‘Indian hostages beheaded’ – news may plunge India into a total communal riot and violence!
Sudhir Chadda, Special Correspondent
July 24, 2004

The world has to come together in making sure that the Indian hostages are not harmed in Iraq. Vishva Hindu Parishad – the Hindu counter part of Muslim League announced today that the Congress-led UPA government has committed to "criminal negligence" and "insensitive" approach over the issue of three Indian hostages in Iraq. The VHP said the "entire Hindu society will not keep quiet if anything happens to the kidnapped Indians." "The VHP will resort to democratic protest if the government fails to protect the hostages ... and the Center will be responsible for the backlash," VHP international general secretary Praveen Togadia told a news conference.

India has the second largest Muslim population but the Muslims are minorities. The three hostages are not Muslim and beheading them will cause communal violence of proportion that will dwarf what the world has seen in Iraq and elsewhere. 

The Government is sort of helpless. However, UPA Government in aligning itself to the non-Hindus has taken very bad step. This allows VHP and RSS to take this matter up and make a big roar.

Government has to take precautionary measures in case the hostages are beheaded. After Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s assassination, one thousand Sikhs were killed. A similar episode can unfold in case of Hindu beheading in Iraq!

Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh for "playing down the incident," Togadia said the Centre has "failed" to initiate any concrete step to release the hostages. The firebrand VHP leader did not spare even the opposition BJP saying "both the ruling party and the opposition would have swung into action had the hostages been Muslims." Togadia also lashed out at the UPA's move to do away with POTA, saying "by withdrawing POTA, the Center is indirectly supporting `jehadi'' terrorists." On the Andhra Pradesh Government's move to introduce reservations for minority community, Togadia said the VHP will resort to country-wide protest in a democratic manner and would oppose the proposal legally as well. The AP government has opened a "Pandora’s box" by its announcement for Muslims, which is in "violation of the spirit of the Constitution and a Supreme Court ruling over reservation", he said.