Ahead of Valentine’s Day, members of the Shiv Sena in Muzaffarnagar conducted a ‘lathi puja’ on Sunday and declared that sticks would come in handy to ‘teach a lesson’ to couples.
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, members of the Shiv Sena in Muzaffarnagar conducted a ‘lathi puja’ on Sunday and declared that sticks would come in handy to ‘teach a lesson’ to couples.
According to a report in Times of India, on Sunday, dozens of members organised the ‘ritual’ at its office in Prakash Chowk in the city and announced they would ‘stop celebrations’. Reacting to the news, Aaditya Thackeray condemned those members saying it was not the ‘party line’.
He wrote: “Absolutely not Party line. Will check who has done this and why.”
The party’s deputy head for UP Lalit Mohan Sharma said: “Our workers will visit restaurants and hotels and conduct checks. We have also warned owners of such establishments not to organize Valentine’s Day events. There could be a risk of property damage, for which the owners themselves will be responsible.”
Meanwhile, police officers said that no one would be allowed to disturb the peace and adequate police personnel would be deployed at public places on February 14.
Right-wing groups have often targeted couples on Valentine’s Day.
In Ahmedabad, posters came up on V-Day urging youngsters to stay away from ‘love jihad’.
Most of these posters, which resemble stickers, have been put up outside colleges. One half of the poster shows a woman’s face which is semi-covered by a burqa, and is captioned, ‘Hindu women, be warned.’ The other half reads ‘Say no to Valentine’s Day’.
Bajrang Dal, the right-wing organisation behind the endeavour, said its twin purpose is to inform youngsters about the dangers of love jihad and how Valentine’s Day celebrations are against Indian culture.
“Let me clarify. We are not against love. We have a problem with the obscene display happening in the name of love on days like this,” said Jwalit Mehta, Ahmedabad city chief, Bajrang Dal.
“Have you seen the greeting cards that youth exchange for Valentine’s Day? They show couples kissing. Is that our culture? Is this how we should celebrate love?” he said.
“We don’t mind western concepts that are helpful. Cricket is a game brought to us by the British but we have no problem with that. But Valentine’s Day is not about love any more, it is about vulgar display of emotions,” said Mehta.
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