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India-Pakistan
Hindu hardliners issue warning against Valentine
2006-02-14
Hardline Hindus burned Valentine’s Day cards on the eve of the year’s most romantic day and warned couples across India against getting too amorous over a ‘foreign’ festival that corrupts traditional values, police said.

Saint ValentineÂ’s Day has become increasingly popular in India in recent years, a trend led by retailers who do healthy business selling heart-shaped balloons and fluffy teddy bears. But the growing popularity of the day in officially secular, but mainly Hindu India has also sparked protests which have sometimes turned violent.

On Monday, dozens of sword-wielding Hindu activists used loudspeakers in the central city of Bhopal to ask couples to stay indoors on Tuesday. “We oppose it (Valentine’s Day) tooth and nail because the concept has come from the West and through it an attempt is being made to spoil Indian culture,” said Devendra Rawat, a spokesman for radical Hindu outfit Bajrang Dal in the city. “Our teams will visit parks frequented by boys and girls and teach them a lesson.” In Mumbai activists of the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Hindu political party, on Sunday vandalised a gift shop. The activists said they would also target hotels and restaurants that offered special romantic deals on Tuesday.
Posted by:Fred

#9  Police on Tuesday detained 39 members of the Shiv Sena and the Bajrang Dal when they staged protests and tried to disrupt Valentine's Day celebrations in the national capital.

The activists staged protests at three different places against Valentine's Day celebrations. Five women were among those detained by police.

Police said around 60 Bajrang Dal activists burnt Valentine's Day cards in the Kamla Nagar market in north Delhi. Police detained four Bajrang Dal members who were later released.

In the central commercial hub of Connaught Place, police detained 35 Shiv Saniks including five women when they tried to stage a protest near a restaurant. They were held for almost two hours before being let off.

Love was in the air as twosomes thronged parks, restaurants and malls in major cities to celebrate Valentine's Day with roses, chocolates and sweet nothings under the stern watch of Hindu hardline groups who tried hard to mar the celebrations.

Lovers were everywhere - holding hands and cosying up in parks and open spaces, meeting in lounges, discotheques, pubs and even parking lots - as flower sellers made a killing with a single rose stalk going for as much as Rs 50 in some places.

It looked as if the Indian heart had wholeheartedly adopted this day as its very own.

"For me the day is too special, since I got my girlfriend on February 14 three years ago. It's a kind of love anniversary for both of us," a beaming Moses Phillip, a young executive in the capital, said.

In Mumbai, couples celebrated the day on a low-key keeping the Shiv Sena protests in mind.

Posted by: john   2006-02-14 16:30  

#8  Just don't tell them that I did up a nice homemade valentine packed with unusual and handmade goodies for me sweetie. No, I did not get her a bowling ball.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2006-02-14 16:14  

#7  These so called activists are quite small in number.
The press makes a big deal out of this every year in their attmept to equate so called fundamentalist hindus with muslims.

Twenty morons break a few shop windows and it makes international news.

Take a look at some of these protests in India. Cameras right up to the front of the group, because there is basically just one line of people. Twenty people in a nation of one billion

They need to find the nearest cow, collect some crap and throw it at these people.
Tell them cowshit is holy so they can't complain.

I don't fear any hindu hardliner concerned about valentine's day. He is an idiot. But he isn't about to kill me or make me convert to his religion.
I don't fear any so called christian hardliner. Pat Robertson may be an ass, but I'm sure he is basically a decent person. He isn't about to force me into anything.

The muslim hardliner, yes I'm afraid of them.
They don't break shop windows, or hold anti-abortion protests. They fly airplanes full of people into buildings.

Posted by: Flolush Thaimble3956   2006-02-14 16:02  

#6  On Monday, dozens of sword-wielding Hindu activists used loudspeakers in the central city of Bhopal to ask couples to stay indoors on Tuesday.

For once, maybe this isn't religious related, but a long-standing effect of the Bhopal explosion years ago? Just tryin' to give the Hindus the benefit of the doubt and not lump 'em in with the muslims.
Posted by: BA   2006-02-14 13:02  

#5  The Hindu's are clever enough to know it's a put up job. A money extrator, but keep an eye on #5 with-a-bullet Secretary's Day.
Posted by: Glaimp Hupung1674   2006-02-14 12:33  

#4  Just keeping up with the Muslims.
Posted by: RWV   2006-02-14 12:25  

#3  Jeebus.....Kama Sutra's ours now, I guess...
fine with me
Posted by: Frank G   2006-02-14 01:03  

#2  Hindus hate it too, huh? Sheesh. Everybody's against a day dedicated to declarations of love - that financially benefit someone else, that is...
Posted by: .com   2006-02-14 00:46  

#1  Guess no cards, jewelry, love notes and chocolats-candies for the Hindu babes this year.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2006-02-14 00:45  

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