Seven high-explosive steels bombs have been recovered from an Rashtriya Swayamvsevak Sangh (RSS) local centre at Keezhur in Kannur district of Kerala.
The bombs were found in buckets covered with sacks, near the Vaireeghaathakan Bhagavathi temple at Kottathe Kunnu locality, Punnad in Keezhur-Chavassery panchayat.  Deshabhimini published a story. This newspaper is run by the CPI-M.

Last year, the temple was the concluding spot for the ‘Shobha Yatra’ (procession) organised by Balagokulam, the Sangh Parivar organisation for children.
The bombs were found by workers who were clearing shrubs in the area on Thursday, 7 September.

According to local news reports, a team consisting of Iritty Sub Inspector P.C. Sanjay Kumar, Assistant Sub Inspector KK Ragesh, and Bineesh, Jithesh, Ranjith and Sreegith from the Kannur Bomb Squad reached the spot and neutralised the bomb. On examination, it was discovered that the bombs were made recently.

Last year in August in the run-up to Sri Krishna Jayanti celebrations, Deekshith, an RSS worker, had been killed while manufacturing crude bombs at Thalassery in Kannur district. The police had recovered a big cache of weapons from his house.

Poonambath Pradeep, Deekshith’s father, is a BJP leader from Kannur. Deekshith’s brother Diljith was a candidate of the BJP-led NDA in the 2015 panchayat elections in Kerala.
Several incidents of RSS workers being killed or being caught while making bombs in the run-up to religious festivals have occurred in the recent years.

Temples with managing committees with close affiliations to the RSS are often used by the Hindutva outfit as centres for arms training and ideological propaganda. Political observers say that the attempt of the RSS has been to foment communal tension by indulging in acts of violence and then blaming it on people belonging to minority communities.

In March this year, RSS workers had thrown bombs at devotees in the premises of Nittukomam temple at Ampiladu, Koothuparamba.
In spite of such activities by sectarian outfits, Kerala has remained largely peaceful with one of the lowest rates of communal riots in India.
Kerala: Seven explosives recovered from Kannur district’s Kizhoor by Police, earlier today. pic.twitter.com/FC4ko3GoDP

— ANI (@ANI) September 7, 2017

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Over 12,000 persons have signed an urgent petition to the Governor of Jharkand urging against constitutional endorsement of a anti-democratic law sought to be passed by the Jharkand Government. At present, a law passed by the Jharkand assembly is pending before her. The Governor of the State of Jharkhand in India has a big decision to make regarding the thousands of Christians and other religious minorities residing in her state. On August 1, 2017, the Jharkand Assembly has passed this controversial law.

Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu has to decide on an anti-conversion Bill passed by the State Assembly earlier this month. If Murmu allows the Bill to become law, she risks putting in harm’s way Christians and other religious minorities living in Jharkhand, the petition says. Only five states in India now have such laws. But of those five states, two are among the top three states in India where violence against Christians is highest, the petition outlines.

Anti-conversion laws are supposed to stop people converting from Hinduism to Christianity. But, what they really do is infringe on the right of an Indian citizen to practise their religion as they see fit…and, to a right to privacy – both of which are guaranteed by India’s federal Constitution. The petition also says that there is no need of a new law: India’s federal Penal Code, Section 295(A), already deals with the issue of sectarian harmony, and the use of coercion and, or, “allurements” to entice people to convert from Hinduism to Christianity. These laws command stiff penalties, ranging from fines to imprisonment.

The  BJP, India’s ruling suprmecist party, is seeking to impose its Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) ideology in state law, so as to consolidate its political backing by those who vote for the party strictly for ideological-religious considerations. In line with that type of thinking, the new Bill is designed to make conversions more difficult because they will be made public – and, therefore, the convert may be subject to intimidation from his or her neighbours, family, colleagues, et al. Indeed, Section 5 of the Bill demands that any convert first seek the permission of the Deputy Commissioner of Jharkhand, and provide the details of the person who is performing the conversion.

Of course, a party, like the BJP, which is reliant on Hindu nationalists for its survival, might try to enact such legislation. But, local Christian leaders have queried the party’s evidence of “mass conversions” to Christianity, and insist that the party has not even demonstrated that such conversions are happening at all. It is further argued that there have not been any cases of violations of these laws in others states; on the contrary the mere existence of these anti-free choice provisions gives a coercive handle to the state macginery to act in close complicity with right wing organisations to intimidate and even incite violence against Christians. Conversions, if at all they are occurring for any other reason than for the lexercise of free choice by the individual indian guaranteed under article 25 of the Indian Constitution ‘the freedom to freely practice and propagate one’s faith.” This petition does not stress on all the aspects of “Fundamental Rights ” of Indian citizens.” It argues that the Indian State cannot mortgage the personal liberty of (choosing a faith) of a citizen in the hands of a petty bureaucrat like Dy Commisioner / Collector/ District Magistrate/ any one else. 

Now, several local, Christian organisations have joined, together, under the name “Rastriya Isai Mahasangh” (meaning, National Christian Federation), to oppose this measure as they are afraid that it will lead to the harassment of the Church and missionaries. Under these circumstances, the petition appeals to Jharkhand State Governor, Hon Draupadi Murmu, to return this Bill to the State Assembly, unapproved.
The petition may be read here and is also being copied to the US Secretary of state. Signatories have been asked to address their support petitions to:
 

• Jharkhand State Governor – Hon Draupadi Murmu
• The Prime Minister of India – Hon Narendra Modi
• US Secretary of State – Mr Rex Tillerson

The petition cleraly says that ” By allowing this Bill to become law, you will, therefore, likely be making Jharkhand a more dangerous place for Christians and other religious minorities, precisely because Hindu nationalists are emboldened by such measures and sometimes use violence in place of dialogue. In fact, two of the top three states, where violence against Christians is highest, have enacted anti-conversion laws.”

Moreover, “the likelihood of communal disharmony, which will be disproportionately borne by Christians and other religious minorities, is too high a price to pay for internal or regional political considerations. Especially, when the federal Penal Code already deals sufficiently with these issues.”

Related Articles:

1. Sangh Bares Fangs in Jharkand
 
 

The post Don’t Trample on Freedom of Faith: 12,000+ Sign Petition to Jharkand Governor appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Even as the state government’s repression on Bhim Army continues, most of its leaders still in jail and some forced to leave Saharanpur, a committee has been formed for the defense of Bhim Army. (For background information, please see the ‘Note on Bhim Army’, appended at the end of this post, which carries links to informative videos as well). A group of activists and committed lawyers have been following up the legal struggle practically at their own expense – which at the moment involves getting the arrested activists, including the founder-President Chandrashekhar out of bail as the topmost priority. Some of the activists have started getting bail many still remain, including just ordinary people simply picked up by the people and framed by the police as Bhim Army activists.

However, getting the jailed activists out on bail is simply the first step in a long battle. The deliberate campaign of vilification that has been going on about Bhim Army has tried to paint the organization as ‘antinational’ and ‘instigators of violence’ who apparently have ‘Naxalite’ connections. Even though none of this could be substantiated and thus brought by the police into their charges against the jailed activists, the campaign of demonization has nevertheless continued through some sections of the media. Needless to say, such misleading campaign is meant to incite popular feelings against such groups who have been working mainly for education and self respect among the Dalit population in their area. Such a campaign of vilification cannot but affect the chances of wining the legal battle as well. It also ends up driving people who may have initially been sympathetic to their cause by sowing doubts about them in the popular mind.

It is with this concern in mind that a large number of citizens from different walks of life have come together to form the Committee for the Defense of Bhim Army, in order to mobilize all possible support for the embattled activists.

The Committee for the Defence of Bhim Army has been constituted comprising the following members from different walks of life:
Coordinators: Pradeep Narwal and Sanjeev Mathur
Treasurers: Presenjit Gautam and Nakul Singh Sawhney

Anand Teltumbde, Civil rights thinker and activist, Mumbai
Jignesh Mewani, Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch
Kancha Ilaiah, Political scientist, thinker and writer, Hyderabad
Chandrabhan Prasad, Dalit thinker
Radhika Ramaseshan, Senior journalist with Business Standard
Harsh Mander, Human rights activist and Director, Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi
Syeda Hamid, Former member, Planning Commission
Om Thanvi, Senior journalist, former editor, Jansatta
Sambhaji Bhagat, Cultural activist, Maharashtra
Meera Velayudhan, Academic, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum
Martin Macwan, Social activist, Gujarat
Ratan Lal, Academic, Hindu College, Delhi University
Sachin Mali, Cultural activist
Sheetal Sathe, Cultural activist
S.R Darapuri , Former IPS officer, social activist
Colin Gonzalves, Lawyer
Anand Patwardhan, Film maker
Anil Chamadia, Journalist
Subhash Gatade, Writer and social activist
Akram Hassan, Social activist, Shamli
Surender, Dalit youth activist, Delhi University
N. Sukumar, Academic, Delhi University
Rehana Adib, Social activist, Saharanpur
Banojyotsna Lahiri, Academic and independent researcher
Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Actor
Amar Singh, SC/ST Trade Union, Delhi University
Dr. Mahesh Chandra, Bhim Army
Sanjay Tegwal, Bhim Army
Zakia Soman, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan
Presenjit Gautam, Jati Todo Manch, Ghaziabad
Pradeep Narwal, Dalit youth activist, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Saroj Giri, Academic, Delhi University
Tushar Parmar, IRS
Sanjeev Mathur, Journalist
Nakul Singh Sawhney, Film maker
Praveen Verma, Research scholar, Delhi University
Aditya Nigam, Academic, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi
Amar Paswan, Ambedkarvadi Chhatra Sabha, Gorakhpur
Dhirendra, Poorvanchal Sena
Anil Yadav, Rihai Manch
Sagar Raghunath, Chhatra Bharati activist
Dr J.K. Gautam, Doctor
Dr. Sushil Kumar Gautam, Dalit Youth Activist, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut

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