Author: TN Raghunatha
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 18, 2008
URL: http://dailypioneer.com/135224/Support-for-Pragya-swells.html
Activists throng court, collect fund
Support for Sadhvi Pragya and other Hindu
activists arrested in connection with the Malegaon blasts swelled in Maharashtra
on Monday, as a large number of Shiv Sena and BJP activists staged a vociferous
demonstration in front of the Nashik court expressing their solidarity with
them and the Pune-based Hindu organisations, including Abhinav Bharat, began
raising funds from citizens for fighting their legal battle.
Hundreds of Sena and BJP workers -- who had
gathered near the Nashik court hours ahead of the production of Sadhvi Pragya
and seven other accused in the Malegaon blasts case for extension of their
judicial custody - surrounded the van carrying the eight accused, as it arrived
at the court.
The saffron alliance activists raised slogans
in support of Sadhvi Pragya and others accused in the Malegaon blasts like
"Pragya Thakur tum age badho hum tumhare saath hain".
What provided an ideal backdrop for demonstration
in support of Sadhvi Pragya and other Malegaon blasts accused were several
posters of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, its executive president Uddhav Thackeray,
former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition LK Advani and local
leaders of the saffron alliance parties.
A huge posse of police personnel stationed
in and around the Nashik court were caught unawares by the spontaneous act
of the Sena-BJP workers. It took some time before the police personnel could
disperse the crowds and escort Sadhvi Pragya and other accused from the van
to the courtroom.
However, the large presence of electronic
mediapersons made the matters difficult for the police personnel in handling
the demonstrators, who resisted vehemently the attempts to quell them from
near the court premises.
Even long after Sadhvi Pragya and others were
produced in the court, Sena-BJP activists kept raising slogans in their support
and protesting against the "harassment" meted out to them while
in ATS custody.
In a related development, the Hindu organisations,
including Abhinav Bharat, have begun collecting funds from citizens in Pune,
from the citizens for fighting the legal battle in support of Sadhvi Pragya
and other accused in the Malegaon blasts.
The Hindu organisations have resorted to a
fund collection drive, following a call given by Abhinav Bharat president
and Nathuram Godse's niece Himani Savarkar to citizens at a rally on Sunday
night to "unite, support the Malegaon blasts accused and donate money
for providing legal remedy to them".
Speaking at the rally, the Hindu leaders described
Lt Col Srikant Prasad Purohit, a key accused in the Malegaon blasts, as the
present-day "Mangal Pandey", a revolutionary soldier of the 1857
upsurge. All the speakers criticised the ATS and the State Government for
the manner in which the Hindu activists were being victimised and harassed
in the Malegaon blasts investigations.
