Assam Bajrang Dal activist murder: VHP to stage pan-India protests

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on January 16 announced a pan-India two-day protest starting from january 17 and said that the organisation would submit a memorandum to the President to take action against leaders who ‘provoke’ the Muslim community.

The VHP claimed that the murder of a Bajrang Dal activist in Assam’s Karimganj was carried out by ‘jihadis’ and demanded strict action on the case. 

Earlier on January 9 , A 16-year-old Bajrang Dal activist identified as Sambhu Koiri was stabbed to death in Assam on 8 January (Sunday), allegedly by a member of the Muslim community, causing communal tension.

The incident took lace in Lowaripua area of Patharkandi subdivision in Karimganj district in Assam.
Sambhu was a student of Class X and volunteered for Bajrang Dal, the youth arm of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

“This is not an isolated incident. In the last two years, some nine Karyakartas of Bajrang Dal were killed and 32 others were attacked by Jihadis. If the youths stand in reaction, then the responsibility will be entirely on those fundamentalists who provoke the Muslim community meaninglessly,” VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain said.

The Bajrang Dal will hold protests at district centres across the country and submit a memorandum to the President of India urging strict action.

The Hindu leader appealed to the Muslim community to move towards “peaceful co-existence”. He said, “Following a ban on SIMI, its cadres started working in the name of PFI. Now after PFI is banned, other organizations have surfaced. Name is not important, ideology is important. This has to end and the Muslim community should move towards peaceful coexistence.”