The Hindu : VHP, Bajrang Dal men storm Orissa Assembly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 17, 2002

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VHP, Bajrang Dal men storm Orissa Assembly
By Prafulla Das

Policemen try to prevent a trident-wielding VHP protester from storming the Orissa Legislative Assembly building on Saturday. - AP

BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 16. In an ugly show of mob fury, around 500 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal and the Durga Vahini stormed the Orissa Assembly building this afternoon and indulged in massive vandalism causing extensive damage.

The activists, who were on a dharna since this morning 300 metres away from the Assembly, ran towards the building a few minutes after the House was adjourned for lunch. They forcibly entered the premises through the main entrance at 2.10 p.m. in the presence of a posse of policemen.

The dharna was to demand the handing over of the disputed land in Ayodhya to the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas for the construction of a Ram temple, the release of Giriraj Kishore and the withdrawal of ``anti-VHP'' remarks made by some MLAs in the Orissa Assembly on Friday.

The activists, many of whom were armed with tridents and lathis, broke glass doors, windowpanes of the Assembly library and rooms allotted to the Ministers and smashed the flowerpots in the corridors of the building. They also beat up several Assembly staff, a couple of journalists and a Biju Janata Dal MLA, Ashok Panigrahi.

The act of vandalism continued for about 20 minutes inside the Assembly building and the security personnel posted in and around the high security complex did little to prevent the mob from going on the rampage. But the attackers were not able to enter the House and the lobby.

It was only when the mob was leaving the premises that policemen were able to catch some of them. The Director-General of Police, N.C. Padhi, later told presspersons that 62 persons had been arrested on charges of indulging in vandalism in the Assembly building. Late in the evening, the DGP ordered a Crime Branch inquiry into the incident.

`Not our men'

The president of the VHP (Orissa unit), Bipin Bihari Rath, who led a group of his men up to the Assembly gate for submitting a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, just before the mob barged into the premises, however, claimed that ``those who stormed the Assembly were not our men''.

About an hour after the incident, the Speaker, Sarat Kumar Kar, the Chief Secretary, D.P. Bagchi, the Home Secretary, T.K. Mishra, and the DGP went around the premises to take stock of the situation. ``It was a serious security lapse,'' Mr. Bagchi said.

When the proceedings of the House began after the lunch break, members, cutting across party lines, demanded that a judicial inquiry be ordered into the incident and that those who indulged in violence taken to task. The House was adjourned twice as the members demanded that the matter be discussed today itself.

When the proceedings resumed after an all-party meeting was held in the Speaker's chamber, Mr. Kar adjourned the House till Monday saying that the Chief Minister would make a statement on the issue that day. Mr. Patnaik had left for New Delhi a few hours prior to the incident. (In New Delhi, Mr. Patnaik expressed deep anguish over the ``unpleasant incidents''. He said stern action would be taken against those responsible for the incidents.)

The incident has caused a severe embarrassment for the BJD-BJP coalition Government in the State. Today's was the third such attack on the Assembly building. The first took place in 1964 during the chief ministership of the late Biren Mitra, while the second incident occurred in 1971 when the late Biswanath Dash was the Chief Minister. In both the cases, agitating students stormed the Assembly.

PM expresses shock

PTI reports from New Delhi:

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has expressed shock over the incidents and said nobody could allow or condone lawless behaviour.

``I am shocked to learn that some activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal stormed the building of the Orissa Legislative Assembly this afternoon and ransacked parts of it when they reportedly went to submit a memorandum to the Speaker,'' he said in a statement here.

Mr. Vajpayee said, ``nobody can allow or condone this kind of lawless behaviour, that too in the premises of a Legislative Assembly''.

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