In open defiance of the ban by the city police, the recorded speech of Vishwa Hindu Parishad international working president Praveen Togadia was telecast on LCD screens at the Virat Hindu Samajotsava here on Sunday.
The speech was beamed at the fag end of the controversial programme, appearing to take everyone — including the 1,800-strong policemen and some of the top policemen of the city — by surprise. The speech went on uninterrupted for nearly 12 minutes, amidst slogan shouting by VHP workers, as the police scrambled to stop the screening.
The city police had banned Dr. Togadia’s entry into the city, which was upheld by the High Court of Karnataka. On Saturday, with intelligence reports of the possibility of the speech being delivered through videoconferencing, the police had issued fresh orders banning speech in any form.
Dr. Togadia, in his speech, touched upon the pet issues of the VHP, including the need for a “Constitutional Hindu Rashtra.” He called for more Ghar Wapsi programmes and prevention of “love jihad.” He held forth on the qualities of a “good Hindu”. The full length of the speech (running to 15 minutes and 47 seconds) was later uploaded online.
‘Will initiate action’Bengaluru Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi said that they had “taken note of the violation and legal action would follow”. There would be a case under Section 188 of IPC for defying police orders. However, he declined to comment on whether the case would be booked against Dr. Togadia or the organisers of the event. There were no other untoward incidents around the venue.
Though the programme was expected to attract about 40,000 people, there were only about 8,000 at the venue, according to the police. “The programme that was turning out to be a damp squib suddenly turned around because of the speech,” confessed a police official.
Meanwhile, State VHP secretary T.A.P. Shenoy said that they had “respected High Court order” and “deliberately defied the subsequent Police Commissioner’s order as it was adharma ”.
