[Reader-list] The Bajrang Bombers and Other Stories About Hindutva Terrorism

[Kshmendra Kaul]

It is not enough to just 'recognize' any terrorism but any terrorism including "Hindutva Terrorism" must be dealt with firmly and prosecuted against speedily with exemplary punishment given when guilt or complicity is established.
 
(I exclude the 'death penalty' from 'exemplary punishment' since I am 'against' the 'death penalty')
 
Kshmendra

--- On Tue, 8/26/08, Shivam Vij शिवम् <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:

From: Shivam Vij शिवम् <mail at shivamvij.com>
Subject: [Reader-list] The Bajrang Bombers and Other Stories About Hindutva Terrorism
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 6:27 PM

Dear friends,

I think the time has come when the term "Hindutva terrorism" should
stop raising eyebrows. There has been yet another instance of Bajrang
Dalis trying to make bombs and the bombs went off. (See Mail Today
report by Piyush Srivastava pasted below). There has also been
political violence by Hindutva elements in Orissa, and and as we know
the violent agitation in Jammu is supported by the Hindutva cadres and
front organisations. I think the likes of Vedavati Jogi will no longer
be able to say on the list that "all terrorists are Muslims."

Please see this cover story in Communalism Combat:
http://sabrang.com/cc/archive/2008/july-aug08/cover1.html

And more stories in that issue:
http://sabrang.com/cc/archive/2008/july-aug08/index.html


o o o



BAJRANG DAL BOMBERS

Sangh activists blow themselves up planning revenge attacks

by Piyush Srivastava in Lucknow
Mail Today, 26 August 2008
mailtoday.in

IT'S OFFICIAL. The Sangh Parivar members have now joined in plotting
terrorist attacks. On Sunday afternoon, a bomb accidentally went off
in Kanpur killing a former Kanpur city convener of the Bajrang Dal and
his associate while they were assembling a bomb in a private hostel
room.

The police suspect that the two were planning retaliatory attacks in
the aftermath of the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and could be part of a
larger conspiracy. They were reportedly making six to seven bombs to
trigger off a serial blast in the Muslimdominated areas of Ahmedabad.

The hostel room was badly damaged in the explosion. The police
stumbled on substantial quantity of bombmaking material from the spot.
They recovered three kg of lead oxide, 500 gm of red lead, one kg of
ammonium and potassium nitrate, 11 hand grenades, seven timers, over
two kg of bomb pins and pellets, seven batteries, 12 bulbs and about
50 m of wires. Two of the timers found at the spot were attached to
batteries with wires.

The dead men have been identified as 25- year-old Rajeev Mishra and
31-year-old Bhupendra Singh Chopra. The explosion was so intense that
both the legs of Chopra and Mishra were blown off and they died within
minutes. Two other youths, who were in the adjoining room, sustained
serious injuries when the room's wall collapsed due to the explosion.

Identifying the slain bombers as part of the Sangh Parivar, Kanpur
senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashok Kumar Singh told MAIL
TODAY, "I am told Bhupendra Singh Chopra was a Bajrang Dal member.
Even earlier, Bajrang Dal activists were found to be indulging in
antisocial activities in Kanpur." A resident of Shastri Nagar in the
city, Chopra was the convener of the Bajrang Dal in Kanpur city
between 1998 and 2000.

Prakash Sharma, the national convener of Bajrang Dal, is from Kanpur
and knew the duo pretty well. Talking to MAIL TODAY, Sharma said
Chopra and Mishra were members of his organisation. "I don't deny they
were active in the Bajrang Dal a few years ago. But, they were
inactive these days," he said.

The injured have been identified as Vikas Singh, 21, of Fatehpur and
Bupendar, 20, of Chitrakoot. They are students of a Kanpur polytechnic
institute. The condition of the two was said to be serious.

Sharma feigned ignorance of the activities Chopra and Mishra were
involved in. About the explosives Sharma claimed, "Such things can be
bought from the market any day during Dussehra and Diwali. Though both
Bhupendra and Rajeev used to meet me, I didn't know what they were
planning to do."

Kanpur range inspector general of police S.N. Singh pointed towards
the possibility of serial blasts. "It was meant for a larger
conspiracy. Most probably these people had planned serial blasts. We
are investigating their links."

Another officer said the police had information about more explosives
that had been dumped by the two Bajrang Dal members and hoped to
recover them soon.

Mithilesh Kumar Pandey, the officer in charge of the bomb disposal
squad of Kanpur said he found enough material at the blast site for
assembling seven bombs of high intensity. They had used bulb filaments
in place of detonators to ignite the explosives. The hand grenades
recovered from the spot were improvised and could be opened from both
sides on which iron panels were fixed. The scene suggested that the
bombmakers were well trained in their job.

The incident took place around 3 pm in the room of a private hostel in
Rajiv Nagar colony of Shardanagar area in Kanpur city. The hostel is
run by Shiv Saran Mishra, Rajeev's father. A retired employee of
Kanpur Electric Supply Company (KESCO), he had reportedly severed his
links with his son two years ago and was living in his ancestral
village of Nankari on the outskirts of the city. Shiv Saran had rented
out six hostel rooms to students of a polytechnic but Rajeev, an
executive with a private firm in Lucknow, had forcibly occupied one of
the rooms two months ago, apparently against his father's wishes.

Shiv Saran said Bhupendra and his son had attended a Bajrang Dal
training camp in Lucknow on June 13, 2001 in which they were taught
martial arts and the use of arms and ammunitions.

Police officers said Bhupendra and Rajeev were upset after the
Ahmedabad serial blasts and would talk about their plans for visiting
Gujarat to take revenge. "Both the men had left their parents' homes.
Their relatives knew they were involved in serious criminal activities
since 2001," an officer said.

SSP Singh said Rajeev, who was a bachelor, used to visit Kanpur every
Sunday and used to spend a few hours in the hostel room with his
friends. This Sunday, he arrived at around 2:30 pm. Bhupendra reached
there 15 minutes later. The explosion was heard around 3 pm.

Vinay Katiyar, a Rajya Sabha member, national general secretary of the
BJP and founder of the Bajrang Dal, said, "I have no connection with
the organisation (Bajrang Dal) since 1996. They do not report to me
and I do not chalk out their programmes."

piyush.srivastava at mailtoday.in

o o o

'Cops & govt ignore Hindu terror in Nanded'

By Krishna Kumar in Mumbai
Mail Today, 26 August 2008
mailtoday.in

SINCE 2006, at 1.30 am on April 6, Bajrang Dal cadre celebrate 'Shahid
Diwas' in Nanded by bursting crackers. They observe the 'martyrdom'
of
two colleagues, who died while making bombs meant to be planted
outside a mosque in Maharashtra.

Besides the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Bajrang Dal
workers, too, have been involved in perpetrating terror, said Feroze
Khan Gazi, a functionary of the Movement of Justice and Peace in
Nanded. But, he adds, Bajrang Dal workers do not get charged with the
blasts and when they do, as in the Nanded case, they get bail.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad in Maharashtra was puzzled when a
low-intensity bomb went off in a theatre screening Jodha Akbar in
Panvel on February 20 this year. On May 31, a blast took place at the
Vishnudas Bhave auditorium in Vashi and on June 4, a bomb exploded at
the Gadkari Rangayatan auditorium in Thane. Both auditoriums were
screening the controversial Marathi play Amhi Panchpute, which
allegedly mocked Hindu gods and goddesses.

It was only after the arrest of two men from the Sanathan Sanstha (an
organisation which claims to be working for the uplift of Hindus) that
the police realised it was the work of people who wanted to 'market
their own brand of Hindu terror'.

In the Nanded incident, cadres of the Bajrang Dal were planning a
blast outside an Aurangabad mosque when one of the bombs exploded,
killing two men (Naresh Lakshman Rajkondawar and Himanshu Venkatesh
Panse) and injuring four others. All six were Bajrang Dal workers who
had formed a hit-list of mosques to be targeted.

Shankar Gaikar, state convener of Bajrang Dal, however, claims the men
were not part of his organisation. "The police can say anything but
they were not our members," he said even though RSS and Bajrang Dal
literature was seized from Rajkondwar's house, where the blast took
place.

The police initially tried to dilly dally but had to arrest the
accused after intense pressure. "We hoped with the CBI probing the
case, we could get justice. But the accused are out on bail," said
Gazi.

Maharashtra DGP A.N. Roy defended his men, saying "The chargesheet has
been filed. What more do you expect us to do?"

Gazi said, "There was another blast in a go-down in Shastri Nagar near
Nanded. Two people died in the incident. The police initially told us
there was a short circuit but the go-down did not have any electricity
connection."

Gazi accused the police of shielding the accused and said the state
and Centre let the accused go scot free.

"They only want to portray Islamic terrorism. What about what is
happening in Nanded?" he asked.
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