Word: parishads
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Hindu groups and political parties allege that Christian groups are forcing Hindus to convert against their will, in an effort to change the nature of India. "They want to convert people to Christianity and convert the country into a Christian land," Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), one of India's biggest Hindu nationalist groups, told Indian reporters. "We are opposed to that and that is the source of all disputes and fights." Other low-caste groups and so-called "tribals" - ethnic minorities who stand outside the caste system but have historically been poor...
...rubber bullets and tear gas. By day's end more than 1,000 Hindu activists were in custody and another 15,000 had been loaded on to buses and trains and sent away. An outraged Ashok Singhal, leader of the rally's organizer, the militant Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), was moved to declare: "They treat Hindus like animals in this country...
...which these same hard-liners would take the credit. But for the country, the consequences of an upset could be little short of disastrous. With obvious mischief, Pravin Togadia, the firebrand international head of the s's religious arm, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, or VHP), warns that what little control the BJP, or even he, exercises over the Hindu mob would evaporate if Modi were to lose on Dec. 12. "It will mean people are no longer prepared to defend themselves against Islam democratically," he states. "The masses will take the law into their own hands; there...
...Janata Party (BJP) leaders blamed Pakistan?not Muslims?to dilute religious overtones. To ensure the peace, this time the state deployed 3,000 soldiers to the area. The measured tones frustrated some coalition members?"Our Prime Minister only cares about international opinion," griped Kamleshji Maharaj of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Hindu chauvinist group blamed for instigating the earlier revenge killings. But they could also indicate an awareness of the consequences of failing to address the treatment of Muslims in India. Another political consideration: the cynical view that anti-Muslim rhetoric may be more useful in a few months...
...about "God's will." The returning Muslims don't know where this leaves them. "We lived together quite happily," recalls farmer Faiz Mohammad Khan. The change precedes the slaughters of February and March: several years back, some prominent Hindus in the village began organizing meetings of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), extremist champions of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "They came here and talked about Muslims, how all of us have weapons, and that Hindus had to protect themselves," says Khan. "Now no one cares about us and we have no faith in them. But we have nowhere...