Akhilesh Government hinders freedom of Hindus

Saswat Panigrahi

It is shocking to see the clampdown on VHP’s 84 Kosi Parikrama Yatra by Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party Government in Uttar Pradesh.

In a massive crackdown, the Uttar Pradesh Government last Sunday arrested a total of 2,674 people including several top VHP leaders, a huge number of sadhus from across the country who were congregated in Ayodhya to take part in the Parikrama Yatra. 1,087 have been freed so far freed even as 1,587 are still in custody.

VHP’s 84 Kosi Parikrama Yatra, which kicked off on August 25 and will continue till September 25, is meant for garnering support to build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

By clamping down on the yatra, the Akhilesh Yadav Government has violated the Right to Freedom of Religion. Let me explain why.

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No justice for Swami Laxmanananda

Saswat Panigrahi

Five years ago on this sacred day of Janmashtami, revered Hindu monk Vedanta Keshari Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was brutally murdered in his Jaleshpata hermitage in Kandhamal during a spiritual discourse. In a gruesome act, the assailants pumped bullets into the frail body of the 84-year-old Swamiji and four others on August 23, the day on which Janmashtami fell in 2008.

It is important to recall that after the gruesome killing of Swami Laxmanananda and four others, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had promised to book the culprits expeditiously. Two commissions of inquiry have been formed to investigate Laxmanananda’s murder. Five long years have passed since the macabre murder of Swamiji and four of his associates. But the killers and conspirators are still at large. This questions the sincerity of the BJD Government in cracking the case.

As I was writing the piece, the fast-unto-death by senior BJP leader Ashok Sahu to press for bringing the perpetrators and conspirators of Swamiji’s killing to justice, reached day 5.

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BJP’s plan for Mission 272+ activated

Saswat Panigrahi

The BJP has set the ambitious target of winning 272 plus seats in the ensuing 2014 election. To make the ‘Mission 272+’ a success, BJP Central Election Committee Chairman Narendra Modi has exhorted the party leaders to do an in depth and comprehensive planning and execution.

This includes strengthening party organisation and support base from the grass roots, reaching out to the prospective voters from all segments and age groups and more importantly, tapping into young and first-time voters.

A mammoth list of 100 leaders belonging to 20 election committees are working vigorously to take the party’s 2014 campaign forward.

But the real battle will be fought on the ground in the States. And the battle will be won if each State Election Committee is led by a good lieutenant.

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Is JDU being funded from within Pakistan?

Saswat Panigrahi

On the sidelines of JDU national executive meeting in April, held in New Delhi, then national secretary of the party Shivraj Singh hurled a political bomb shell.

“The JDU is being funded from within hostile nations,” Singh had alleged. Shivraj was leveling the allegations months after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited Pakistan.

Now fast forward to August, when the whole country is mourning the unprovoked killing of five Indian soldiers by the Pakistani Army in Poonch sector.

Four of the five soldiers killed in the LoC attacks hail from Bihar. When the mortal remains of the martyr soldiers arrived at Patna Airport, not a single Minister from Nitish Kumar’s Cabinet turned up. Moreover, the JDU chose to give the slain jawans’ last rites a miss.

Read the full article in www.niticentral.com