PDP-BJP’s CMP? Togadia walks free in Jammu, Massarat in Kashmir

Mufti Govt. permits VHP’s weeklong Golden Jubilee Samaroh, directs Police not to touch hate-monger

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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Jammu, March 7: Even as the authorities in Rajouri district of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir have written to the State Home Department that the right wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Praveen Togadia be not allowed to enter or hold his organisation’s scheduled rally on March 15^th, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s government has, in a significant political development, not only issued permission to the Sangh Parivar outfit to celebrate its Swaran Jayanti Samaroh [Golden Jubilee event] but also directed Police not to arrest a man wanted in a criminal case.

On District Magistrate Ghulam Ahmad Khwaja’s complaint,Police Station Rajouri had in March 2012 booked Togadia in FIR No: 98/2012 under section 153 of Ranbir Penal Code after his speech at a VHP rally hurt the religious sentiments of one particular community and created a major communal turmoil. Togadia had allegedly expressed himself as proud of killing 6,000 Muslims in the Gujarat riots of 2002 and threatened to “teach 10 crore Muslims a lesson if a single Hindu is harmed in Jammu”. Under law, he is required to be arrested and questioned and if charges against him are proved, he is to be prosecuted for punishment.

Togadia’s speech had led to communal strife and days of curfew in Rajouri and the situation began limping back to normality with the removal of Deputy Commissioner Khwaja and Superintendent of Police Vijay Singh Sambyal.

Even as Police failed to arrest Togadia, he was pushed back to Delhi on his arrival at Jammu airport when he made an attempt to address another event of his organisation in 2012. Then Chief Minister and head of the National Conference-Congress government Omar Abdullah had asserted that Togadia would never enter the State “as long as I am the Chief Minister”.

Authint Mail on Saturday learned from authoritative sources said that the district administration in Jammu, under instructions from the government, has permitted the VHP’s golden jubilee celebration. VHP’s International President Togadia, who is wanted by Police in the Rajouri FIR, is scheduled to address the organisation’s rally here on Sunday.

Officials said that the VHP has actually communicated to the State government that it was going to hold the weeklong Golden Jubilee celebrations in different districts of Jammu division---beginning with the inaugural event in Jammu city on March 8^th and closing with the finale at Rajouri on March 15^th.

VHP is a key constituent of the Hindu right wing Sangh Parivar which has its political arm, BJP, as a partner in Mufti’s coalition government that assumed office in Jammu and Kashmir on March 1^st.

Sources said that the joint supporters of BJP, VHP and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh [RSS] would attend the rally and listen to Togadia. It was not immediately clear if any of the BJP’s Ministers, particularly those from the RSS background, would participate in the rally. This is for the first time in the State’s history that the VHP would be holding a rally with the government support and facilitation.

Last month, State governments of Odisha, Karnataka and Assam imposed ban on the VHP’s Golden Jubilee celebrations and did not enter Togadia to enter Khandamal, Bengaluru and Guwahati to address the rallies for fear of “disruption to peace”. However, with the BJP being in power for the first time, Togadia would be walking free to hold the weeklong event for the first time in India’s only Muslim-majority State.

Even as it was not immediately clear whether or not the Deputy Commissioners of other districts in Jammu province had issued permission to the VHP rallies, official sources said that the Police and Civil Administration had “requested” the State not to allow Togadia to enter Rajouri district.

“No, we are not going to arrest him”, said a senior official in the border district, underscoring that the authorities in any area could not affect such an high profile arrest without a green signal from the government. Contrarily, there were instructions that Togadia should be provided with “adequate security” during his participation in the VHP’s Swaran Jayanti Samaroh.

‘Unholy trade-off’

Averse to being quoted, officials revealed that there was “definitely some link” between issuing permission to Togadia’s rally and release of the prominent Kashmiri separatist Massarat Alam from a jail. Inspite of holiday on Saturday, Chief Minister Mufti and his Ministers were “busy in meetings” at Civil Secretariat when Alam was released from Sub Jail of Baramulla. Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar was also at work. Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar told mediapersons that Alam’s release was consequent upon court orders as his detention under Public Safety Act had been quashed one after another.

Alam had been arrested for his alleged role in the bloody street turmoil of 2010 that left over a hundred demonstrators and arsonists dead and thousands injured.

Dispelling impression that Mufti’s government had begun to release “hundreds of detained militants and political detenus”, DGP said that Massarat was the “only political detainee”. With regard to Togadia, he made it clear that the Police would not stop anybody from attending the VHP rally until anybody violated law.

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