02-06-2007, 01:18 AM
And yes. Times Of India is doing its job. While the other news items, as mentioned above are nowhere to be found in TOI, it has lost no time in comparing Hindu Vahini to SIMI and branding Yogi as 'Controversial'.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Hindu Vahini emerges as militant force
LUCKNOW: Jobless youths, some from affluent families, have emerged as the new faces of militant Hindutva in the communal violence that has gripped Gorakhpur and nearby areas, police and officials in the area say.
Controversial Gorakhpur BJP MP Yogi Adityanath's Hindu Vahini â fast emerging as an alternative to saffron outfits like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal â is gaining recognition as a militant arm of the Gorakshnath Peeth in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Considered to be the private army of the MP and a frontal outfit of the Peeth, the Hindu Vahini has been formed to counter Students' Islamic Movement of India (Simi) and it has considerable presence at the tehsil and block level.
No action has so far been taken against the Vahini, even though there have been intelligence inputs on its activities, sources said. Authorities' reluctance to take action against the Vahini can be gauged from the fact that it has been functioning for five years without any registration. The Vahini has also been allowed to enlist youth and put up boards with names of its office-bearers.
As trouble broke out in Gorakhpur on last Friday after a person was killed allegedly by minority community members, Vahini activists have gone into overdrive, trying to ensure that protests spread to adjoining districts, including Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Varanasi and Azamgarh. On Sunday night, the MP was arrested after he was tried to defy authorities and hold a meeting in Gorakhpur. That provoked Vahini members to rampage â they blocked roads and pelted stones at the police.
According to sources, the Vahini wasted no time in giving communal colour to an incident which was the outcome of a scuffle between two groups of students attending a wedding party at the DAV College campus of Gorakhpur on January 26 night. The victim â Raj Kumar Agrehri â was shot at during the revelry, the sources said, adding Agrehri tried to mingle in a Muharram procession to save himself. But assailants fired at him again, leading the processionists to think that they had been attacked and Agrehari was stabbed, the sources said.
A senior BSP leader has said that the unquestioned status of the Vahini suits the ruling Samajwadi Party as well as Opposition BJP in UP. "With elections round the corner, polarisation of votes on communal lines would benefit both SP and BJP," said the BSP leader.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Hindu Vahini emerges as militant force
LUCKNOW: Jobless youths, some from affluent families, have emerged as the new faces of militant Hindutva in the communal violence that has gripped Gorakhpur and nearby areas, police and officials in the area say.
Controversial Gorakhpur BJP MP Yogi Adityanath's Hindu Vahini â fast emerging as an alternative to saffron outfits like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal â is gaining recognition as a militant arm of the Gorakshnath Peeth in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Considered to be the private army of the MP and a frontal outfit of the Peeth, the Hindu Vahini has been formed to counter Students' Islamic Movement of India (Simi) and it has considerable presence at the tehsil and block level.
No action has so far been taken against the Vahini, even though there have been intelligence inputs on its activities, sources said. Authorities' reluctance to take action against the Vahini can be gauged from the fact that it has been functioning for five years without any registration. The Vahini has also been allowed to enlist youth and put up boards with names of its office-bearers.
As trouble broke out in Gorakhpur on last Friday after a person was killed allegedly by minority community members, Vahini activists have gone into overdrive, trying to ensure that protests spread to adjoining districts, including Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Varanasi and Azamgarh. On Sunday night, the MP was arrested after he was tried to defy authorities and hold a meeting in Gorakhpur. That provoked Vahini members to rampage â they blocked roads and pelted stones at the police.
According to sources, the Vahini wasted no time in giving communal colour to an incident which was the outcome of a scuffle between two groups of students attending a wedding party at the DAV College campus of Gorakhpur on January 26 night. The victim â Raj Kumar Agrehri â was shot at during the revelry, the sources said, adding Agrehri tried to mingle in a Muharram procession to save himself. But assailants fired at him again, leading the processionists to think that they had been attacked and Agrehari was stabbed, the sources said.
A senior BSP leader has said that the unquestioned status of the Vahini suits the ruling Samajwadi Party as well as Opposition BJP in UP. "With elections round the corner, polarisation of votes on communal lines would benefit both SP and BJP," said the BSP leader.
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