August 4, 2012
In this Tamilnadu village, Hindus had their way
Agaram village, Pochampalli Taluk, Krishnagiri District (Tamilnadu), did not have any Muslim family 12 years back. Then came Siddhique, the District Collector, a Muslim obviously. He is said to have pressurized the gram Panchayat and got a resolution passed to convert forest lands into Muslim grave yard. The Block Development Officer helped achieve this on a Holiday. Four years back, four Muslim families entered and settled in this village. Slowly they constructed a Mosque on the illegally acquired property which was earmarked as burial ground. Then, during the namaaz time, they fitted a cone amplifier, disturbing the local village people with the noise. The village was in a state of ‘aural aggression’. (Using amplifier is not according to Law which needs a licence to be obtained. Supreme Court has passed an order giving effect to this--The judgment observed that no religion prescribed that prayers should be performed by disturbing the peace of others, nor did it preach that it should be through voice amplifiers). Even after repeated requests by the villagers, they did not remove the cone amplifier which irritated the villagers. The villagers lodged a complaint with the police. The villagers also called for a Bandh for one day. Shops were closed for one day showing their protest against the unfriendly activity of the Muslims. After this, Tahsildar, Deputy Super-intendent of Police and Inspector called the villagers for peace talks. Hundreds of village people led by Hindu Munnani activists Subba Nagarajan, Raja, Premanand and Anathanarayanan attended the peace talks. As a result, consent was given in writing to the Block Development Officer that the amplifier was removed from the mosque. The very next day around 200 Muslims suddenly came to the village to show their solidarity and participated in the Agaram Mosque Prayer. Villagers were shocked. Even after giving consent in writing, they did not remove the amplifier. So the villagers decided and declared to go on a hunger strike if the amplifier is not removed. But the police officials promised to see that the amplifier is removed. With great struggle the amplifier was removed and a box amplifier was fitted.
In state capital Chennai, Hindu vigilance paid
Vijay TV, a Tamil channel owned by Star TV telecasts ‘Neeya Naana’ (You Vs Me) talk show. A programme denigrating Hindu sadhus as Corporate Sanyasins was to be telecast on Sunday 29th July 2012. The ad was going on for the previous couple of days. It became clear that hurting the beliefs of Hindus was the purpose. Alert Hindus sensed the anti-Hindu mischief by the TV Channel. Hindu Munnani activists lodged a complaint with the City Commissioner who served a notice to the Vijay TV Channel. As no promise was given by the police authorities and TV Channel, Hindu Munnani activists staged a protest before the TV Channel. Around 40 persons were arrested. SMS came in handy. A flood of short messages alerting Hindus across Tamilnadu landed on the mobile phones of thousands of Hindu viewers of the channel. Then started a steady stream of polite, but firm warnings (over phone and SMS) to the anchor Gopinath of ‘Neeya Naana’ asking him to desist from telecasting that episode. This had a salutary effect. Gopinath called upon Sri Rama Gopalan of Hindu Munnani and apologised for affecting the sentiments of Hindus. He promised that the said episode will not be telecast at any time later. This was another incident of positive fall out of Hindu vigilance.
Hindu temples dividing the society; the culprit: secular government
Secular Government managing Hindu temples frequently acts in violation of Hindu unity. A case in point is the imposition of special tickets for darshan. Minimum of Rs.100 and a maximum of Rs.500 is charged by the temples under the administration of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department of tamilnadu government. It is argued that money is collected for the maintenance of the temples. Hindu Munnani recently launched a signature campaign demanding abolition of special entrance fee charged at the temples across the State. This practice of collecting money in the name of special darshan would only discriminate the rich and poor in front of God. On July 22, 2012, Hindu Munnani organized massive protests all over the state demanding the abolition of the special entrance fee. In 42 places in various districts of Tamilnadu, 14,898 volunteers participated. Around 25 lakh signatures of devotees were collected on the petition demanding the abolition of special darshan fee. This will be submitted to the government. “People go to Sabarimala or Guruvayoor in Kerala for free darshan and there is no such botheration as special entrance fee. Why not we have the same implemented in our state as well?”, asks Hindu Munnani Chennai District Secretary S S Manoharan.
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