'A headmaster of a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh has been suspended after Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers complained that he was making students recite a “religious prayer,” reported Indian Express. The “prayer” in question is the iconic Urdu poem Lab pe aati hai gua, also known as Bachche ki dua, which was written in 1902 by Muhammad Iqbal, who also wrote Saare jahaan se achchha. The poem is frequently sung in schools across India and deals with the subject of god guiding one from darkness to light.
'Almost a month after an Alwar court pronounced its judgement in the Pehlu Khan lynching case, a similar case is lined up to have its day in court. In this case too, self-styled gau rakshaks, apparently convinced of Muslim men being cattle smugglers, thrashed him to death. Rakbar Khan was killed on the night of July 20, 2018, when he and his friend Aslam Khan were brutally attacked by a mob while they were transporting milch cows on foot to their home in Haryana’s Kolgaon from a village in Alwar...'
'The independent probe, which has been endorsed by various human rights organisations, alleges that the Rajasthan police sought to diminish the enormity of the crime from the outset... An independent fact-finding report, released on Friday at the Press Club of India, points at glaring gaps in the investigation carried out by the Rajasthan police in the Pehlu Khan lynching case. Khan was killed by a group of so-called gau rakshaks in Alwar in April this year when he was returning home after purchasing cattle.
'From all accounts, Superintendent of Police Pankaj Choudhary played a stellar role in ensuring that three deliberately crafted incidents of violence in Nainwa and Khanpur in Bundi district, Rajasthan, didn’t turn into a bloody communal riot. Among the measures he took was to arrest 11 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.
'Bajrang Dal will observe the 23rd anniversary of the Babri mosque demolition on Sunday as “Shourya Divas” (Valour Day). While the organisation has been observing the day all these years, the context of the recent death of Ashok Singhal, leader of the VHP, its parent organisation, and the Sangh Parivar’s reiteration of its commitment to build a Ram temple as the “true” tribute to him, has made the event, otherwise “routine”, acquire greater symbolic importance...
'For all its rhetoric, the two-day special discussion in Parliament on “Commitment to the Constitution” has done little to dispel the concerns of civil society over growing intolerance. But it should be no surprise, for in his earlier avatar as chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi has a record of disclaiming knowledge of such a warning even from one of his own trusted police officers.
'VHP leader Ashok Singhal, who rose to prominence playing a leading role in the Ram Janambhoomi movement in the late eighties that eventually culminated in the destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992, died Tuesday at a private hospital here, according to Press Trust of India... Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of Singhal. “The demise of Ashok Singhalji is a deep personal loss. He was an institution in himself, whose life was centred around serving the nation,” he tweeted. He said he was always fortunate to receive Singhal’s blessings and guidance.
'Ashok Singhal, the VHP patriarch credited with giving Hindutva a political face in the shape of the Ayodhya movement, died today in a Gurgaon hospital. He was 89. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom Singhal was one of the first to endorse as Prime Minister at the 2012 Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, acknowledged the "deep personal loss". "The demise of Ashok Singhalji is a deep personal loss. He was an institution in himself, whose life was centered around serving the nation. I was always fortunate to receive Ashokji's blessings and guidance," Modi tweeted in a condolence message.
'A Muslim barber refused to shut shop “as per custom”, triggering a riot by indignant members of the Hindu community at Nelliyadi village, 70 km from Mangalore, in Karnataka on Tuesday. Though the violence was brought under control a few hours after it erupted around 4 pm, dozens of people were injured and property worth lakhs destroyed in the melee. Bajrang Dal leader Ravi Ballya told HT that the trouble started when the barber, Salman, refused to “respect local sentiments” and keep his shop shut on Tuesdays. “It is well-known that Hindus don’t cut their hair on Tuesdays.
'Activists from a right wing group created a ruckus at Kerala House near Jantar Mantar on Monday, alleging that the canteen there was serving cow meat (in the name of beef on the menu). K.G. Joseph, a protocol officer at the State’s guest house, however, said that the word beef in the menu referred to buffalo meat, consuming which was legal in the Capital. Three members of Hindu Sena, who barged into the house complex after being instigated by a Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist from Kerala, also sought police intervention in the matter.
