India: Buddhist monk seeks PM's intervention in Buddha shrine dispute resolution

Buddhist monk seeks PM's intervention in Buddha shrine dispute resolution

Abdul Qadir,TNN | Apr 30, 2015, 11.53 AM IST

GAYA: Bhadant Pragyasheel, Buddhist monk and former chief priest of the world famous Mahabodhi temple has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to end the century old dispute over management rights of the shrine associated with Buddha's enlightenment.

For nearly 125 years now Hindus and Buddhists are engaged in a tussle over management rights of the shrine. Whereas the Buddhists demand total Buddhist control over the shrine management, outfits like VHP and RSS question Buddhist monopoly over Buddha on the ground that Buddha was not a Buddhist alone deity as Hindus too worship Buddha as a Vishnu incarnate.

In a petition addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bhadant Pragyasheel, who, besides being the former chief priest of the shrine, is also the General Secretary of the All India Buddhist Mahavihar Liberation Action committee, has reiterated the demand for total Buddhist control over the shrine. When Srilankan Buddhist missionary Angarika Dhammapala first raised the demand for Buddhist monopoly over Mahabodhi shrine management in the year 1891, the shrine was the personal property of the chief of the Shivite monastery of Bodh Gaya.

Subsequently, the Bihar govt. incorporated the Mahabodhi Temple Management Act 1949 in which the shrine was to be jointly managed by a nine member committee comprising five Hindus and four Buddhists with the Hindu District Magistrate of Gaya being the ex officio chairman of the committee and in the case of Gaya DM being a non Hindu, the state govt had to nominate a Hindu as the chairman of the committee.

A couple of years back, the Act was amended to make the post of chairman religion neutral and as per the amended act, whatever be the religious belief of the Gaya DM he/she will be the ex officio chairman of the management Committee.

In his petition addressed to PM Modi, the shrine former chief priest has invoked articles 25 and 26 of the constitution guaranteeing religious freedom to the Indian citizens and control of followers of a particular religion over their respective places of worship was there in the spirit of constitution. The Buddhists maintain that as Hindus manage their temples, Muslims manage the mosques and Sikhs manage the Gurudwaras etc. the Buddhists too should have complete management rights over Mahabodhi temple, the seat and symbol of Buddha's enlightenment.

Bhadant Pragyasheel hoped that the PM will do justice to the Buddhists and take the initiative to transfer Buddha shrine management to an all Buddhist Committee instead of the joint Hindu-Buddhist management under the present system.

A few years back the then Bihar Govenor RS Gavai and Acharya Kishore Kunal, Chief of the Bihar Religious Trust Board worked on a formula to resolve the century old dispute. As per the Gavai-Kunal formula, Buddhists were to be given more say in the shrine management with the post of shrine management committee secretary being reserved for the Buddhist. But the formula was abandoned following the premature transfer of Gavai from Bihar to Kerala as Governor.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Buddhist-monk-seeks-PMs-intervention-in-Buddha-shrine-dispute-resolution/articleshow/47106246.cms

Bodh Gaya Blasts: Terrorist Violence and Political Agenda

Bodh Gaya Blasts: Terrorist Violence and Political Agenda

Ram Puniyani

Since last two decades terrorist violence has been added on to the weapons for polarizing communities along religious lines. In Mumbai for example, we first witnessed the major blasts in the wake of 92-93 post demolition violence, then blasts in the aftermath of Gujarat carnage of 2002 and then 26/11 2008 attack from Kasab and company. This shows the multifaceted nature, many causative factors, of terrorist violence. In the similar vein, the country as a whole witnessed regular repeated violence with loss of lots of lives. In the all India chain of terror attacks, starting from attack on Sankat Mochan temple, Malegaon, blasts, Ajmer, Mecca masjid etc. so many incidents shook the country. The investigation of these attacks is another story mostly it has been guided by biases. Also since the investigation is mired in mystery, many a kite flying about the etiology, the causative factors and the identity of terrorists involved has become a routines story by now. Each commentator and political tendency riding on their own hobby horses as far as the identity of the personnel involved in acts of terror is concerned.

Nine blasts hit the Bodh Gaya holy shrine (8th July 2013). Fortunately the damage to lives was not there; only two monks incurred some injury. Immediately after the blasts the statement came that these blasts have been done by Indian Mujahidin operatives to take revenge of atrocities by Buddhists on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. This is by now a routine pattern that after every blast such statements have been made about involvement of some Pakistan based or group with Muslin identity and later some other truth, involvement of the ilk of Swami Aseemanand for example, has regularly emerged. There was a strong suspicion amongst those who have been following the acts of terror from critical angle that Bodh Gaya terror act might have something to do with Neetish Kumar walking out of NDA since Modi was appointed as the campaign committee chief by BJP for 2014 parliamentary elections. In an address to Bihar BJP workers Modi did talk of ‘teaching Neetish Kumar a lesson’. One knows that Modi is likely to be projected as the next Prime Ministerial candidate from the BJP side. As far as Indian Mujahideen, which is the first organization to be named by some investigation agencies and immediately lapped up by BJP family, is concerned many doubts have been raised about its role, its controllers and so on. Same way SIMI has been the major whipping horse so far, from the side of investigation agencies. SIMI was banned also. But when the ban was challenged, Justice Lata Mittal Tribunal found no reason to ban it. In popular perception this has been sunk deeply that SIMI is a terror outfit. The operatives of the type of Kasab have been different cup of poison, dancing to the tune of Pakistan army and Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda itself was a product of US policies to counter the Russian occupation in Afghanistan.

This Al Qaeda impact on the investigation agencies had been so strong that the American media’s coining of the phrase ‘Islamic Terrorism’, in the wake of 9/11 WTC attack was converted into the dictum, ‘All Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims’ by communal forces and part of the media. This was the leading understanding of Indian investigation agencies in the wake of most of the terror blasts in India. Starting from the Nanded blast of April 2006 to the blasts in Malegaon, Mecca’s Masjid, Ajmer and Samjhauta Express, the same principle was applied by the biased investigation agencies and led to the arrests of hundreds of innocent Muslims ruining their careers for good and demonizing the community as a whole. This also led to the process, which is still on, fake encounters of Muslim youth, on different pretexts. BJP ruled Gujarat led the pack in this direction and youth like Ishrat Jahan were killed in cold blood; the alibi given was these terrorists, associated with Pakistan based terror groups have come to kill the Gujarat Chief Minister Narnedra Modi. Many a youth were done to death and lately with some investigations taking a proper direction, many a police officers, who are acolytes of Modi are currently cooling their heals in jails. Hemant Karkare played a very crucial role in partly reversing this trend, when during the course of Malegaon blast he could successfully catch the culprits, despite great opposition from the leaders of Hindutva stable, the likes of Bal Thackeray and Narendra Modi labeling Karkare as Deshdrohi (Anti National).

In case of Bodh Gaya tragedy the association of this blast with Myanmar incidents seems to be a deliberate propaganda to polarize the communities. More so this is also aimed to pitch the Buddhists against Muslims. It has already been propagated loudly and section of media is making this as the base of their banner stories. From BJP camp, many of whose associates are currently in jail for allegedly being involved in acts of terror, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that “The media is saying that they (the perpetrators in the bakery case) had done recce of the temple at Bodh Gaya. There were warnings but no precaution was taken.” And that Bihar Government failed to take any preventing action. Here, there is a clear hint to link the blasts with Mynmar tragic events. In contrast Congress spokesperson Digvijaya Singh says that such statements are an attempt to polarize the communities and the non BJP Governments have to be more careful, more so Niteesh Kumar.

It is true that BJP has in mind the forthcoming elections. By projecting Modi as the main contender to lead the party, it has already alienated many an allies. So it has to ensure that it should get more seats. It also knows that communal polarization is the best ladder for it to ascend to the seat of power. So far communal violence has been the major polarizing factor. As communal violence went up, the electoral strength of BJP also went up. With the rise of terrorist violence, BJP has also used terrorist violence to polarize the communities along religious lines, leading to further the good harvest in the electoral fields. Why can’t we wait till the investigations lead to some conclusions about ‘who did it’? The early speculations are fraught with dangers. Linking it up with atrocities on Rohingiya Muslims’ will further alienate them and make them more vulnerable. We have seen such speculations have tormented the Muslim community to no end in the wake of so many terror attacks in different parts of the country. One concedes that there has to be a working hypothesis in investigations. Such working hypothesis when biased and probably ‘non professional’ leads to the vulnerable sections being subjected to atrocities of the highest order. One major aspect which is being underplayed is the person Vinod Mistry, a carpenter, whose ID card and bag were found on the spot. In the bag was the robe of a Buddhist monk. What is the inference of this? Rihai Manch a Forum for release of innocent Muslims in jails on the charges of terror attacks, points out "the manner in which one finds mention of a name called Vinod Mistry in this case and the way in which we are finding that clothes normally worn by Buddhist monks were discovered from his possession and the manner in which letters in Urdu were discovered from the temple, it rather vindicates that it was an attempt to stage 'Malegaon' in Bodhgaya where fake beard was found out and where due to wrong/biased inputs many innocent Muslims were lodged in jail for quite some time till real culprits belonging to RSS were discovered"

In Indian political chessboard, the organizations taking inspiration from the ‘Hindu nation’ ideology; have been at the forefront in so many acts of terror, Swami Aseemanand, Swami Dayanand, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and company. The mistaken hypothesis, ‘All Terrorists are Muslims’ kept protecting them and deflecting the line to investigation in wrong directions. What is needed is an unbiased objective approach. While it is unfortunate that the holy place associated with Lord Gautama Buddha has been targeted, one also feels that a professional unbiased investigation should be undertaken and guilty punished. What is also needed that the baseless linking of this terror attack to Rohingya Muslims be shunned till the investigations reveal something substantive.

Bodh Gaya attack - Modi's revenge in in Bihar ?

Narendra Modi: the real time avenger and his revenge, Bodh Gaya attack

by Mustafa Khan

Saturday July 6th 2013: Narendra Modi in his dark ominous threat that
he would teach a lesson to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for
breaking the alliance with Hindu party BJP coincided with Modi’s
handpicked Amit Shah’s visit to Ayodhya. The very next day nine bombs
went off at Bodh Gaya site of Buddhism’s holiest shrine. This real
time avenging of what Modi perceived as betrayal by Nitish Kumar
should not surprise anyone unless he is a pretender or very credulous.
It is Modi’s heart of darkness that is fore grounded again. He had
told the police and administrative officers of his state in the late
night meeting of February 27, 2002 that he wanted the Hindus to take
revenge for the fire on the Sabarmati Express train early that day.
The police should not take action. From the next day there was a shut
down all over the state and he had joined it. He extracted full
revenge for three days. He also took revenge upon Ahsan Jafri for
opposing him in the election he fought early that month whose result
gave him victory only a couple of days before the fire incident. His
home minister Haren Pandya had refused to vacate his Ellisbrigde
constituency so he had to fight from Jamnager area. He refused to give
ticket to Pandya in the following election. When Pandya disclosed his
ominous instructions to the police to the people’s tribunal judges he
avenged it within months of winning the assembly elections of December
2002.

Even more ominous is that Modi dares to teach lessons to minorities at
will and no one can stop him. Even his mentors Advani and Vajpayee
failed. The basic source of his hate ideology of the Hindutva precedes
Jan Sangh and BJP. Now that Muslims of Gujarat and elsewhere in India
have learnt some lesson what about the Buddhists?

Kishwar Jagtap of Bharat Bachao Andolan accused Modi of provoking
riots between Muslims and Buddhists over Bodh Gaya terrorist attack.
He also said that on August 9 they would organize along with other
organizations Bharat Chodo Andolan or Quit India movement in which
they would protest against the Rashtraiya Swayamsevak Sangh
headquarters at Nagpur and demand the RSS to leave India. There is a
string of organizations joining the move; Bodh Bachao Andolan, Marathi
Bharti Sanghatna, Vahini Phule Ambedkar Vichar Manch, Yuva Sarkar,
Muslim Panther and Chiranjeeve. These groups also resent how the
Brahamins have appropriated the Maha Vihar temple. 1

The arrest of Vindo Mistry along with the monk robe and letter in Urdu
he had is the earliest sign that it was Nanded and Malegaon replayed
with the target changed, from Muslims to Buddhists. This would mean
that those who targeted the temple in Gaya were from the Hindutva
group. 2

Their motivation is very clear. They wanted to ignite the Buddhists’
ire over the incident so that they engage in confrontation with the
Muslims. Right from day one the security agencies have blamed the
Indian Mujahideen but without any proof. The clearest hint of the
Hindutva strategy comes from the editorial of Saamna dated July 9,
2013. It described the central government as “namard sarkar” or
impotent government. And the attack was on the impotent government
rather than the monks. Namard sarkar war halla. It also leaves no one
in doubt as to the reason why Modi wanted to teach a lesson to Nitish
Kumar. It shows the evil full nature of Modi. Jawad cha mitr jeonwha
dushman banto tehowha teyache wair hey sagdeyat bheyankar asto.
“When the intimate friend turns enemy then his enmity is the most
dangerous.” The threat of Modi is the proof. The Hindutva ideology of
the Saamna is unmistakably there: inducement to violence. Bodhgayet
sphot ghadwun musalmani atirekyani bodhyanchi mathi bhadkwanyachey
kaam keley aahe.”By exploding bombs in Bodh Gaya the Muslim extremists
have tried to inflame the minds of the Buddhists.” And then the core
of Hindutva article of faith that violence is and must be used to
tackle the Muslims. Khare ter ya deshat aahinsey cha kewnha mudla
padla aahey. “In this country in fact the dead body of violence has
long been buried.” The logical conclusion is that violence should be
revived. In the present case the Buddhists must kill Muslims. This
strategy of the Hindutva did not work in practice as it did in Gujarat
2002 because it was well prepared in advance. Bihar has had no chance
for the Hindutva to mount such a concerted attack on Muslims even in
the Newtonian law as understood by Modi.

Bodh Gaya attack is a clear instance in the strategic study of the
Hindutva tactics in instigating violence.


-------
1. Urdu Times July 8, 2013.
2.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/nia-questions-man-for-bodh-gaya-blasts/article4894131.ece
3. Saamna July 9, 2013

--
Mustafa Khan
Malegaon, Maharashtra
Phone (2554) 236370
http://commonalty.blogspot.com/

India: Bodhgaya Bomb Blasts - Moving Beyond the 'Usual Suspects'

by subhash gatade

I.
Encore !
Mr Praveen Swamy has 'discovered' the 'usual suspects' once again.
Narrating .'[t]he same old, depressing story of incompetence and apathy' behind the Bodh Gaya bombings he has shared with the readers how "[I]ndia’s police and intelligence services knew there were plots to attack the temple." and how ".. jihadists quite publicly announced they intended to attack Buddhist targets. ..From January, government sources have told Firstpost, the Intelligence Bureau had issued several warnings pointing to heightened risks to Buddhist religious targets in India, as a consequence of anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar." ((http://www.firstpost.com/india/bodh-gaya-bombings-why-were-so-many-warnings-ignored-935233.html)
Of course, after giving enough hints about who the perpetrators could be, he has been careful enough to add - supposedly to maintain objectivity of his profession that
"It’s too early to come to conclusions on who the perpetrators might have been—unlike Internet conspiracy theorists, who’ll be blaming everyone from Islamists to the intelligence services themselves in coming hours. Criminal investigators need evidence, not guesses about motives. There are some pieces of evidence already available, though."
Readers of his erstwhile employer namely 'The Hindu' group of publications can vouch that it is not for the first time that he has done it. They have been witness to his similar write ups, providing enough juicy details of the cross-border connections of these terrorists, after every such terror attack. It is a different matter that later it turned out that many of these write ups were pure work of fiction as it was discovered that the actual perpetrators were Hindutva terrorists only. e.g. Any independent reader can see for herself/himself what Praveen Swamy had written about say Mecca Masjid blasts, Ajmer Sharief blasts and Samjhauta Express bomb blasts (all in the Year 2007) and what were the conclusions of the investigators later.
Any cursory glance at the media scene in this country can make it clear that Praveen Swami is not an exception.
It is important to remember this fact because with the bomb blast at Bodh Gaya, the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have obtained Enlightenment and which is the most important of the main four pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha - the remaining being Lumbini, Sarnath and Kushinagar - the whole debate around terrorism has entered a much difficult terrain.
II
One expects added caution on part of any of the experts / commentators for another important reason as well. It has been widely reported how in two of our neighbouring countries - namely Burma and Sri Lanka - Buddhist extremists have unleashed a wave of terror against the hapless Muslims. And any such news without proper confirmation that Bodh Gaya, has come under attack of Jihadi terrorists, can make matters more difficult for the minority Muslims there.
According to conservative estimates more than ten thousand people - mostly Muslims have died in Burma where a campaign of ethnic cleansing is underway since 2012 (http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/22/burma-end-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims), The 153-page report brought out by Human Rights Watch , '‘All You Can Do is Pray’: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State,” describes the role of the Burmese government and local authorities in the forcible displacement of more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims and the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Burmese officials, community leaders, and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged ethnic Arakanese backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim neighborhoods and villages in October 2012 to terrorize and forcibly relocate the population. The tens of thousands of displaced have been denied access to humanitarian aid and been unable to return home.
A newspaper like 'Guardian' had done a story on ' Buddhist monk uses racism and rumours to spread hatred in Burma' (18 April 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/18/buddhist-monk-spreads-hatred-burma)
"His name is Wirathu, he calls himself the "Burmese Bin Laden" and he is a Buddhist monk who is stoking religious hatred across Burma.
The saffron-robed 45-year-old regularly shares his hate-filled rants through DVD and social media, in which he warns against Muslims who "target innocent young Burmese girls and rape them", and "indulge in cronyism"..."
...
"Rising to prominence in 2001, when he created a nationalist campaign to boycott Muslim businesses, Wirathu was jailed for 25 years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim hatred but freed in 2010 under a general amnesty.
Since his release, Wirathu has gone back to preaching hate. Many believe his words inspired the fighting last June between Buddhists and ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, where 200 people were killed and more than 100,000 displaced."

Or look at Sri Lanka, emboldened by the suppression of the Tamil nationality struggle more than three years back, the Sinhala Buddhist extremists, who happen to be the main pillar of President Mahinda Rajapakse, have begun to persecute country's Muslim minority. An outfit named Bodu Bala Sena (BBS - ‘the Army of Buddhist Power’), formed last July in Colombo, is engaged in systematically demonising Muslims, accusing them of eroding Sri Lanka’s Buddhist heritage. And as one witnesses violence has been promised unto the Muslims. The stray examples described below are an indicator in which directions winds are blowing. Way back in January, right wing Sinhala groups stormed a Law College in Colomb, claiming that its examination results were doctored to favour Muslims
They have called for mosques and dargahs to be razed, ostensibly for being situated too close to Buddhist temples; in the ancient capital of Anuradhapura, during one of these demolition drives, a photographer captured a monk burning a green Islamic pennant that he had pulled out of a dargah’s rubble. The Bodu Bala Sena has closed down Muslim-owned butcheries, attacked a popular Muslim-owned clothing store in Colombo, and forced the government to ban the certification of halal meat; other groups have painted pigs on the walls of mosques. In the town of Dambulla last year, when the chief priest of a local Buddhist temple led a protest to “relocate” a mosque, he warned in the process: “Today we came with a Buddhist flag in hand. But the next time, it will be different.”
(See more at: http://caravanmagazine.in/perspectives/spoils-victory)
III.
A point worth consideration is to look at this particular blast in a more detached way and see for oneself who 'gains' from a 'blast' at this juncture.
Let us take a trip down memory lane and see for oneself what one wants to convey. The Samjhauta Express bomb blast occurred in February 2007 which killed more than 67 people, mostly Pakistanis and which was initially blamed on Islamic terrorists and which was later discovered to be the handiwork of Hindutva terrorists. One may recall that foreign secretary of Pakistan was to reach India merely two days after the tragic blasts and there were news in the paper that the peace process between India and Pakistan would get a new boost with this visit. As expected this bomb blast and the consequent blame game, had a very negative impact on the peace overtures. Thus we can infer that those forces who were opposed to normalisation of relations between the two countries were to 'benefit' from this incident.
Coming to the present juncture, one can see that the saffron camp, despite appointment of its 'most successful Chief Minister' as campaign committee chief, finds itself on the defensive on various fronts.
Forget the Rambo act of 'rescuing' 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand which added enough egg on their face, or their internal infighting evident to everyone with one of its topmost leaders sending his resignation from different posts as he found himself marginalised in the party ; at political level, it stands further isolated because of Nitish Kumar's exit from NDA and the BJP led alliance getting reduced to merely a three party alliance, with no new entrants ready to join this faltering ship. Perhaps the big news is the ongoing investigation in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case under the supervision of the Gujarat highcourt, which has led to the unprecedented situation where many IPS level officers of the Gujarat cadre have been chargesheeted and one amongst them is found to be absconding and the possibility that in its supplementary chargsheet few of the political leaders involved in the case getting targeted. One of the accused DIG Vanzara, who is lodged in jail since 2007 for his role in Sohrabuddin encounter case, is reported to have said that he has talked to Safed Dhadi ( white beard supposedly referring to Narendra Modi) and black Dhadi ( black beard supposedly referring to his close confidant Amit Shah) about this particular ‘operation’. In fact, one of the witnesses to the case, who happens to be a police officer himself in his statement before a magistrate under article 164 which is admissible as evidence is reported to have made such a statement.
To summarise while 24 7 journos have finally 'declared' that the perpetrators are 'Jihadis' just on the basis of few statements made by Al Qaeda or Hafeez Saeed or some IB alerts ( which itself has come under cloud because of the inputs in provided for Ishrat encounter), an alternate reading of the whole act looks more plausible. Look at the various terror acts since last few years and see how they could dramatically change the discourse. And with planners and masterminds of the Hindutva terror still roaming free, it seems possible that some such Hindutva terrorists or some rogue Pracharak (wholetimer) from the RSS fraternity who have gathered enough experience in the last decade by their involvement in various terror acts, could have put his expertise to use in this particular case with due help rendered by some similar rogue elements from the IB, which also finds itself on the defensive in the Ishrat Jahan case.
Perhaps a newsitem which appeared in mainstream media could be pointer to the unfolding conspiracy.
A day after serial blasts rocked the Mahabodhi temple complex in Bihar’s Gaya district, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday interrogated one person detained in connection with the incident. A team of the central agency arrived in Gaya to investigate the case.
Based on a bag found in the temple premises, the police detained Vinod Mistri, resident of the Barachatti block in Gaya. “Vinod was picked up based on certain information. His photo identity card was found in the temple premises,” Abhayanand, Director General of Police, told reporters here. Deputy Inspector General of Police Nayyar Hasnain Khan told The Hindu that Vinod is a carpenter who made small furniture.
The bag found contained a monk’s robe, a piece of paper with some mobile numbers, medical papers and a voter identity card belonging to Vinod. “He is not a monk. So the NIA is investigating why he was carrying the robe,” a police source told The Hindu...
(NIA questions man for Bodh Gaya blasts, Patna, 8 July 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/nia-questions-man-for-bodh-gaya-blasts/article4894131.ece)

The press statement released by 'Rihai Manch' - a forum for the Release of Innocent Muslims Imprisoned in the name of Terrorism, which is on Dharna (sit in) in front of UP assembly for the last fifty days to bring Khalid Mujahid's killers to justice - who was killed in police custody - tries to join the dots and points to a conspiracy hatched by the 'Hindutva brigade in association with IB' to wriggle itself out of the mess in which it finds itself.
According to their press release ".the manner in which one finds mention of a name called Vinod Mistry in this case and the way in which we are finding that clothes normally worn by Buddhist monks were discovered from his possession and the manner in which letters in Urdu were discovered from the temple, it rather vindicates that it was an attempt to stage 'Malegaon' in Bodhgaya where fake beard was found out and where due to wrong/biased inputs many innocent Muslims were lodged in jail for quite sometime till real culprits belonging to RSS were discovered"
Posing a question 'why Hindutva terror groups were kept out of this investigation' it pointed out the duplicity of IB in no uncertain terms. According to them while investigating agencies have no qualms in stigmatising 'Girls Islamic Organisation' active in Maharashtra as a 'terrorist organisation' and are later forced to eat their words but turn a blind eye to the 'open arms training undertaken by Durga Vahini, an affiliated organisation of RSS, many of whose activists have been found to be involved in terror acts and are languishing in jail.'
Would it be asking for too much that a thorough investigation be done in this case and not only the pawns involved in the case but their patrons are also apprehended.

India: Condemnation of Blasts in Bodhgaya by Religious Leaders and Peace Activists

Press Release

Condemnation of Blasts in Bodhgaya by Religious Leaders and Peace Activists from Across India

We the undersigned are horrified by the serial bomb blasts in Bodhgaya, Bihar, in the early hours of 7th July 2013 in which 3 persons are injured and fortunately there are no reports of loss of life or damage to the holy shrine. We are deeply pained and shocked by this heinous terror attack on a place of worship of great spiritual and historical significance targeting innocent people and unequivocally condemn this dastardly act of crime against humanity.

Speculation has already started that this attack could be in retaliation for the attacks on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. We urge that all such speculations should be discouraged till such time as proper investigations are conducted and the identity of culprits is firmly established as this could be used to target the Muslim community in India, to gain political polarisation before the forth coming general elections, and also to unleash a new wave of violence against the Muslims in Myanmar who are already suffering grave violence and untold sufferings for years and lakhs had to flee Myanmar to save their lives over the past years. This mindless action, God forbidding, may also make scores of Rogingya refugees around the world vulnerable and open to retaliatory attacks in different countries where they have taken refuge.

We appeal to people in India and across the world to view this terror attack as an action by some misguided criminals and not to consider this as an act of vengeance by the Rohingya community or Muslims in general. We also urge the government to initiate a speedy, professional and thorough probe to apprehend the culprits and expose and punish both the perpetrators and conspirators of this dreadful act.

Mr. Mahesh Bhatt, Film Maker, Mumbai

Swami Agnivesh, Arya Samaj, New Delhi

Dr. Mazher Hussain, COVA, Hyderabad

Dr. D. Yadiah, Boudhik Pramukh, All India Samata Sainik Dal

Dr. Binayak Sen, PUCL,

Kamla Bhasin, New Delhi

Maulana Syed Shah Hamid Hussain Shutari, All India Sunni Ulema Board

Fr. Dominic Emmanuel, Delhi Catholic Church, New Delhi

Dr. Ram Punyani, All India Secular Forum, Mumbai

Dr. Zafar Mahmood, Zakat Foundation, New Delhi

Prof. Ilina Sen, TISS, Mumbai

Prof. Hasan Mansoor, PUCL, Bangaluru

Dr. Sandeep Panday, ASHA, Lucknow

Mr. A. Faizur Rahman, Islamic Forum for Promotion of Moderate Thought, Chennai

Sardar Nanak Singh Nishtar, COVA, Hyderabad

Mr. Iqbal Ahmad Engineer, Center for Peace and True Message, Hyderabad

Facebook post by Feroze Mithiborwala & Kishore Jagtap on attack on Buddhist Temple in Bodh Gaya

False-Flag Terror attack on the Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar!!
http://www.hastakshep.com/english/opinion/2013/07/07/false-flag-terror-attack-buddhist-mahabodhi-temple-bihar#.UdkjUnBlaMQ

Bihar: blasts rock Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya

The Times of India

Terror strikes Bodh Gaya, serial blasts rock Mahabodhi Temple
Law Kumar Mishra & Abdul Qadir, TNN | Jul 7, 2013, 12.14 PM IST

GAYA: Terror struck the temple town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar, as nine serial explosions rocked the Mahabodhi Temple complex on Sunday morning.

Two tourists, including a monk from Myanmar, have been injured in the blasts. The injured are being treated at the Anugrah Narain Magadh Medical College hospital.

Union home secretary Anil Goswami confirmed that the Bodh Gaya blasts were a terror attack.

Bihar Police suspect the involvement of Indian Mujahideen in the temple blasts.

According to Gaya Police, the blasts took place in quick succession between 5.30am and 6am in the temple complex and near the Mahabodhi tree. One blast was reported from a bus stand.

One of the blasts took place just under the enlightenment tree causing partial damage to the Buddha footprints in the shrine premises.

Four blasts took place inside the shrine premises, while another three blasts took place in the Tregar monastery premises. The Tregar monastery belongs to the Karmapa, the second most important spiritual leader.

One blast each took place at the great Buddha statue and a bus parked on the Sujata bypass.

Arvind Singh, a member of Mahabodhi Temple Management Commitee said two other bombs, one near the 80 feet statue and one at bus stand have been defused.

Zonal IG Sushil Khopade confirmed eight blasts.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar reached Bodh Gaya to take stock of the situation. He took a round of the Mahabodhi Temple complex and held a meeting with the officials.

BJP activists led by former minister Prem Kumar greeted Nitish Kumar with 'go back' slogans outside the temple main gate.

JD(U) workers present there raised pro-Nitish slogans and countered the protesting BJP workers.

Cops have sealed the entry routes to the shrine. A NIA team is expected to arrive shortly for the probe.

"A team of NIA officers is coming to Bodh Gaya from Kolkata," DIG special branch Parasnath said.

The DIG said, "The sanctum sanctorum of the Mahabodhi Temple is intact. The temple premises have been sanitised."

The secretary of the Bodh Gaya committee Dorji said, "There were four blasts inside the temple premises. Fortunately, there was no damage to the Bodhi Tree or the main temple structure."

"In the first blast which took place near the Bodhi tree, a table was blown up because of which two persons were injured. The second blast, I think, was inside the enclosure where books were kept. The furniture was damaged but there was no damage to the monuments or statues," he said.

Asked about the nature of explosives used, S K Bharadwaj, ADG (Law and Order) said they were low intensity time bombs.

He said, "We got information about six-seven months back that there may be a terror attack on the Mahabodhi temple. After that we had beefed up secuirty and deployed extra forces".

Bodh Gaya Buddhist temple, around 10 km from Gaya and 100 km from capital Patna, is world famous. Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment here under the Mahabodhi tree in the temple premises.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama makes frequent trips to Bodh Gaya and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had visited it six months back. A total of 52 countries have established their monasteries here.

(With inputs from PTI)

Public Interest Litigation against the Bodh Gaya Temple Act 1949

(from: The Sikkim Times, Published on the Buddhist Channel March 27, 2012)

Darjeeling, India -- Shri WANGDI TSHERING s/o Late Shri Mingyur Tshering, aged 77 years and a faithful follower of Buddhism has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India for handing over the management of The Bodh Gaya Temple over to the hands of Buddhists as The Bodh Gaya Temple Act 1949 which expressly vests control of the most sacred temple of the Buddhists into the hands of Hindus is ultra vires Article 25, 26, 29 and 30 of the Constitution of India.

The PIL filed by Shri Wangdi Tshering through Advocate Shri J P Dhanda has been listed for hearing on 13-02-2012 in the Honorable Supreme Court of India.

The Bodh Gaya Temple in the state of Bihar is the holiest place for all the Buddhists for it was here that Lord Buddha attained enlightenment and is regarded as the birthplace of Buddhism religion. It can be called the Mecca of Buddhism but this very sacred temple is controlled by Hindus by way of The Bodh Gaya Temple Act 1949. That in the past Buddhists, Devotees, Monks and common people from all over India agitated in Bodh Gaya for many years against the illegality of The Bodh Gaya Temple Act 1949 with even self immolation bids by monks but to no avail. Therefore, it was realized that no Government agency or the authorities that be are going to redress this illegality and grievance of the Buddhists.

The petitioner, Shri Wangdi Tshering who is a public spirited person, an old Buddhist as also an educated man felt deeply the injuries caused to the feelings of the Buddhists. At the same time the petitioner realized that it is a public cause and individuals cannot make much efforts much beyond what has already been made by way of agitations. It was in these circumstances and for the common cause the petitioner has knocked the doors of the Apex Court by way of a Public Interest Litigation.

The relevant provisions of The Bodh Gaya Temple Act 1949 being challenged are as given below :

That the section 3(1) of the Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949 reads:-

3(1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this the 1 (State) Government shall constitute a committee as hereinafter provided and entrust it with the management and control of the temple land and the properties appertaining thereto.

3(2) The committee shall consist of a Chairman and 8 members nominated by the (1) (State) Government, all of whom shall be Indians and of whom four shall be Buddhists and 4 shall be Hindus including the Mahanth.

Provided that if the Mahanth is a minor or of unsound mind or refuses to serve on the committee, another Hindu Member shall be nominated in his place.

3(3) The District Magistrate of Gaya shall be the Ex- Officio Chairman of the committee: Provided that the 1 (State) Government shall nominate a Hindu as Chairman of the committee for the period during which the District Magistrate of Gaya is non-Hindu.

Articles of The Constitution of India which are hit by The Bodh Gaya Temple Act 1949 are as given below :

Article 25 : Because the Right to Freedom of Religion is a Fundamental Right as enshrined in Article 25 of the Constitution of India. Article 25 (1) Guarantees to every person, and not merely to the citizens of India, the freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.

Because under Article 25 of the Constitution of India the rituals and observances, ceremonies and modes of worship considered by religion to be its integral and essential part are also secured.

Article 26 : Because Article 26 of the Constitution of India provides freedom to manage religious affairs. It reads- Subject to the public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right:

a. to establish and maintain institution for religious and charitable purposes;

b. to manage its own affairs in matters of religion;

c. to own and acquire moveable and immovable property;

d. to administer such property in accordance with law.

Because the Article 26 of the Constitution of India deals with a particular aspect of the religious freedom. Under this Article every religious denomination or a section of it has the guaranteed right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes and to manage in its own way all affairs in matters of religion. Rights are also given to such
denomination or a section of it to acquire and own moveable and immovable properties and to administer such properties in accordance with law.

Article 29 : Because Article 29 of the Constitution of India provides protection of Interests of minorities. As indicated above Buddhist Community is a minority community and its interests are requested to be protected. But the particular provisions i.e., Section 3 (3) of the The
Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949 is ultravires the provisions of the Constitution of India under Article 25, 26 and 27.

Article 30 : Because Article 30 of the Constitution of India provides Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. The Buddhist community is a minority community and as the protection of their rights to establish and administer the Educational Institutions similarly the Buddhist community has a right to head their own places of worship
like the Bodhgaya Temple. But the great injustice is being perpetrated as the section 3 (3) of the Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949 ultravires the Constitution. It provides that a Hindu instead of Buddhist will be the Chairman of the Bodhgaya Temple.

Hence Shri Wangdi Tshering has approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court with a prayer to:

a. issue an appropriate writ /order or direction directing the quashing of Section 3(3) of the The Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949;

b. issue an appropriate writ/order or direction directing that the Head of the Bodh Gaya Temple will be a Buddhist and not a Hindu;

c. issue an appropriate writ/order or direction directing the necessary amendment in the The Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949 in Section 3(3) substituting the Chairman of the Committee administering the Bodhgaya Temple as a Buddhist and not a Hindu;

d. issue an appropriate order or direction for handing over the management of the Bodh Gaya Temple including the Mahabodhi Tree and Vajrasan as defined in section 2 of the Bodhgaya Temple Act 1949 to the Buddhists.