointing to "a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government of Gujarat to control persistent violations of rights.The claims of Human Rights Watch and associated groups were rejected by Modi, the BJP and its supporters as politically motivated.
    A judicial commission constituted to examine allegations of Gujarat state administration's involvement in the riots of 2002 has said twice so far that there was no evidence as yet to implicate either Modi or his administration in the riots.
    An October 2007 report by the investigative newsmagazine Tehelka quoted several Sangh Parivar activists claiming that Modi was personally aware of the planning for the riots

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