Bangalore: Woman stabbed to death in front of daughter

Bengaluru, Jan 16: Senior Congress leader K J George on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate officials here in connection with a FEMA case.

The former minister is being investigated by the ED for probable violation of provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

The ED had recently issued summons to George.

Speaking to reporters after appearing before the ED, George said he has answered to the officials' queries and will cooperate further also.

"ED had issued me summons, as a law abiding citizen, I have answered and gave documents to whatever they asked.

Further also if they call me...I will cooperate and provide necessary documents," he said, without divulging any details.

George clarified that no summons has been issued by the ED to members of his family.

"If required they (ED officials) will call me again, and I'm ready to cooperate," the congress leader added.

Last year, the president of the Karnataka Rashtra Samithi Ravi Krishna Reddy had complained to the ED seeking a probe into the alleged money laundering and properties held by George and his family members in the United States.

Responding to a question about a defamation case filed by him against those who have levelled the allegations, George said "Just because ED has called me for questioning, I'm not proved guilty."

"Anyone can complain to agencies like the Income Tax or ED or Lokayukta, but my only objection is with going to the press to project someone as guilty," he said.

"...going to the press with an intention to do a propaganda against me..someone who is in public life-- to project me as guilty is wrong, so I have filed defamation case stating the allegations are false," he added.

George is the third senior Congress leader from Karnataka to face an ED probe after D K Shivakumar and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.

Shivakumar was arrested by the agency in a money laundering case and was kept in Tihar Jail, until he got bail in October, while Khan was summoned in connection with the multi-crore IMA group Ponzi scam case.

Bhuj, Feb 14: In a horrifying incident, as many as 68 undergraduate girls were paraded through their college into the restroom and forced to individually remove their undergarments to prove that they were not menstruating. 

This shameful exercise was conducted at Shri Sahjanand Girls’ Institute (SSGI) in Gujarat’s Bhuj under the supervision of principal and other teachers. 

It all began after the hostel rector complained to the principal that some of the inmates had been violating the Hindu religious norms specifically for menstruating females.

According to the sect’s norms, menstruating females are barred from entering the temple and kitchen. They are even forbidden from touching other students. However, the hostel administration reportedly complained to principal Rita Raninga that some girls who were having their periods not just mingled with other hostel inmates, but also entered the kitchen and ventured near the temple on the premises. 

“It was sheer mental torture and we don’t have words to describe it,” a student who underwent the traumatic experience said, adding that there were total 68 girls who were forced to pass through the test.

“The hostel administration levelled this allegation and insulted us on Wednesday. On Thursday, when we were attending lectures, rector Anjaliben called the principal and complained about this. We were forced to leave our classrooms and queue up outside in the passage. The principal abused and insulted us, asking which of us were having our periods. Two of us who were menstruating stepped aside,” said another victim.

“Despite this, we were all taken to the washroom. There, female teachers asked us to individually remove our undergarments so they could check if we were menstruating,” she added.

Another teenage undergraduate said, “We come from farflung villages. The college campus houses a school that runs classes from Class 1to 12. They provide hostel facilities to the school students. The college does not have its own hostel. We live with the school-kids in their hostel.”

She added, “The principal, hostel rector and the trustees harass us regularly over the issue of menstruation. We are punished for having periods. This happens even if we follow their religious rules. They made us remove our undergarments because they thought some of us were lying about not having periods, and mingling with the others against rules. But the humiliation meted out to us on Thursday was the last straw. When we protested against this, trustee Pravin Pindoria told us that we could take legal action if we wanted but we would have to first leave the hostel. He also forced the students to sign a letter saying nothing happened in college. But enough is enough.”

Kutch University authorities have, meanwhile, swung into action and a five-member team including in-charge vice-chancellor, Darshna Dholakia, and two other senior female professors visited the college on Thursday. “We will speak to the students and the college authority and later initiate appropriate action based on the findings,” Dholakia said.

Run by followers of Swaminarayan Mandir, the college was set up in 2012 but moved into a new building on the premises of Shree Swaminarayan Kanya Mandir in 2014. The college which offers BCom, BA and BSc courses has about 1,500 students of which 68, who come from remote villages, stay in the hostel on campus. The college is known for its pro-Hindutva stance.

During last couple of decades we have been witnessing the coming up of various statues in different parts of the country. There is diverse political logic and different set of political tendencies for erecting these statues. When Mayawati was UP CM, she got multiple of her own statues made, in addition to many statues of major dalit icons, irrespective of the criticism against that act. As per her strategy it was a symbol of identity of dalit assertion. The biggest statue to come up was that of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, a lifelong Congressman, whom RSS combine is trying to appropriate. This statue of Unity was ‘Made in China’. The clever trick was that the same forces were behind this statue, which was banned by Patel in the aftermath of Gandhi murder. Interestingly while currently BJP is blaming Congress for Partition of India, ironically it was Sardar Patel who was in the committee which gave final stamp of approval for the partition of India.

There is also a talk in UP, where the Ram temple campaign yielded rich electoral dividends for BJP, to have tallest statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. In a state where children are dying in hospitals due to lack of Oxygen cylinders, a huge budgetary allocation will be required for such project. While on statues one should also remember that in Maharashtra a tall statue of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is underway in Arabian Sea, near Mumbai. Only few voices of protest against it came up, e.g. that of renowned journalist, now, MP, Kumar Ketkar, whose house was vandalised for his opposing the move on the grounds that same massive amount can be utilized for welfare-development activities in the state.

On the back of this comes a comparatively low budget 114 feet tall statue of Jesus Christ in Karnataka, in Kappala hills Harobele village, where Christian pilgrims have been thronging from last several centuries. The land for this has been donated by Congress leader Shivaprasad and his brother, a Congress MP. It is planned to be carved out from a single rock. The plan of this statue is being opposed by those who have been behind most of the statue projects so far. Hindu Jagran Vedike, VHP, RSS are up in arms saying that they will not let this come up. There are various arguments cited for this opposition. It is being said that this was a place of worship of Lord Munnieshwara (a form of Lord Shiva).

More than this it is being argued that Shivakumar is trying to please his Italian boss in the party. Also that this will bring back the period of slavery of foreign rule, the colonial rule of British. As such this opposition is more in tune with the ideology of RSS combine, which has been for a statue here and a statue there. Their politics regards Christianity as a ‘foreign religion’! It is true that in Citizenship Amendment Act, they have not excluded Christianity while other religion, which they regard as ‘Foreign’ i.e. Islam. Here they are using a different logic, that the countries from where persecuted minorities are coming, are Muslim countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangla Desh.

In India the major targeting by RSS combine has been against Muslims, but Christians are also not spared. Starting in the decade of 1980, an intense propaganda has been going on that Christian Missionaries are converting. As RSS affiliate Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram became active in Adivasi areas, the likes of Swami Aseemanand, Swami Laxmanand and followers of Aasaram bapu spread out in Tribal areas. They started their programs to popularise Shabri and Hanuman, with congregations like Shabri Kumbh being regularly organized in these areas. The aim was to Hinduize the people in those areas.

The first major anti Christian violence came up in the ghastly form of burning alive of Pastor Graham Steward Stains along with his two minor sons Timothy and Philip. RSS affiliate Bajrang Dal's Dara Siingh aka Rajendra Pal was behind this and he is serving the life term for that. At the same time Wadhva Commission was appointed to investigate this crime which shook the country and President K.R. Narayan termed it as the one belonging to the inventory of the black deeds of human history.

The Wadhva commission report pointed out that there was no statistical significant change in the region where the pastor was working. Similarly the national figures tell us that the Christian population, if at all, has marginally declined in last five decades as per the census figures. They stand like this, percentage of Christians in population, 1971-2.60, 1981- 2.44, 1991-2.34, 2001-2.30 and 2011-2.30. There are arguments that some people are converting to Christianity but are not revealing their religion. This may be true in case of miniscule percentage of dalits, who may not reveal there conversion, as they stand to loose reservation provisions if they convert.

The anti Christian violence is scattered and is below the radar most of the places. There was massive valence in Kandhamal, Orissa, when on the pretext that Christians have murdered Swami Laxmananand, a massive violence was unleashed in 2008. On regular basis prayer meetings of Christians are attacked on the pretext that these are attempts at conversion. While there is a huge demand for the schools and colleges run by Christian groups, in Adivasis areas and remote areas the work of Swamis is on.

Now the trend is to dump Christian traditions. Since Ramnath Kovind became President, the usual practice of Carol Singers visiting Rashtrapati Bhavan has been stopped. In the army retreat so far ‘Abide with me’ by Scottish poet, Henri Francis Lyte, a Christian song, a favourite of Gandhi, has been dropped. The Christian minorities have perceived the threat in various forms. Currently they are as much part of the protests against CAA, NPR and NRIC as any other community.

While statues and identity issues cannot have primacy over the social development issues, it cannot be selective. To oppose Jesus Christ statue while spending fortunes for other statues is a part of the agenda of RSS combine, which is unfolding itself in various forms. opposition to Jesus Christ statue being yet another step in the direction.