|
Hindu party pulls anti-Islam CD
05/04/2007 19:20 - (SA)
New Delhi - India's opposition Hindu nationalist party apologised for and withdrew a set of CDs on Thursday that allegedly denigrated the country's Muslim minority.
The release of the CDs by the Bharatiya Janata Party two days ago triggered a political backlash against the party as it gears up for voting in the northern Uttar Pradesh state legislature elections beginning on Friday.
"We have committed a mistake. Its circulation has been stopped with immediate effect," Lalji Tandon, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, said from Lucknow, the state capital.
The Indian Express newspaper reported on Thursday that the CDs questioned the integrity of Muslims and said that their loyalties were with India's long-time rival, Muslim-dominated Pakistan, and alleged that teachers at madrassas (Islamic religious schools) in India preached hatred toward the majority Hindus.
The discs could not immediately be tracked down.
Voting for the Uttar Pradesh state legislature begins on April 6 and will end on May 11.
'Hindu-Muslim clashes'
Muslims comprise nearly 16% of the state's 180 million people, and Hindu-Muslim clashes often have flared up there.
In 1992, thousands of Hindu nationalists tore down a 16th century mosque in the Uttar Pradesh town of Ayodhya, using spades, crowbars and their bare hands, replacing it with a makeshift Hindu temple.
That sparked Hindu-Muslim clashes throughout India.
Hindu nationalists say Muslims built the mosque on land regarded as the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama.
Muslims reject this, and both sides are in a lengthy court battle over a small part of the sprawling 32-hectare complex.
Tandon said he had released the CDs on Tuesday without first seeing their contents.
He said: "We have no hesitation in apologising for their contents."
'Spreading poison'
Ram Saran Das, a spokesperson for the governing Socialist Party, accused the BJP of stoking Hindu-Muslim tensions to win Hindu votes in the elections.
V P Singh, a former Indian prime minister, urged India's independent Election Commission to stop the BJP from contesting the elections.
"The party is spreading poison," said Singh.
- SAPA
|
News
