VHP brochures target Sonia

AHMEDABAD, SEPT 2: As the Lok Sabha elections draw near, the battle for the ballot is getting dirtier. Allegations are flying thick and f...

AHMEDABAD, SEPT 2: As the Lok Sabha elections draw near, the battle for the ballot is getting dirtier. Allegations are flying thick and fast and despite the saffron brigade8217;s protestations to the contrary, Congress president Sonia Gandhi8217;s foreigner8217; status is a target.

A set of extremely provocative brochures that have been circulated over the past few days in the Gandhinagar constituency, from where Home Minister L K Advani is contesting, claim that Rahul Gandhi8217;s name has been entered in school registers as Rahul John Paul, Sonia is a devout Catholic, her father had associations with the Italian mafia and Mussolini, and her dreams of becoming the Indian prime minister are a part of a plan masterminded by the Pope to spread Christianity in our country.

Bearing the printline of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad VHP and Allied Offset Printers, the brochure titled Sonia, America and Pope 8212; when will this end?8217; has been distributed in the slums of Chandrabhaga, Shankarbhavan and Khari Vadi, a Scheduled Caste and Hindu-dominated area of daily-wage earners and rag-pickers.

According to the VHP, around four lakh such brochures were printed 15 days ago with the knowledge of the BJP for exclusive pre-election distribution in Gujarat to increase voter awareness and copies have also been sent to Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya and BJP candidate for Ahmedabad seat Harin Pathak.

Another two-sheet brochure titled Hindu Yuvtiyon Sawdhan8217; Beware Hindu women, also brought out by the VHP, warns Hindu Mata Pita8217; parents to beware of Muslim neighbours, colleagues, kiosk holders, ladies garment dealers and cosmetic sellers, who, claims the illustrated leaflet, are on a systematic and planned mission to marry Hindu girls and increase the Muslim population.

8220;Hai Ram! He said he was a Hindu but turned out to be a Muslim,8221; says the voice bubble with the picture of a young girl8217;s tear-stained face; another shows a man in sherwani and beard telling a distraught woman to shut up and threatening, 8220;We8217;ll sell you8221;; and yet another sketch has a woman in a black burkha, surrounded by half-a-dozen children, with the outlined message, 8220;If I marry a Muslim, I8217;ll be like this8221;.

The brochure, which claims that Muslim men 8212; shopkeepers, lawyers, doctors included 8212; are 8220;enticing, coaxing, tricking and abducting8221; Hindu girls by standing outside colleges with motorbikes to make them their 8220;second, third or fourth wives8221;, is printed at Mudra Graphics, Maninagar.

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VHP secretary Kamendrasinh Rathod, who admits that they have published the brochures, claims these are 8220;not provocative8221;. The Hindu girls beware8217; brochure is seeing its third print order in three years, he says. 8220;It is true that the Pope has plans to convert Hindus by using Sonia and our fact-finding cell in Delhi has specific information that one lakh Hindu girls are enticed by Muslim men every year,8221; he says.

While Rathod maintains that the leaflets are being distributed with the knowledge of the BJP, he says the responsibility of doing this rests more with the VHP at the moment since the BJP is busy with elections. 8220;But we have sent copies to Harin Pathak and Pandya; L K Advani should also see it,8221; he adds.