Bhawanipatna BJP protests Togadia’s arrest, holds rally

The Pioneer, March 21, 2010
Pioneer News Service, Bhawanipatna

Submitting a memorandum addressed to the President through the Kalahandi SP, district unit of BJP on Saturday here held a protest meeting outside the Collectorate against the alleged unlawful arrest of VHP international general secretary Pravin Togadia, who was to visit Kandhamal to look into the conditions of the Hindus there after the Kandhamal violence in 2008.

The BJP has requested the President to guide both the Centre and the State here to be cautious in dealing with the Hindus. BJP workers took out a rally in the town raising pro-Hindu slogans before holding the meeting.

The speakers claimed that many Hindus are still languishing in jails in the aftermath of the Kandhamal violence and a large number of temples damaged in the violence are yet to be reconstructed and repaired by the Government.

They blamed both the Central and the State Governments for allowing European Union representatives to visit Kandhamal who are responsible for the conversion. They termed Togadia’s arrest in Kandhamal undemocratic, autocratic and atrocious. They also burnt an effigy of Naveen Patnaik after the meeting.

VHP’s Arvind Baba, Hindu Jagaran Samukhya organising secretary Badrinaryan Pattnaik, former Minister Pradipta Naik, BJP district president Himansu Sekhar Meher, Gokulananda Thakur, Pravin Behera, Ranjit Hati, Srisanta Nial, Kulamani Harijan, Indubhusan Sahu, Jayasankar Naik, Dhala Krushna Majhi, Bhabendra Panda, Ajay Panigrahi, Nalini Sahu, Debendra Mohanty and many others were present in the meeting.