Bajrang Dal opposes use of  loudspeakers by mosques

`Slaughter of not a single animal will be allowed for Bakr-Id
as that day is also Mahavir Jayanti'

The Times of India News Service
Feb 11, 1999

MUMBAI: Intensifying its opposition to forced conversions, the
Bajrang Dal has also decided to rise against the use of
loudspeakers atop mosques, and has demanded comprehensive
legislation to prohibit the slaughter of cow progeny.

These three issues will be highlighted at a Bajrang Dal convention
at Azad Maidan here on February 21, its state convener Deepak
Gaikwad told reporters on Wednesday.

Mr Gaikwad said nearly 40,000 workers of the Bajrang Dal will
attend the one-day convention, the first of its kind in
Maharashtra.

Vehemently denying that his organisation was involved in attacks
against the Christian community, he said it had been established
beyond doubt that the Bajrang Dal had nothing to do with the
rape of nuns at Jhabua or with the gory incidents in Orissa. ``No
less a person than defence minister George Fernandes, who is
himself a Catholic, has exonerated the Bajrang Dal,'' he noted.

Mr Gaikwad declared that the Bajrang Dal would not permit the
slaughter of a single animal on the occasion of Bakr-Id this year
as Mahavir Jayanti, too, is being celebrated on the same day
(March 29). As the government has declared Mahavir Jayanti as
`Ahimsa Divas' (day of non-violence) and as the supreme court
has ruled that slaughtering cows on the Id day was not a
fundamental right of the Muslims, the Bajrang Dal would ensure
through its ``flying squads'' that no blood was shed on that day.

He described the Bajrang Dal as a youth wing of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad and maintained that it had nothing to do with
politics.

Mr Gaikwad attacked the authorities for permitting the use of
loudspeakers at mosques and said though the supreme court had
ruled against such use the ruling was being violated in
Maharashtra.

Claiming that a campaign against the use of loudspeakers had
been underway since December 1997, Mr Gaikwad said over
180,000 signatures had been collected on a petition which
demanded banning such use.

Replying to questions, he said Bajrang Dal volunteers had started
requesting local police stations not to permit the use of
loudspeakers and had been successful in many places.

Referring to a judgment by the Calcutta high court which banned
the use of loudspeakers atop mosques, Mr Gaikwad said this
judgment was challenged by the West Bengal government in the
apex court, which refused to grant a stay. Subsequently, six
imams were sentenced for committing contempt of court. Even
then, the use of loudspeakers was continuing in Maharashtra. He
said all citizens must obey the law.

He said the destruction of cow progeny had been creating
unemployment problems in villages where 70 per cent of the
country's population resided and engaged in traditional
agriculture. He lamented that a Maharashtra legislation to ban
cow slaughter had been awaiting the President's assent for over a
year now.

Mr Gaikwad attacked the Christian missionaries and alleged that
almost all conversions to Christianity were the outcome of
inducements or duress. ``The Bajrang Dal would demand a law
to ban on forced conversions at its convention,'' he said.

The Mumbai convention will conclude with a public rally at 4
p.m. Bajrang Dal leaders Vishweshwaranandaji Maharaj,
Pravinbhai Togadia, Surendra Jain and Harishbhai Bhatt will be
among the speakers