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Violence, curfew hit Batala as
Christians protest against objectionable Christ poster
WSN Network
BATALA:
Communal Hindutva minded forces deliberately seemed to have used a
portrait of Jesus Christ that was highly objectionable, leading to
loud protests by the Christian groups and later pitched battles
between majority and minority community that left many shops looted,
damaged, vehicles burnt and property destroyed.
Saturday saw
Batala town coming under a curfew with a mob burning a church. The
objectionable posters had appeared in Jalandhar but trouble hot spot
was in Batala since Christians have sizeable numbers here.
At least six
people were injured and several shops, including Vishal Mega Mart,
were looted in Batala, 29 km from Gurdaspur. A post of the Railway
Protection Force, the railway station building, a
Salvation
Church
at Dera Baba Nanak and a local school were also ransacked by
hooligans.
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Even as curfew
was relaxed, provocations were galore. Some Hindu organisations took
out a protest march that had to be stopped at Nehru Gate by the
police. BJP MLA Jagdeesh Sawhney tried to brow beat officials at a
meeting at his residence that was attended among others by
Commissioner (Jalandhar Division) SR Ladher, IG (Border Range) Iqbal
Preet Singh Sahota, SDM Rahul Chaba, Batala Municipal Council
President Ambika Khanna and BJP district chief Naresh Mahajan. It is
not clear why officials seemed to be lending credibility to a man
accused widely of instigating trouble further.
It is now known
that the meeting was convened at insistence of JN Sharma, a senior
official of the Punjab VHP.
Meanwhile, in
Ferozepur, about 1,000 members of the Christian community blocked
traffic as a protest.
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Mobs
armed with sharp-edged weapons started a protest march and forced
shopkeepers to close down their shops. Though the shopkeepers did
shut shop, the mob turned restive and started pelting billboards
with stones and set six motorcycles parked in front on fire. Soon,
the shopkeepers seemed to have decided to fight back and thus
started a cycle of violence that became difficult to control.
Soon, the
railway station became the target of the mob and then an RPF post.
Miscreants carrying plastic cans filled with kerosene looted cash at
the railway counter and tried to torch the station. They ransacked
the
Government
Primary School at Krishna Nagar and assaulted girl students.
Activists of the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena arranged a parallel
protest march against the destruction unleashed by the mob. A clash
ensued with both sides throwing stones at each other. Seeing the
growing strength of the Hindu community, the mob dispersed.
After that, it
seems the Hindutva forces decided to go on rampage and the Hindu mob
tried to ransack a church on Dera Baba Nanak road but on seeing the
police presence there headed for another church near Nehru Gate and
set it ablaze. Police seemed criminally slow in reacting to the
situation.
Curfew continued
for the next three days and educational institutions remained shut.
Punjab
government announced full compensation for the shops that were
ransacked and the motorcycles torched by protesters besides making
up for the loss at the church.
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BJP MLA leads
Hindu communalists
On Monday,
Batala officials ordered relaxation in the curfew for a total of
four hours but what was most glaring was the role played by local
BJP MLA Jagdeesh Sawhney.
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Pictures
elsewhere too
Posters of the
objectionable depiction of Jesus Christ appeared at several places
across India and it was clear that the matter was a result of
deliberate effort.
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Also a Chief
Parliamentary Secretary, he presided over a meeting of Hindu
organisations, including Shiv Sena (Hindustan), Bajrang Dal, VHP and
RSS, held at Quila Mandi during the curfew hours. Hundreds of Hindu
activists managed to reach the venue of the meeting. Provocative
speeches were made there. It is not known how Akali Dal will defend
its position but it seems the Congress is in no hurry to side with
the Christian community and thus a paradigm of shameless politics
will play out blatantly.
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24
February 2010
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