News Analysis India

Tag: Hindu Mahasabha

  • Hindu Mahasabha seeks ‘purification’ of Mathura’s Shahi Idgah mosque, files plea

    By IANS

    MATHURA: Amid legal battle over Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, another land dispute of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Shahi Idgah Masjid is unfolding in Mathura with Hindu Mahasabha on Monday filing a plea in the civil court to seek the ‘purification’ of the Shahi Idgah mosque. The plea will be heard on July 1.

    The Shahi Idgah Masjid stands next to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi.

    Dinesh Sharma, treasurer of Hindu Mahasabha, has claimed in the plea that the Idgah mosque is built on the sanctum sanctorum of Shri Krishna janmabhoomi. He has asked permission to enter the Shahi Idgah mosque to perform ‘Abhishek’ (purification) and worship of Lord Krishna at the disputed site of the ancient temple.

    ALSO READ: Amid Gyanvapi row, now plea seeks injunction against prayers at Mathura mosque

    Dinesh Sharma said, “They first attacked our temples by the might of the swords, but now we will take back the ancient heritage. We want the mosque to be removed and Hindus’ self-respect to be restored.”

    Earlier, the court admitted the petition of Shri Krishna Virajman in Mathura. The matter will be heard in the lower court on May 26. The petition has demanded the release of 2.37 acres of land on which Shahi Idgah mosque exists.

    The dispute essentially involves ownership of 13.37 acres of land which, the petitioners claim belongs to the deity Lord Shri Krishna. The Shahi Idgah Masjid is built on 2.37 acres of the total 13.37 acres of land.

    Tanveer Ahmed, secretary of the Shahi Idgah Masjid Committee, said, “When the matter comes up for hearing, we will put up our side. The civil court is not assessing the Places of Worship Act, 1991 or is not able to take a view. The law of the country is the same for everyone.”

    “There can’t be a more harmonious sight in Mathura, that on one side is the Idgah and on the other side is the Shri Krishna temple. Hindus worship in the temple, while Muslims offer namaz in the mosque. There is no problem to anyone,” he said.

  • Hindu Mahasabha threatens to install Krishna idol in Mathura mosque, says it’s deity’s birthplace

    By PTI

    MATHURA: The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has announced that it will install an idol of Lord Krishna at the deity’s ‘actual birthplace’, which it claims is in the mosque close to a prominent temple here.

    Hindu Mahasabha leader Rajyashri Choudhary said the idol will be installed after a ‘maha jalabhishek’ on December 6 to ‘purify’ the place.

    The date picked by the right-wing organisation marks the demolition in 1992 of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the site of a temple-mosque dispute.

    The Mahasabha threat to perform the ritual inside the Shahi Idgah comes at a time when the local courts are hearing a series of petitions seeking the “removal” of the 17th century mosque, close to the Katra Keshav Dev temple.

    Hindu Mahasabha leader Rajyashri Choudhary, however, denied there was any link between the 1992 event and organisation’s Mathura plan.

    Water from the holy rivers will be brought for the “maha jalabhishek”, she said.

    “We so far have got political freedom, but spiritual, economic and cultural freedom is yet to be achieved,” Choudhary said.

  • MP: Hindu Mahasabha to make Godse’s statue with Ambala jail soil

    By PTI

    GWALIOR: The Hindu Mahasabha has said it will make a statue of Nathuram Godse with soil brought from Haryana’s Ambala Central Jail, where the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi was hanged to death in 1949.

    The right-wing organisation’s comments came on Monday when it observed Godse’s death anniversary.

    “The Mahasabha activists last week brought the soil from the Ambala jail, where Godse and Narayan Apte were executed. This soil will be used to make the statues of Godse and Apte and they will be installed at the Mahasabha’s office in Gwalior,” the outfit’s national vice president Dr Jaiveer Bharadwaj told reporters.

    The Mahasabha activists installed the statues of Godse and Apte at ‘Balidhan Dham’ in Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) on Monday, he said.

    “We will construct such Balidan Dham in every state,” he added.

    He further said the Gwalior district administration had seized Godse’s bust (installed at the Mahasabha’s office here) in 2017, but it was not returned so far.

    Bharadwaj also alleged that the Congress was responsible for the country’s partition (in 1947) which resulted in killings of people on a large scale.

    Meanwhile, Gwalior’s Additional Superintendent of Police Satyendra Singh Tomar said there was no public programme of the Hindu Mahasabha here on Monday.

    No statue has been installed so far and the police are keeping an eye on the outfit’s activities, he said.

  • Nathuram ​Godse’s photograph garlanded at Hindu Mahasabha event on Gandhi Jayanti

    By PTI

    GWALIOR: Photographs of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassins Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were garlanded at a seminar organized by the local unit of the Hindu Mahasabha here on Saturday.

    Speaking to reporters after the event held on Gandhi’s 152nd birth anniversary, a leader of the right-wing organization also blamed him for Partition.

    “We have nothing to do with Gandhi, but Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah were responsible for the partition of the country,” Hindu Mahasabha national vice president Jaiveer Bharadwaj said.

    “Partition led to the biggest genocide and more than 10 lakh Hindus were killed and another 50 lakh displaced. That is why Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte had resolved to kill Gandhi and Jinnah,” he said.

    While they assassinated Gandhi, they could reach Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, he said.

    The seminar on “Gandhi, and Hutatma (martyrs) Godse and Apte” was held at the Mahasabha’s office in Daulatganj area here.

    Photographs of Godse and Apte were garlanded and some workers shouted “Pandit Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte Amar Rahe (Long live Pandit Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte).”

    In January this year, the Mahasabha had opened a study centre on Godse at its office here but closed it two days later following intervention by the district administration.

    In 2017, the Mahasabha had installed Godse’s bust at the office which was seized by the district administration.

  • Hindu Mahasabha defers plan to install Nathuram Godse’s statue at Gwalior office

    By PTI
    GWALIOR: The Hindu Mahasabha on Wednesday postponed its plan to install a statue of Nathuram Godse at its office here in Madhya Pradesh commemorating the 112th birth anniversary of the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, a functionary said.

    This programme was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hindu Mahasabha national vice president Jaiveer Bharadwaj told reporters. He said activists of the Mahasabha observed the birth anniversary of Godse at the outfit’s office in Daulatganj area with only four persons in attendance due to the pandemic curbs.

    Bharadwaj claimed the anniversary was observed in 5,356 houses associated with the Mahasabha where diyas or lamps will be lit in the evening. In 2017, the Mahasabha had installed a statue of Godse at its office in Gwalior which was seized by the district administration and police.

  • Three Hindu Mahasabha workers arrested for offering prayers to Shiva in Taj Mahal complex

    By PTI
    AGRA: Three members of the Hindu Mahasabha were arrested on Thursday for offering prayers to Lord Shiva inside the Taj Mahal compound, police said.

    A case was registered against the trio, including a woman, after they were apprehended by Central Industrial Security Force personnel deployed at the monument and handed over to the police, Inspector Umesh Chandra Tripathi of Tajganj police station said.

    Police said Meena Diwakar, the provincial president of the Hindu Mahasabha, started praying along with the other two on a bench near the central tank in the complex.

    The Mughal-era monument is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

  • Ex-Hindu Mahasabha man joins Congress

    Express News Service
    BHOPAL: A Hindu Mahasabha ex-municipal corporator, who had months back reportedly pledged to forward the last court statement of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse to one lakh people, was welcomed into the Madhya Pradesh Congress on Wednesday.

    Welcoming Babulal Chaurasia, the ex-corporator from Ward No 44 of the Gwalior Municipal Corporation, into the Congress fold was none other than MP Congress chief Kamal Nath. He had a month back attacked the state BJP government over opening a library on Godse at Hindu Mahasabha’s Gwalior office.

    Nath was accompanied by his party MLA from Gwalior South seat Praveen Pathak, at the state Congress HQ in Bhopal. The photo of the ex-corporator joining Congress was shared by MP Congress’ official Twitter handle.

    Chaurasia confirmed joining the Congress. “I’ve been associated with the Congress in the past, so it’s a return to the family,” Chaurasia said.

    When questioned about his active participation in events to glorify Godse, Chaurasia tried to play down the matter.

    “I didn’t know at that time what it was all about. I was pushed to the forefront of such events by others present there,” he said.

  • Desperate times? Madhya Pradesh Congress inducts ‘Godse supporter’ Babulal Chaurasia into party

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: A Hindu Mahasabha ex-municipal corporator, who had 15 months back reportedly pledged to forward the last court statement of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse to one lakh people, was welcomed into the Madhya Pradesh Congress by its chief Kamal Nath on Wednesday.

    Nath was accompanied by his party MLA from Gwalior South seat Praveen Pathak to welcome Babulal Chaurasia in the grand old party’s fold at state Congress HQ in Bhopal on Wednesday.

    The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister had attacked the BJP government in the state over starting a library dedicated to Godse at Hindu Mahasabha’s office in Gwalior. 

    The official Twitter handle of MP Congress on Wednesday afternoon shared the photo of Chaurasia with Kamal Nath.

    Confirming the development, “I have been associated with the Congress in the past, so it is like returning to the family,” he said. When asked about his active participation in events that glorify Nathuram Godse, Chaurasia played down the matter. “I didn’t know at that time what it was all about. I was pushed to the forefront of such events,” he claimed, further stating that he had snapped ties with the right-wing outfit for the last two years. 

    Contrary to Chaurasia’s claims, there have been news reports and pictures of him present at almost all such events conducted by the Hindu Mahasabha. Be it the Hutatma Nathuram Godse Temple in 2016 or taking the pledge to forward Godse’s last court statement to one lakh people on the 70th anniversary of the assassin’s hanging in 2019, Chaurasia can be seen in all these events.  

    During the 2017 event at the Daulatganj (Gwalior) Hindu Mahasabha office, Chaurasia was among those leaders who had reportedly performed special prayers of Godse’s statue.

    Chaurasia joining is being seen as Congress’ all-out efforts to perform well in the upcoming municipal polls in the Gwalior-Chambal region, three months after the party’s dismal show in the assembly by-elections in the same region. 

    Meanwhile, the All India Hindu Mahasabha national vice-president Jaiveer Bhardwaj said that this shows Congress has made a place for those who espouse the nationalistic ideology of Nathuram Godse. “It also shows Congress is running short of committed workers and is ready to take anybody in its fold.” He also claimed that Chaurasia had not snapped ties with Hindu Mahasabha two years back, but had even participated in the program to start Godse Gyanshala (library) last month.

    State BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal also took a dig at the Congress and MPCC chief Kamal Nath. “A month back Kamal Nath had asked CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan whether he was with Mahatma Gandhi or Nathuram Godse. Now the same questions need to be replied to by Nath himself. Congress is running short of workers, so it’s ready to include anyone in its ranks for the politics of vote ahead of urban local body polls,” Agrawal said. 

    However, when contacted in the matter by The New Indian Express, newly appointed MPCC general secretary (media) and a sworn Gandhian, KK Mishra denied commenting on the matter.

  • Godse Gyanshala closed just a day after opening in Gwalior

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: Just a day after being opened by right wing Hindu outfit All India Hindu Mahasabha to promote the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, the Godse Gyanshala (library-cum study centre) was closed in Gwalior city of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh. 

    The action was initiated by the Gwalior district administration and police under Section 144 of CrPc on Monday night, the Gwalior district police superintendent Amit Sanghi told The New Indian Express on Tuesday. 

    In pursuance with Section 144 of CrPc, prohibitory orders have been issued by the district administration to ban any act meant to glorify Nathuram Godse, the Gwalior SP said. 

    Earlier, on Sunday, the Hindu Mahasabha had unveiled the Godse Gyanshala at its state HQ in Daulatganj area of Gwalior, which had prompted the opposition to attack the Shivraj Singh Chouhan led BJP government in the central Indian state. 

    The Godse Gyanshala (sort of library) was started at the Hindu Mahasabha state headquarter at Daulatganj area of Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on Sunday. 

    The Gyanshala was unveiled at the Hindu Mahasabha’s office by garlanding the picture of Nathuram Godse as well as pictures of stalwarts who inspired him. The pictures, included Guru Govind Singh, Maharana Pratap, RSS founder KB Hedgewar, Lala Lajpat Rai, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya among others. 

    “The Gyanshala will not only have pictures of Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte( Gandhi’s assassins), but also all other Hindu nationalists, including Jan Sangh founder member Shyama Prasad Mukerjee. It will infuse spirit of nationalism among our Generation Y and Generation next, ” Hindu Mahasabha national vice president Jaiveer Bhardwaj had said. 

    ‘It’s not only pictures of Hindu nationalists, but also literature in form of books will be kept at the Gyanshala to educate youths about the revolutionary thoughts of both Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte, besides other nationalist leaders. The books will be unveiled at the Gyanshala on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, ” Bhardwaj said. 

    “We want to enlighten youth about the ideology espoused by Godse and Apte as well as expose those who were actually responsible for country’s partition  in 1947,” he maintained.