Author:
Publication: The Hindu
Date: July 15, 2001
A group of Shiv Sena activists today
gave a symbolic wash to Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi at Rajghat by the Ganges
water after the visit of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday,
Sena sources claimed.
The act is believed to be a tit-for-tat
to Jammat-e- Islami, whose activists performed a similar act at Minar-
e-Pakistan in February 1999 after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's
visit there.
About 10 Sena activists, eluding
heavy security, carried ''Ganga jal'' (Ganga water) and other things in
polythene bags and poured it at the samadhi this morning, the organisation's
Delhi unit vice-president Om Dutt Sharma said.
He said the place was now ''purified'',
adding four party activists -- Renu Bala, Jaiprakash Bhagel, Rajan Sharma
and Om Prakash -- were arrested after the ''ritual''.
The group was part of about 25 activists
who marched to Rajghat under the leadership of Delhi unit president Jai
Bhagwan Goel. However, as they were prevented by the police from entering
the premises, about 10 people managed to ''sneak in'' and perform the ritual,
he said.
Justifying the action, Sharma said
Shiv Sena held Musharraf responsible for Kargil conflict in which many
Indian soldiers had been martyred. (PTI)
