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Karnataka
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VHP, Bajrang Dal activists protest ban on Togadia’s visit to Kandhamal | Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal staged a demonstration here on Saturday against the ban on their leader Praveen Togadia’s visit to Orissa’s Kandhamal district. Orissa Government has imposed a ban on VHP leader Togadia
from entering the communally sensitive Kandhamal district. Holding placards and
banners, the protestors gathered at Jantar Mantar and shouted slogans against
the Orissa Government. The protestors also accused the Orissa Government of being
biased. “The state government didn't stop foreign missionaries from going to tribal
areas of Kandhamal and other parts of Orissa. They were being provided with full
support and freedom. But when a leader who is an International Secretary General
of VHP tries to go to Kandhamal, the government stopped him. We are staging a
nation-wide protest against this,” said Swadesh Pal Gupta, a VHP leader. Kandhamal
was rocked by communal violence in 2008, sparked off by the murder of a senior
religious leader in the region, which resulted in large-scale killings. Around
50 Christian families in Gadguda village of Kandhamal were forced to move, when
their houses got destroyed in fires set off by rioters. Many of them migrated
to other places, while the elderly and children went to relief camps. Earlier
on Friday, Togadia was arrested for attempting to enter riot-hit Kandhamal, and
was released early today. Togadia was stopped at Charichhak in Boudh district
as he tried to enter Kandhamal. He was booked under Section 151 of the CrPc to
prevent breach of peace in the area. Terming the ban as illegal, he said, it was
not fair on the part of the State Government to put a restriction on his visit.
Meanwhile, the VHP had called for 12-hour Kandhamal shutdown today in protest
against the administration’s move. |
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