Hindu forum threatens to violate ban on rally

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI, AUG. 21. Even as the Hindu Munnani urged the Chennai Police Commissioner, Mr. K. Muthukaruppan, to review the ban on the Vinayaka Chathurthi procession, the Hindu Makkal Katchi, threatened to go ahead with the rally, violating prohibitory orders.

The Commissioner yesterday withdrew permission for four Hindu organisations to take out the annual procession scheduled for Sunday in view of intelligence reports of possible violence during the rally. The Chengai-East police also banned any ``organised Chathurthi rally''.

Predictably, the ban order was greeted with criticism by the State BJP, besides the Hindu outfits including the Hindu Munnani and the Hindu Makkal Katchi, key organisers of the procession.

After meeting the Commissioner, the Hindu Munnani organiser, Mr. Ramagopalan, told the media that the ban order was ``strange'' as the police appeared to be anticipating trouble only during the Chathurthi procession, and not during the rallies taken out by people belonging to other faiths. ``I have faith in our Chief Minister's judgment. She will certainly allow the procession. And we will take out the rally this year too, with God's grace,'' he maintained.

Meanwhile, the Hindu Makkal Katchi, in a statement, said that the ban order only exposed the ``police inability'' to ensure a peaceful procession. If the police failed to cooperate, it would flout the ban.

The Tamil Nadu Shiv Sena sought the ``direct intervention'' of the Chief Minister and warned that the party would take a grand procession of idols on September 2.

The State BJP general secretary, Mr. H. Raja, said the Government should allow the procession and the minorities too should press for it to gain the goodwill of the majority Hindus.

However, the State CPI(M) leader, Mr. G. Ramakrishnan, welcomed the ban in view of the ``bitter incidents'' of the past and also as the police were anticipating violence, though the party was not opposed to any religious rally.

For the Chennai police, the annual Chathurthi procession, has been an occasion of one of the most ``sensitive days'', ever since violence broke out in 1992, when the rally passed through Muslim-dominated areas in Triplicane. During the previous DMK regime, the procession was allowed only on ``regulated routes''.

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Section  : Southern States
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