News Round-up
As part of the golden jubilee celebration the Mumbai unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad organised a Virat Hindu Sammelan at BKC Ground on December 21. Kanchi Acharya Shri Jayendra Saraswati spoke on inclusiveness of the society and said building Sri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is the responsibility of all. He appealed to the Muslims to leave their illegal claim over the land and pave the way for building a grand temple in Ayodhya.
Sadhvi Saraswati said she sees the image of Chhatrapati Shivaji on every Hindu face. She said the Muslims in the country have been used as vote-bank and the Muslims should understand this game plan. She smelled a conspiracy to lessen the Hindu population and increase Muslim population. RSS Sahsarkaryavah Shri Dattatreya Hosabale, VHP President Dr Pravin Togadia, VHP patron Shri Ashok Singhal, Shri Narendra Maharaj of Nanji, Shri Bhaskar Giri Maharaja nd some Jain and Buddhist monks also addressed the Sammelan.
If conversions are wrong then why no law is being passed against conversions in the Parliament, asked Dr Pravin Togadia. We will not allow conversions of Hindus he said. He claimed that earlier the entire world—Africa, Arabia and Europe had a global Hindu population but now just 100 crore Hindus are left across the world. Every speaker stressed the need for Hindus to unite and give up caste differences. Referring to Dalits and backward classes Dr Togadia said, “We do not believe in untouchability. We should eat together, sit together and work together. The issues highlighted at the Sammelan were cow protection, Love jihad and religious conversions. The transgender activist Lakshmi who had returned from Vaishna Devi Temple tied a rakhi on the wrist of Dr Pravin Togadia. (Indira Satyanarayan)
We work for winning the hearts —Ashok Singhal
VHP patron Shri Ashok Singhal on December 21 while releasing a book titled Vishwa Hindu Parishad said Hindus never indulged in conversion and they only tried to win the hearts of the people. He said homecoming is the right of everyone who was misguided to leave the Hinduism and nobody can deny this right. The book, published by Prabhat Prakashan, highlights the 50 years activities of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The book has been written by joint organizing secretary of the VHP Dr Anil Kumar to provide the detail of the 50 years activities of the organisation during the golden jubilee. The forward of the book has been written by VHP general secretary Shri Champat Rai. Speaking on the occasion he said a law banning conversion in the country is must and the VHP has been asking for it for the last 50 years. Swami Brahmaswarupa-nanda from Trinidad, King of Holland Shri Luis, RSS Delhi Prant Sanghachalak Shri Kulbhushan Ahuja, VHP Delhi State president Shri Rikhabchand Jain and VHP international vice president Shri Omprakash Singhal were also present on the occasion. —Organiser Desk
Embrace janjatis to strengthen national integration
—Tripura Governor PB Acharya
Tripura Governor Shri PB Acharya while speaking at a function organised in Agartala on December 19 called for emotional integration of janjatis to strengthen unity and integrity of the nation. He coined a new term ‘NAMASTE’, which stands for all the eights states of this region where N stands for Nagaland A for Arunachal M for Manipur, Mizoram & Meghalaya A for Assam S for Sikkim and T for Tripura.
“NAMASTE stands for humility and righteousness which is fittest term to describe the people of this region. He appreciated the activities of Kalyan Ashram Tripura in the field of education, health and hygiene, promotion and preservation of socio-religious identity of various janjati communities. He said sewa activities of Kalyan Ashram are the fittest reply to the anti-national activities going on in the region. Kalyan Ashram joint organising secretary Shri Atul Jog presented a brief account of the life and work of Kalyan Ashram Balasheb Deshpande. He said Kalyan Ashram has reached in 53,000 villages of 600 janjati communities of 350 janjati districts of the country. Organisation runs 17,000 projects in 12,000 villages. Shri Krishnabandhu Debnath and Shri Chittaranjan Chakraborty also spoke on the occasion. —Organiser Desk
Spectacular Path Sanchalan along the shore of Arabian Sea
Daring the beauty of coastal shore of Arabian Sea, spectacular RSS Path Sanchalan was held along the shore of Uppala Mandala at Manjeshwara Taluk in Kasaragod on December 23. Walking with pride, 75 swayamsevaks representing three Shakhas of Shivaji nagar, Hanuman Nagar and Sharada Nagar participated in the pathsanchalan, which was organised as the preparatory event ahead of Vijaya Shakthi Sangam to be held on January 18, 2015. Mangaluru Vibhag Sahkaryavah Shri Janardana Pratapanagar was also present on the occasion. (VSK Karnataka)
Birth centenary of Puttaraja Gawayi and Yadavarao Joshi
Karnataka Unit of SAKSHAMA organised a function in Bengaluru on December 21 to celebrate birth centenary of Gaana yogi Pandith Puttaraja Gawayi and Yadavarao Joshi. Speaking on the occasion Mayor of BBMP Smt. N Shanthakumari remembered the great work by the both the eminent personalities. She said physical constraint should not be the barrier for challenged communities for excelling in any fields by giving examples of life of Pandith Puttaraja Gawayi, who was blind but still excelled in musical world.
Pandith M Venkatesh Kumar, noted Hindustani singer and one of the disciples of Pandith Puttaraja, recalled his memories during his musical study with Pandith Gawayi. Shri PR Krishna Murthy spoke on contribution of Yadavarao Joshi. Prof Nilugal Kannada, Head of Department at S Nijalingappa College spoke about the life of Pandith Gawayi.
On this occasion, SAKSHAMA honoured international swimmer Sharath Gayakwad who excelled in spite of physical challenges. It also offered financial assistance to one of the visually impaired student, Vanitha. —Organiser Desk
