LIVE TV
India
Recommended Stories
Kolkata: The Vishva Hindu Parishad and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday organised 'Shastra Puja' (weapon worship) in various blocks and districts in West Bengal on Vijaydashmi, informed sources said.
The ritual was held mostly indoors and at some places within enclosed premises, the sources said.
While the RSS said it held the ritual at held at all its units in Bengal as done every year, the VHP leadership claimed it was held at more than 300 places in the state to "organise the awakening of the Hindus".
"The RSS celebrates the occasion of Vijaydashmi throughout the country wherein Shastra Pujan is also observed as it is also our foundation day. The ritual was held in nearly 5,000 places in Bengal this year," Jushnu Basu, RSS General Secretary, south Bengal, told IANS.
"Worship of weapons has been held in India for several years. The West Bengal government is trying to divert people's attention by making an issue out of it because they are constantly taking steps to curtail the fundamental rights of the Hindus in the state," he claimed.
The VHP said there was renewed enthusiasm among the state's Hindus, centring on the 'Shastra Pujan Vidhi' following the controversy surrounding the ritual.
"The majority community is not getting justice in Bengal. They are being harassed. If this continues we will organise more elaborate rituals like this in future," VHP state Secretary Sachindranath Singha told IANS.
He said the VHP organised the ritual on Saturday at 15 places in the city.
