After row, Bajrang Dal denies selling ‘love jihad’ booklet at Hindu outfit fair
AIM The fiveday fair strives to bring all Hindu organisations together to exhibit their work to people JAIPUR:
A Bajrang Dal stall removed a booklet on ‘love jihad’ from its shelves on Sunday, a day after selling the manual ’ containing hate content against Muslims at a Hindu outfit’s fair in Jaipur.
Stall managers denied having kept or sold any literature on love jihad, a conspiracy theory that Muslims woo Hindu girls to convert them to Islam.
“We never sold any literature on love jihad. And whatever hate content you are talking about is certainly wrong,” said Mahesh Saini, who was manning the stall. He added that they did warn people coming to the stall about love jihad.
“It’s wrong and we must stop conversion of Hindu girls to Islam. The only way is to inculcate Hindu values and traditions in the girls when they are young. We only want to protect and propagate our Hindu culture,” said Saini.
The fair has been organised by the Hindu Spirituality and Service Foundation (HSSF). The objective of the five-day fair that kicked off on Thursday is to give a platform to all Hindu organisations to come together and showcase their work to common people, said Dinesh Peetaliya, treasurer of HSSF.
The love jihad booklet warned the girls about the ways in which Muslim boys trap Hindu girls. It also cited the example of Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan and Amir Khan, arguing that “they left their Hindu wives and trapped other Hindu girls.”
The education department recently asked government schools in Jaipur to take students to the fair, prompting critics to call it another move by the government to saffronise education.
Ramkrishna Mission, Patanjali, Shankhnaad Foundation, and Subhadra Gau Utpad were some of the organisations that had put up their stalls in the fair. The treasurer said the fair was apolitical, neutral and for all the communities.
Jaipur district education officer Ratan Singh said government schools had been asked to take kids to the fair but the visit was not made mandatory.
Earlier this month, the Rajasthan government organised a mass Vande Mataram recital programme in collaboration with the HSSF and told students to attend the programme. The state government has earlier drawn flak for glorifying Hindutva icons in schoolbooks and pushing to sidelines the role of Gandhi and Nehru in the Indian independence movement.
International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is keen to assess accident-prone roads in India after studying 12,000 km of state and national highways in 12 states, its CEO Rob McInerney said.
iRAP is the umbrella programme for Road Assessment Programmes (RAPs) worldwide
NEWDELHI:The
that are working to save lives by improving road safety. The programme launched in India is titled Indian Road Assessment Programme (IndiaRAP).
“We are working for safer roads globally. More than half of the (road accident) deaths in India are happening on 5 per cent of roads,” said McInerney.
McInerney said till date 12,000 km iRAP assessments have been undertaken on World Bank, NHAI and state government supported projects in 12 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. PTI