India: Vishwa Hindu Parishad claims 'love jihad' election leaflets not theirs but agree with what is said in these leaflets

VHP disowns UP ‘love jihad’ leaflets
TNN | Sep 11, 2014, 04.39 AM IST

VHP disowns UP ‘love jihad’ leaflets
The Vadodara pamphlets, which the VHP has denied issuing, are published and printed in Rajkot and mention addresses and phone numbers of VHP offices in Rajkot.

LUCKNOW/VADODARA: Pamphlets purportedly by Vishwa Hindu Parishad asking Hindu parents to be wary of youths from the minority community have started circulating on messaging applications in Vadodara. Similar pamphlets are being shoved into hands of people in Mainpuri. Both these cities will witness Lok Sabha by-elections on September 13.

The Vadodara pamphlets, which the VHP has denied issuing, are published and printed in Rajkot and mention addresses and phone numbers of VHP offices in Rajkot. Likewise, the VHP in Mainpuri said it had nothing to do with the leaflets, with an activist saying local youth must have printed and distributed these out of concern about the "threat" Hindus face.

Agreeing with the pamphlets' contents, VHP's Mainpuri chief Uday Bhan Singh said, "VHP did not distribute these leaflets but concerns voiced in these leaflets are correct. We've also apprised the administration that such publicity material is being distributed. Some local youth concerned about the state of affairs is distributing such material."

Likewise, senior VHP functionaries in Vadodara, while denying such pamphlets were distributed by them, said the organisation had taken up such issues in the last couple of years. The pamphlets do not mention the term 'love jihad', but state Muslim youth are being trained to lure Hindu girls and crores are being allocated for this. These also mention incidents of girls being lured and the methods adopted to do so.

In Mainpuri, a pamphlet, a copy of which was handed to a TOI reporter, harks back at the strained relations between India and Pakistan since 1947. "The same strain has been created in our state (UP) by Muslims. The young and old from the Muslim community do not maintain trade relations with us. Therefore, we request our Hindu brothers to boycott Muslims, cut off trade relations and to even stop acknowledging them," the leaflet said.

In Alipur Kheda, a village that has seen two instances of communal tension and arson in two months, such aggression is new. The "Hindu" votes, comprising Yadavs, Brahmins and Shakya, among others, heavily outnumber Muslims, of which there are under 1,000 voters. Yet, such attempts to drive a wedge have left the village and its neighbourhood tense. "Generations of Hindus and Muslims have lived and worked together. Suddenly, there is an attempt to create a divide," said Ashu, a shop-owner.

Members of either community are unable to explain why instances of inter-community love affairs are being given a communal spin. "Earlier, if people from two communities got into a relationship that was not accepted by the families, community elders from both sides would sit together and talk. The matter would then be settled with the couple being told to either accept their families or each other. There was never any aggression," said Rashid, another trader in the village.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/VHP-disowns-UP-love-jihad-leaflets/articleshow/42216235.cms